who needs the gym when you have a slab roller?

Ab and arm toner 2.0

The 3rd graders have been working with clay the past 2 weeks as part of their texture unit. This project was inspired by ceramic guru John Post and his robot jar project. I started out by introducing texture and then we looked at a few jars that John did with his students and looked at the different ways the texture of the clay was altered. I also talked about how the students would need to change the texture of their clay to add on any parts. They would have to score parts (rough up the texture) and add slip to glue parts together.

John's examples.

John used an extruder to make the cylinders for his jars and parts. We do have an extruder, but it hadn't been used in a few years, so when I went to use it (the morning of the first lesson;) I ran into some technical difficulty. So, we ended up using the good ol' slab roller to make lots of thin rectangular prisms to make our cylinders. Whew... as long as you alternate sides when you crank the clay through, it's a pretty darn good ab and arm workout all week long. It brought back memories of my days as a textile screen printer when, after pulling a squeegee all day on some pretty demanding projects, I promptly went to bed right after dinner... but I digress;)

Once students made their cylinders, they were free to add any parts that would make their robot/creature interesting. I emphasized decorating the whole form and not just the front. I  modeled several ways to stack different size parts and I also showed them how they could press tools into the clay to change it's surface and add more decoration. 

I had students construct their parts as a group and then add them to their cylinder, in order to give that shape a little time to stiffen up. 

This week, the 3rd graders glazed their pieces. I let them use a variety of colors. I emphasized making sure to put on 2 or 3 layers of glaze, so their pieces had the proper gloss and color intensity.

she got this technique from me;)

Students move from table to table to glaze.

This week, the kinders also got to play with a little more clay... and I got to continue my slab roller workout regiman;) Last week they made paper mosaics inspired by the work of Jim Bachor and this week they made tiles for real mosaics for each classroom. 

This kinder project was inspired by the clay work of Amy Sanders, who creates sculptural objects with different slabs of textured and patterned clay. 

Each student got 3 pieces of clay- a small square, medium rectangle, and a large square. We used pencils and legos to change the texture of each piece of clay. They used just the pencil on the small, just lego on the medium, and both on the large. The kids thought this was SO cool... especially the lego part:) I showed them different ways to hold each tool to make different types of marks. I emphasized pressing soft enough so that they didn't punch all the way through the clay. 

When they were done and had earned center time, I trimmed the pieces and assembled a classroom arrangement for the mosaic. With each class, we actually made more tiles than we needed, but I made sure to include at least 2 tiles or 2 parts of tiles from each student in the mosaic. 

My plan is to have 1st graders glaze these pieces next week and assemble them on backing board, thin set, and grout the week after that. We may sell a couple as a school fundraiser and others could be installed to add public art to our new kinder building which, as of now, is a blank slate...

from start to finish.

ELA connection.

 4 of 7 class mosaics. each is 2' square.

One last thing... I shared the kinder popsicle project with Jim Bachor and he was thrilled! He was kind enough to send me some postcards and stickers and I promptly used them to recognize kids that had been super respectful during their time with me. He also sent a shirt along to trade with one kindergarten student. The student got a shirt and Jim will get their paper mosaic to hang in his art studio:) So rad!

 proud!

Super stoked!

colorful invaders.

This week the 2nd graders are adding color to their invader tiles. I took a page out of Cassie Stephens playbook and am having them do a crayon resist painting instead of glazing the tiles. This allows for a lot of color variety and saves me from loading a lot of large flat pieces at a time when kiln space is at a premium.

an invader in space!

The kids are really enjoying the process. I emphasize that they should try and use either light or dark crayon colors and then paint with the opposite. 

The kids are doing exit slips that get them reflecting on what texture is and how thy used it in their work. As students are finishing up I go around and slap a few brush loads of gloss varnish on the tiles to give them that "we weren't fired, but kinda look like we could have been" clear coat;)

Some kids are being very controlled with their color work.

Other students are being more expressive and free with their color application.

http://www.space-invaders.com/post/space2iss/

clay all day.

This week I entered my clay phase;)

The 2nd and 5th graders are both working with clay for the next two weeks and then the 3rd graders will be for the two weeks after that. Time to break out the lotion:)

The 2nd graders are making clay tiles inspired by the work of Invader. I have been stoked about trying this with them for some time and I think the kids are enjoying it too. We take a look at his website and he's got a map of the world that shows where all his "invasions" have taken place. You click on any of the cities and it takes you to photo/s of the works at that place. Pretty darn slick! Look out for the moving one too- he's got a piece on the outside of the International Space Station too.

Five years ago, he invaded San Diego, so we look at those. Some of them are still around the city. While we are looking, I point out how he only uses squares and rectangles to create his images. We talk about pixels, old school videogames, and of course, minecraft.

The role the kids play in this project is that of an invader creator. Their job is to design their own invader using only squares and rectangles. Also, they use the texture of legos to alter the texture of their clay tile. The kids have been pretty engaged with this one;)

The kids sketch out 3 different designs, decide which one they will do, share their reasoning with a neighbor, and then get stamping. When we get to the stamping part, I emphasize that they only need to press softly. If they go to hard, they will punch a hole through the clay. Some kids inevitably do this, but I tell them it does add a little character to their overall design- which, when controlled, it does. They should use the legos as stamps and not as cookie cutters.

Next week, we'll paint 'em.

The 5th graders are making modified coil vessels for their clay project. I have been using work by high school students up in LA county as the inspiration for this one. Debra Price-Agrums teaches at Whitney high school and her students can rock the clay work:)

I demonstrate various ways they can coil and modify coils to create their form. The shape and style is up to them. Next week, they will glaze them.

I love how this guy used his leftovers to make something else, too:)

Check out that interior!

clay cacti.

The 4th graders are finally getting a chance to glaze their clay cacti this week!

A few weeks ago, they slab built cacti and pots that were inspired by a series that Michael Pfleghaar created a few years ago.

This project was part of their texture unit. I have been looking forward to these being glazed since we made them. In my humble opinion, I think the final results are awesome:)

The only drag that I did not fully anticipate, is that with the cacti being glazed front and back, I would need a lot more stilts than we have:( We have 2 kilns, but not enough stilts for me to fully utilize their capacity...

On another note, this week the art team is in full art show prep mode. So much mounting, labeling, and tying up loose ends to do before our 27th annual Celebration of Art next Wednesday!