Open-ended clay vessels
In this unit, kids could make any vessel they wanted but it had to have some kind of attachment. They learned about the stages of clay and hand-building techniques. After that, students started doing research on five artists working in any medium using websites such as the Getty, Met and the Art Institute of Chicago. I had them parse out what they found compelling about each artist in order to translate it into their own clay projects. Then they developed prototypes using a choice of coil, slab and pinch pot methods. Some focused on color, abstraction and others on a theme or concept.
Prototypes
Final projects
Jake experimented with using a balloon and slab building over the shape. He was working with how to combine nature and emotions.
He made objects that he felt an emotional attachment to and placed them inside the basketball sphere.
