Highlights from 2014 - 2015: Wheel Throwing

This past year I barely posted on the blog.  I started teaching two classes that were new to me, which made for an extremely busy year learning the ropes and coming up with curriculum.  
I want to post some highlights from these classes from last school year before moving on to this school year.
Here are some photos from the Wheel Throwing class at Lane Tech.  Wheel Throwing is a ceramics class that focuses on functional pieces that students make on the potters' wheel.  Students take this class as an elective and it mostly serves juniors and seniors.

 

Any successes I have teaching Wheel Throwing I owe to Amy Moore who taught ceramics for over 15 years at Lane and has since started teaching in Evanston. She provided me with lots of resources and tips last year as part of the transition.  Over those 15 years teaching at Lane she worked hard to build up the sculpture program and wrote grants that provided the school with 31 wheels for our students to use.  We owe our sculpture program all to her.



In the year-long Wheel Throwing curriculum, students begin by learning to center clay on the wheel and then learn how to throw the primary forms of cups, bowls, bottles, vases, lidded containers and platters.  As students gain skill they continue personalizing their pottery and making artistic choices. 

Cups by Isabel Blair

 

Students learned about surface decoration techniques with both glaze and underglaze over the course of the year.  Below are examples of techniques using underglaze such as stenciling, painting, masking and sgraffito. 

Bowls with detailed sgraffito designs by Rebecca Symonds

surface design with textiles and masking by Mayra Leon

One of the types of homework that students work on in Wheel Throwing is envisioning ideas for sculpture and pottery based on themes.  Students sketch 4 ideas of their own and find 4 by other artists that fit themes such as "power", "urban" and "surprise".

Another type of homework that students engage in is taking notes on Youtube videos by other ceramicists so that their skills can improve and they can see how others throw on the wheel.

 

Students engaged in a vase project where they found a vase by another artist that they thought was beautiful and made it their own by trying to re-create aspects of the vase while adding their own twists.  

 

lidded container by Gerald Pineda

teapot by Jackie Cruz

wall hanging by Mireya 

Another major project was students creating a large platter with  intricate surface design or imagery. This project gave those students who like to paint and draw a wonderful "canvas" with which to express themselves.

Platter by Gerald Pineda

As a final project, students created a set of objects that were unified and that reflected their personal style.  Through this project, students were able to re-visit the forms they enjoyed making the most, noticing how their skills had improved, and creating objects with a detailed plan in mind. 

Tea set by Rebecca Symonds

Place setting by Katherine, inspired by paintings by Kandisnky and Mondrian

Cups by Yaneth Rojas

Clay Vessels

Following sculpture exploration using paper and cardboard, students in Art One tried their hand at making pottery using clay.  Lucky for me, Ms. Moore was willing to loan my students all the clay they needed to make cups, bowls and vases.

  
First, students looked at images of pottery from around the world and learned ceramic terminology such as slip and score and bisqueware.  Next, they learned how to build using coils.  Each student drew an image in their sketchbook for a piece of pottery they would like to make.  They also cut a template out of cardboard that would act as a guide to creating the overall form/shape they desired. 

 
Students then used the coil building method and their template, to create vessels out of clay. Beginning with a vase, they slipped and scored each coil to the next one. 


 
Once the overall shape was achieved, the students were asked to include at least one additive feature and one subtractive feature. We looked at images of additive and subtractive features, and the students decided whether to add handles, feet, lids or another design feature. Each solution was unique and the students thoroughly enjoyed working with clay and with their hands to create a functional work of art. 


 
 

As a form of critique, the students went around once the pottery was complete, and offered feedback and complements to their peers.

This student made a vessel that is a bathtub!

Finally, thanks again to Ms. Moore and Ms. Beeman, each artist was able to glaze their pottery in the ceramics classroom, and they were fired in the kiln on time for the holidays. 

Students test whether their vessels hold water as they toast to their success!

Sculpture Experiments

Leading up to a longer pottery project, students explored different ways of making sculpture and forms using cardboard and paper. 

For one of the exercises, students viewed images of how architects create models for buildings, and explored examples of how different types of nets create forms.



   
Next, students chose a net to put together by tracing shapes or making their own. 


 
 









 Next, students used tabs, tape and glue to connect their shapes and put their net close to together.  Before putting it together for good, they used an X-Acto blade to cut negative space shapes and windows into their structure.






 Next, students closed their forms all the way and had some fun combining their forms and taking photos of the possible combinations.  In this way, new ideas for sculptures and buildings were found. 

 

For another experiment, students learned about Jean Dubuffet and geometric and organic shapes. Students drew organic and geometric shapes and learned how to notch or slice and tab the shapes together. At the end of the day, each sculpture had to stand on its own without collapsing and without glue.
Note: these sculptures are best enjoyed by imagining they are humongous public sculptures made to play on, inside a sculpture park!

 

 Finally, students engaged in a one-day experiment to see what kind of sculpture could be made from a single piece of paper.  They intuitively tucked, curled, wove and perforated the paper to create spontaneous 3-D forms without any glue or tape.

 During this week of exploration, students also completed a homework assignment to brainstorm ideas for representational and non-representational sculptures.