With a clean, smooth stroke, Sarah Garner, Lower School Visual Arts Teacher, pulls a wire through a block of clay. She separates the even slabs and gives them to her students who begin to manipulate the soft material. «Every medium can present challenges in different ways for different artists,» says Garner. This lesson is no different. «As with most mediums we use, students at Beasley have a mindset that includes ‘stretch and explore,'» she explains. «Clay certainly can be tricky,» she says, but the skills students learn in art class are set up to build and be cyclical throughout the JK-4 experience. «As a result, most students feel confident and excited when working with clay.»
All JK-4 artists create something in clay every year. Junior Kindergarten begins by cutting slabs of clay and creating pinch pots. In Senior Kindergarten, students build on this skill by continuing to create with a slab of clay but adding a new skill – a coil. This year, SK created sea turtles. The slab was the body, and the coil created the turtle’s shell. A coil is made by rolling the clay into long, snake-like shapes. These coils are then stacked or layered on top of one another to create the desired form. Students continue building clay skills in first grade – this year making cupcakes inspired by artist Romero Britto. The bottom of the cupcake was created using the pinch pot method, and texture was added to represent the lines of a cupcake liner. The icing is made using coils, and then students add a cherry on top.
Second graders developed their coil skills as they created coil pots. Each coil pot includes a surprise; it could be a coiled spiral, a sphere, or even the initial of the student’s name made out of a coil. Third graders developed their skills by throwing their own clay slabs this year. Then, they turned the slabs into paint palettes. The extra clay was then used to make a pinch pot water bowl and paint brush holder. As the pieces go through the entire process, the third graders will use their palettes, bowls, and holders for a painting.
Fourth graders are using all of the skills that they have learned to create an abstract vase using the slab construction method. They also used extra clay to create pieces of their choice. Students made spoon rests, a pasta strainer, small containers, and more.
Using clay is a unique way that students can use to express their ideas. «All media connects to different students in different ways,» says Garner. «Clay is so tactile and sensory-fulfilling that students really connect to the idea that they can turn a lump of clay into a desired object.» Another part of the process that excites the artists is when their piece comes out of the kiln after the glaze fire. «The students love how their pieces shine and how the glaze can fully translate their visual idea into a finished piece,» Garner says. «It is very rewarding to the students when they see how turning their knowledge of different clay methods results in a sculpture that you can hold and that serves a function.»
This is a simple version of the clay process that Mrs. Garner undertakes with her students:
• Shape the Clay: Use hand-building (coiling, slab-building).
• Dry the Clay: Let the piece dry to the leather-hard stage (firm but slightly damp) to smooth or carve, then dry completely to bone dry.
• Bisque Firing: Fire the dried piece in the kiln to turn it into ceramic. This is the first firing.
• Apply Glaze: Once bisque-fired and cooled, apply glaze to the piece.
• Glaze Firing: Fire the glazed piece in the kiln again to melt the glaze into a smooth, shiny finish.
• Cooling: Allow the piece to cool down after the glaze firing.