The Way You're Makin' Me Feel... a texture project
November is here and its crazy to think that I only have my current students for one more month until the first trimester of the year is over. Wow! Crazy! Time's a flyin'! Speaking of flying, my 6th grade students are channeling all that pre-Halloween/post-field trip energy into creating clay birds.
In 5th grade my students learned to create coil pots with clay so I think as 6th graders it's important for them to learn another hand-building technique: slab building. Cue the Textured Turkey Bowl Project.*(Ok, so technically only one class is actually creating bowls along with their slabs due to how infrequently I see my other 6th graders. The other class will be making textured slab owls. The important part is they are learning to create and build with slabs, right? Pictures of the owls will follow.)
Both projects are coming along nicely and in a few weeks we will be glazing them just in time for the next fall holiday- Thanksgiving! Yay! I love the fall! Can you tell? ... And I do truly Iove clay days. Seriously! They're so relaxing! Even with having more materials out theres something about squishing the clay and kneading it that brings even the wildest days down a few decimals!
We began by learning types of texture: how something actually feels to the touch versus how something looks like it feels. Both of my 6th grade classes were to use different objects to create tactile and implied textures in the clay and they're creating an item for someone for whom they are thankful. We read An Awesome Book of Thanks by Dallas Clayton to inspire our work.
I met the creator and illustrator of this book a few years back as he came to my college and I really liked the positive message that this book proclaims.
There is always something or someone to be thankful for, even just everyday little things. As artists (and teachers) we can show our appreciation for people who are special to us through art. I can't wait to see these when they're all finished!
