Reflection is an innate skill every artist needs in order to make original work outside of an art class. Students learned and practiced basic clay hand building skills like wedging, cutting slabs and slipping and scoring to create a cube. Students used letter stamps to impress words on the sides that reflect how their life has felt lately, especially as seniors about to move into a new chapter in life. Then, students learned about contemporary ceramics artists that use the medium to reflect on life experience. Students created a mind-map to brainstorm ideas about what specific experiences, places and people have been most influential to them and how to represent the impact of these experiences physically with clay.
In progress work, student is reflecting on how they are a child of deaf adult and that their first language is ASL. Part of the sign for "tree" is an open palm like the hand above.
In progress final project about how the student's time living near the ocean in Maine. Her Father was an Oyster farmer there.
Students wedging their clay to get rid of air bubbles and make the clay more malleable.
Student rolling out a slab.
Students cut their slabs into squares with the use of a square template.
Students started the project by building a cube with words stamped on them that reflected how they were feeling about graduating this year.
