Clay Project- Gnomes!

I have to thank my art teacher friend Mike for this one! A clay project for elementary students that combines; slab-making, molds, slip and score, additive sculpture, and glazing. My fourth grade students are making clay gnomes, although some have decided to turn them into wizards, which is perfectly okay with me being a wizard fan myself.
During the first class, we discussed air pockets and the clay drying process. Then we wedged out the clay and threw it to make a slab. The students then wrapped that slab around a paper-towel covered cone and smudged the edges together. Then a small amount of water could be used to pull the top of the clay out so that it created a steep point that will eventually be the hat of the gnome/wizard.

During the next two classes, students were able to add whatever details they liked to their creations. We simply reviewed how to score and slip to attach pieces of clay together. Students also had to use facial features on their gnome/wizard to demonstrate a mood. We talked about that a little bit, and the kids got started creating some of the most interesting creatures!

On a more personal note, some of my art teacher friends came over to my house to paint wallets. Apparently, you can paint with acrylic paint on leather or faux-leather wallets. I purchased mine at the thrift store. I finished this one just yesterday, sadly I only have two pictures of it, not many in-progress. I hope to create another one as well. This one just needs to be sealed with a clear acrylic sealer.

Learning about Asian Art

All my classes are venturing in to the realm of art from other cultures. It's so interesting to hear the dialogue and have discussions about student's thoughts on this art. Some art from other places in the world is so different than what we typically think of as art. It's fun to learn the differences and also to learn about what art looked like in ancient times.

First grade students learn about art from ancient Asian and we are smack dab in the middle of all that learning. We talked first about the art of ancient Japan and we learned about Gyotaku which is the art of fish printing. There's a great video here that talks about where the tradition came from. We used rubber fish and painted on them with tempera paint. Then placed paper of top and rubbed them. During the next class, students glued their piece to a colorful background and decorated the border. Then we learned how to write our names in Japanese and the students signed their name with red paint, just like a traditional Han or Hanko stamp.

To explore the ancient art of Asian even further, we moved into talking about China. We talked about the emperors and how their families would rule for years and their last names were very famous. We talked specifically about the Ming family and all the contributions they made to China, including the Great Wall and Ming Vases. Our project was to draw, color and decorate three Ming Vases. Students drew a small, medium, and large vase. Then we colored them in using only blue oil pastel and then painted over them using white tempera paint. Because of course, Ming Vases are all blue and white! Then students used pointy sticks to etch out designs through the white paint, down to the blue oil pastel. They cut out their finished vases and glued them onto pink paper. During our last class, we painted black bamboo shoots coming out of the Ming Vases and then they wrote their names in Chinese using Sharpie markers. The results are awesome! We loved learning about Asian art!