Circle of Friends

For these very sweet Circle of Friends sculptures, I have students choose 4 - 6 people that are special to them to include in their sculpture.  We talk about what symbolism is and how to choose a symbol that would represent the person they are including.  

Start by rolling out a large slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and cut out the base piece for the sculpture.  Any shape is fine, it just needs to be big enough to fit all of the friends.  Next use gingerbread men cookie cutters or cut your own people shapes out, one for each person in the circle.  Then decorate each person with their symbol or give them their features, like hair clothes etc. Scratch-to-attach the feet and hands of each of your people shapes, then scratch approximately where they will go on the base piece and start assembling them. Its a little tricky to get all of the friends to stand up together at first, so I have students use a cup in the center of their circle so that the clay can lean on it until its dry enough to support itself.  You can also decorate the base piece with textures, patterns or symbols too.  Let them dry, bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire.

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Art Hearts

These simple and fun clay art hearts make the perfect gift for Valentine's Day.  Start with a sphere of clay about the size of a ping pong ball. Pinch the bottom of it into a point and push the middle of the top down with your fingers.  Then use your fingertips to smooth out the shape of the heart.  To make each heart unique, I add on wings, banners, polka dots etc... You can also use rubber stamps to add words, and tools for texture and design on your hearts.  When you are finished making your hearts, use a tool to poke a hole in the bottom of the heart. HINT: Remember that clay shrinks when it's fired, so make the hole a little larger than you think that you need.  Once you have bisque fired, glazed and then fired your hearts, use a two part epoxy to glue in your wooden or metal dowel.  These hearts look great in a bouquet so you can share your love CR8IVLY!! 

Jenni Ward's Art Hearts are available for purchase.

Mosaic Mandalas

My students loved making these mosaic mandalas, especially the messy grouting part!  I showed my students lots of examples of mandalas and we discussed using symmetry in art before starting in clay.  The rules of the project are simple; any shape is allowed but the overall design must be symmetrical and the shapes can only have a little bubble room around them (not huge gaps), other than that--b cr8iv!

Start by giving each student a plastic plate (paper ones will get too wet and loose their shape).  Next roll out a large slab of clay that is about 3/8th of an inch thick and lay it over the plate and press it into the plates shape gently. Use a knife to cut off any extra clay around the edges and save the scraps of flat clay.

Next scratch up the entire surface of the clay with a fork or scoring tool.  Now start cutting out your shapes from the extra scraps of clay.  Scratch the backs of your shapes with a tool and begin attaching them onto the surface in a symmetrical design.  I encouraged students to work from the middle out to the edges.  HINT: If you have younger students you can use cookie cutters for this part to ensure symmetry!  Be sure to keep the thickness of your clay even as you attach them onto the base piece. Once all the spaces have been filled with shapes, let the mandala dry on the plate, they will pop apart from the plastic plates as they dry and shrink.  HINT: If you want to be able to hang these on the wall when they're finished, cut a small length of high temperature wire and bend it into a loop, then stick it halfway into the clay before it is dry to use as a hanger once the clay is fired.

Bisque fire the mandalas and then have students glaze only the surface of each of the shapes and the outside edge of the plate NOT the spaces in-between, the grout will not stick to a glazed surface.  You can make this a color wheel or color theory lesson with the glazing if you'd like too.  Be sure to keep the colors symmetrical too.

Once the glaze firing is finished, mix up some grout in any color you'd like according to the package's instructions.  Be careful about not adding too much water to your grout, a little goes a long way!  Spread out some newspaper and give out plastic gloves to students--this will be messy!  I give students a handful of the grout and let them start pushing it into all of the spaces, I usually have to help everyone out a little bit to make sure they've packed it in tight and filled all the spaces.  Then have them rub the grout off of the tops of all of their shapes using just their hands to start with or a wooden clay tool can be helpful, then use a dry paper towel to start to wipe the surfaces clean.  Once the grout has dried a bit, you can go over the surface with a damp sponge to get any residual grout off. Let the grout dry for 24 hours before hanging it up on the wall.

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Totem Poles

Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest have been carving totem poles for generations, this clay project exposes students to the traditional techniques and symbolism used by the carvers.  Start by showing students examples of totem poles and the symbolism of the animals used in the poles.  Generally the animals in the poles tell a pictorial story, this can be a way to incorporate a writing project with an art project in your classroom.  Once students have chosen their story or their choice of symbols and animals, its time to build.

Start by giving students 6-8 ping pong sized spheres of clay (one for each animal).  Have students break off a little bit of the clay and start by shaping the body of the animal, typically it will be round or oval shaped, then use the extra clay to make the body parts such as legs, arms, wings, tails, facial features etc... don't forget to scratch to attach on all the parts well.  Use tools to create details like scales on a fish or claws on a bear.  Once each animal is built, you will need to cut a hole from the top to the bottom of each animal, I used a thin wooden dowel.  The top animal of the totem pole only needs the hole to go in about halfway so that you don't see the dowel poking out the top of the totem.  Be sure to make the hole slightly larger than you think you'll need because clay shrinks when it dries and is fired.  Next, fire all the pieces, glaze them and fire them again.

Once all of the pieces are finished, its time to assemble them.  I use cut blocks of 2x4's for the bases, it's good to pre-cut these then have students write their name on the bottom and sand them smooth with sand paper.  I also pre-drill a hole into the center of the base the same size as the dowel that you'll be using to stack your totem.  Squeeze a little wood glue into the drilled hole and slide in the dowel.  While the glue is drying, have students wipe the sawdust off the bases and then paint them.  I used a black acrylic paint, but you can use any color you'd like or have students use markers to color them in so you don't have to wait for the paint to dry.  Once your base is ready, start sliding the animals onto the dowel, hopefully you've made the holes large enough and they all fit easily.  If you have trouble with fit, you can either use a smaller dowel or use a Dremel tool with a grinder bit and grind the hole in the animal larger (this can take some time!).  When you add the last animal on the top of the totem pole, put a little glue into the hole and fit it on snugly.  If the dowel is too long, just cut it to the correct height with garden shears, then glue on the top piece.  Have students share their totem story with the class!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Cave Art

These primitive cave art slabs are a great way to teach students about the earliest forms of art.  Start by showing students images of early cave paintings and have them find common themes, such as bison, humans and horses.  It is a good idea to have students practice their cave paintings on paper before starting on their clay version.

You'll need to prep some materials before you begin.  This cave painting sculpture was made with a slab of clay for the base and was decorated using colored oxides made from raw pigments which is very similar to how cave paintings were originally made.  The colored oxides will need to be made in advance but are simple to do.  You'll have to make a trip to your local ceramic supply store to pick up small amounts of oxides and a flux to make them stick to the clay in the kiln, here I used red iron oxide, burnt umber, manganese dioxide and Gerstley Borate (GB) as my flux.  You can get oxides in almost any color that are commercially made they are called Mason Stains, but for this project, I chose to keep the color scheme more natural.  In individual containers mix 2 parts oxide to 1 part GB and mix well with water until you have a little thicker than watercolor paint consistency to your oxides. If you keep your oxides in containers with sealed lids, the pigment will settle to the bottom, but once stirred they can be used over and over on other clay projects and if they dry out, you can always add water to reconstitute them. Now you are ready to go!

Students will need to roll out their clay flat, I like to keep this in an abstract shape so that it represents a rock form.  I also have students make 2 holes at the top of their clay to be able to hang it up later.  Next students can use brushes to paint on their cave painting with the oxides that you made.  If they make a mistake with their painting, just use a clay scraping tool to wipe off the area and try again.  Encourage students to look at their practice drawings for shapes and ideas.  The final results should be primitive and rough looking.  I just bisque fire these pieces and don't use any glazes on them, but if you'd like to add some shine and clear glaze over the top of everything would work too.

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Keith Haring Cubes

This project is great for older kids to use examples of Keith Haring's fun pop art paintings to create their own sculptures.  I begin by showing lots of examples of the repeated symbols Haring used in his work (people, hearts, babies, barking dogs etc..) and we also discuss pop art.  Using slabs of clay we cut 6 equal squares, you can use a template to make it easier or cut one square and use it to trace the rest.  5 of the squares will get a Keith Haring design of the students choosing, 1 square will become the bottom of the cube.  Using their scrap pieces of clay students can cut out shapes of hearts, people, flying saucers etc and scratch them onto a square, each panel should have a different Haring inspired image.  Students can also show the horizon line, energy lines and a texture for the background or floor area using their tools or additional pieces of clay.  Once the squares have been designed, all the edges need to be scratched really well, without destroying the designs and then assembled.  I find that it's easiest to start with the bottom one and attach each wall, then put on the lid.  After they have been bisque fired and are ready to be glazed, remind students again about the color palette that is seen in Haring's work--bright primary colors! 

 !B CR8IV!