Playing Catch-Up!

  Agghh!!! I'm so tardy in posting some of the great stuff we've been doing in Art!!  Time is slipping away.  Before break, the Adaptive Art classes made these adorable slab ornaments for gifts to give to their families:

8th Grade Face Tiles

Eighth graders completed these "face tiles" last week.  Sometimes the thought of starting clay units with classes is really overwhelming, but I can't seem to leave it out any semester, because the kids just love it so much. 

For this project, the students review the properties and stages of clay, as well as refresh their memories on clay vocabulary.  We then create clay slabs together.  These slabs are draped over newspaper wads to create a "bump".  From this bump students can carve into and slip and score features on to their tiles.  After a tortuously long two weeks, the students get their bisqued clay back and start on glazing.  The end results are really fun!

Aaaggghhh!!! 6th grade Clay Screamers!

..........they're coming!!!!!

I absolutely love this project.  The 6th graders created these wildly creative screamer characters and all were eagerly anticipating seeing the finished product.  We began with simple pinch pots.  The students were shown how to score and slip hand built additions like eyes, tongues, teeth, arms, fins, spikes...you name it.  After drying and being bisqued fired (ask your student what that is, we spent lots of time on great ceramic vocabulary), the students were able to glaze their creatures in the colors of their choice.  This project really sparks the kids creativity and I've had many comments from friends and family far and wide about how cool they are.  It's definitely one of my favorites to teach and the results are always amazing.