Junior High lesson from years back on color theory and clay



 

 
The 8th grade students started a unit on color theory by creating a 4" square design with a 1/4" border. The designs were copied x 8 then painted to show complimentary, analagous, warm, cool, black white, etc... Then they took their design on a double slab of clay and cut out their design on one slab and attached it to the other slab to create the raised tile.  I wish I had a close up of the tiles to show the dimension. The tiles were arranged and mounted to wood and hang in the office.  One of my favorite all time projects!
 

Comments

  1. Elizabeth September 3, 2012 at 6:46 PM

    These are just beautiful, and they bring together so many different elements of design. Really impressive !

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2012 at 4:47 AM

    Thanks Elizabeth, I tried to find your clay bells on your site but didn't have any luck??
    Jody

    ReplyDelete
  3. polkadotparkaAugust 18, 2013 at 10:03 AM

    I absolutely love the result of this lesson, however I can not figure out how it was done. Were these painted with glaze? How did you get the students to create such complex, neat designs?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousAugust 18, 2013 at 5:31 PM

    The students used Stroke and Coat glaze so you only need to use one coat althought two is better especially for the dark colors. The palette was limited to the colors you see so that it would harmonize.
    If you can imagine a piece of paper folded in half and then in half again creating four quarters. The students used parallel lines to fill the one quarter and then copied the design to the other quarters by holding up to the window. Let me know if this helps or I can create a blog post that shows the process.
    Thanks for commenting
    Jody

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter

Image
Thanks to mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.com  who gave me the idea for this bulletin board. When our district kicked off the new school year, teachers spent time "Tweeting" each other as part of our break out session. While I lOVE lots of technology I am still a bit old school and like paper and pencil in hand. My oldest son is a SUPER senior in architecture and I remember him telling me how some students struggled with perspective drawing because they had learned only in a computer program unlike Jeff who learned the way I did over 25 years ago. Just today I had a teacher ask me advice about her son's college direction and I always say, "Tons of kids want to be game designers or graphic designers, do them a favor and make them take a ceramics or sculpture class, they need to experience 3D, hands on." Okay, off my soapbox. This was just a fun idea and by 2:00 the board was FULL of ideas on how "Awesome" a teacher is or how a grade level "Rocks!"...
Read more

Cupcakes!

Image
I have seen several art teachers do this lesson and I knew I had to try it. I purchased metal molds from Bed,Bath and Beyond. Day one the students push a ball of clay into the mold and cut off the extra clay. Then they form a pinch pot for the top portion adding any details. I have them put their name on a piece of paper to separate the two pieces so I can later add their names to the bottom. One piece of advice, make sure you have at least a 1/4 inch thickness around the mold. It it's too thin it will crack.  Bisque fire then glaze, day two and three.
Read more

Lines with Kinders

Image
In past years I have usually done a two day lesson on Mondrian. We paint large black lines across our body and then paint in primary colors the next lesson. This year I have a young (er) group of students and since it's only week 3 they are still learning procedures in the art room. I decided instead to discuss line in a different way. On top of that some wonderful staff member put a HUGE stack of precut strips of colored paper on my desk. I HAVE AN IDEA!   We discussed how lines can bend and fold and go over and under.  The students were so excited. I also tried out plastic containers with sponges soaked in glue.  Much less messy but make sure the sponges are just barely moist as water and glue make an adhesive that may not stick as well.  An update on the master's research...10 more weeks and I won't know what to do with the 20+ hours I will have to, oh I don't know, create ART!
Read more