Alcott Art Web Page -- Clay

Clay

Clay is about translating ideas into form and texture. Each part of an object is a form, and forms can be large or small, rough or smooth, thick or thin, flat or more three-dimensional. Students learn to use their fingers and clay tools to change the form and texture of the clay. They also learn to use weight, balance, and effective construction techniques to insure that their sculptures will stay together throughout the drying and firing process. The challenge for students is to figure out their own ways to use all of these elements in their sculptures.

Kindergarten

Exploration:

What kind of place to play will you build?
Will you pinch some parts to make them tall?
Will you press some parts down to make them low?
Will you make holes or tunnels with your fingers?
Will you add parts on?
Will you make hiding places?

First Grade

Joining parts:

What kind of animal will you build?
What kinds of parts does your animal have?
How many legs will you need to build?
What kinds of forms will you build for the head and body?
What kind of ears does your animal have?
Do you need to make a tail?

Relief:

What parts of your face stick out?
What parts of your face go in?
Which parts of your clay self-portrait will you add on?
Where will you poke the clay in?
Where will you pinch the clay?
Which parts can you do with your fingers, and where will you need to use clay tools?

Second Grade

Relief:

Who is in your family?
How will you arrange everyone in your relief?
What will be sticking out, and what will be going in?

Relationships in space:

How do animals take care of their babies?
How big will the parent animal be, and how big will the baby be?
How close will the animals be to each other?
Will they be touching each other?
Will you build a habitat for them?

Third Grade

Relationships in space:

What kind of parts do you need to make for your animal?
Where does your animal live?
How big will your animal be in it's habitat?
What kind of terrain will you build for the habitat?

Gesture and relationships in space:

What will your clay people be doing?
What parts of their bodies will be bending?
What will you build to show where the action is happening?

Fourth Grade

Bugs from Observation:

What parts does your bug have?
Where do the parts connect?
Where are the big and small parts?
How will you make the textures on its body?

Gesture and Relationships in Space:

What can a person and an animal be doing together?
What kind of position will your person be in?
How close together will they be in your sculpture?

Fifth Grade

Slab Construction-Islands:

Which parts of your island will be high?
Which parts of your island will be low?
What kind of terrain is on your island?
How will you make textures in your clay to show the terrain?
What kinds of plants live on your island?
Will your island have any animals or people on it?
Will there be any buildings or man-made structures on your island?

Slab Construction-Interiors:

Where is a place inside where you like to hang out?
Do you like to be there alone or with other people?
What's in the space?

Figures: Gesture, Relationships in Space

What kind of game or activity can two people be doing together?
How much space will there be between the figures?
How will the figures bend and move?

Synthesis: Gesture, Action, Relationships between multiple figures:

Will your sculpture be about a family gathering, people and animals, animals and habitats, or friends?
How many figures will you build?
What will everyone be doing?
What kind of environment will you need to build?
How much space will be between the figures?

All School Mural Project

Panels created with Joshua Winer, Visiting Artist

Josh designed ten panels, each one depicting a different part of Concord. Each student then made a small clay relief piece and chose a panel to put it on, where it was incorporated with various mosaic materials. Josh, the art teachers, students, and parents all worked together to complete this project. The finished panels now hang in the main stairwell at Alcott.

Each grade level made images in specific categories.

Kindergarten: Things that Grow in a Garden
First and Second Grade: Animals
Third Grade: Insects
Fourth Grade: Buildings, Vehicles, and Objects in the Sky
Fifth Grade: People and Vehicles

Thank you to the Alcott PTG for making this project possible.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006