Forming shapes, stories and dialogue

Working with air dry clay allows us to make lots of mistakes and discover how to make the clay to what we hope it will.

With clay shapes we start with rolling a ball, our best sphere is how we start.  From there we create pinch pots learning the technique of gently pressing the clay and turning it until a small hole opens enough to hold something.  

Pinch pots can be used for making pots, turtle backs, and well, the limits are in the imagination.

Other shapes to make with clay include rolling coils and flattening slabs.  Attaching one piece of clay to another and welding it to make the seam disappear is a skill we practiced.  

Students created a turtle and birds and then practiced with other shapes.  

At the end of this class students were asked to draw the things they made and to create a story.  We talked about how artists might have a story in their mind or they might just invent a story as the drawing unfolds.  

We agreed that when someone else looks at our art drawings they might see a different story.  It's okay for someone else to put their own story to our art.

Next week we will paint our clay pieces.