Exploring Form, and Loving Every Minute!

What Makes Clay Different?

Our clay unit is in full swing! Clay is one of the girls' favorite mediums. It's messy, very tactile and allows the artist to create in 3D. Painting and drawing are considered to be 2D or 2 dimensional, meaning they are flat. Clay, like other forms of sculpture, is 3D which means that they have many sides and can be viewed from several different directions. Another thing that makes clay different is that it is part art, and part science. If clay is not properly dried before it is put in the kiln, it can blow up. This type of clay also needs to be fired in order to stay together. If it is just air dried, it will eventually fall apart and break.

Different Techniques The girls are encouraged to "think outside the box" and use their imaginations while practicing proper technique like "pinch and pull" which allows a person to create a sculpture from one piece of clay, and "slip-n-score" which helps the artist to attach separate pieces of clay, sort like clay glue or tape.

Assignments Every grade makes a clay project all the way up from JK through 6th grade. 1st: fish, 2nd: animals, 3rd: Owls, 4th: Volcanoes, 5th: Aliens, and 6th: Masks. I have not posted the Junior or Senior Kindergarten assignments because we use them for Mother's Day presents, and we want them to be a surprise. :-)

Where We Are At Right Now With Our Projects The clay is in all different stages at the moment. Some of it is still wet, some drying, and some in being fired in the kiln (oven). The next step will be to glaze (paint) the sculptures and fire a second time.