Wanted: Clay project that will include the basics of well-crafted construction, a variety of decorative surface treatments, wide-ranging creative possibilities, a high level of success for students, a connection to historical beginnings, and result in a functional product. All of these attributes exist in a project that the author calls "Character…

Through the generosity of a Lowes Toolbox for Education Grant and a grant from the Bill Graham Foundation, an interdisciplinary mosaic mural was created and installed at Riverview Middle School in Bay Point, California. The actual mural, which featured a theme of nurturing students through music, art, sports, science, and math, took about three…

Garden gnomes: magical or tacky? Well, art is in the eye of the beholder, and for the author's advanced seventh-grade art class, garden gnomes are magical. Gnomes have a very long history, dating back to medieval times. A fairytale describes them as brownie-like creatures that are nocturnal helpers. In this article, the author describes how her…

The author was fortunate enough to teach in the children's program at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado. Anderson Ranch is a magical place where artists young and old come to expand their creative spirits. The children's art program spans a wide range of media for children aged six through seventeen. There are classes to explore…

The house paintings of the South African Ndebele people are more than just an attempt to improve the aesthetics of a community; they are a source of identity and significance for Ndebele women. In this article, the author describes an art project wherein students use the tradition of Ndebele house painting as inspiration for creating their own…

The author was surfing the Internet and stumbled upon some amazing and surprisingly beautiful microscopic structures of living organisms. The colors and shapes of these individual forms of life were beautiful, textured, and intricate. In this article, the author describes how her eighth-grade students made tiles inspired by these microscopic…

For several years, the author has taught a six-week ceramics course to students in grades six through eight. This is an elective class, so only interested and passionate students sign up. In past years, she has given three different assignments using slab, coil, and pinch construction techniques, which allowed for individual creative expression.…

The Jolly Green Giant. Robin Hood. The Bamberg Cathedral. Tales of King Arthur. Ecology. What do they have in common? What legends and ancient myths are shrouded in the tales of the Green Man? Most often perceived as an ancient Celtic symbol as the god of spring and summer, the Green Man disappears and returns year after year, century after…

Around Scout Island Education Center, a site used by schools in Fresno County to explore the area's natural environment, a total of 200 cylinder-shaped concrete stools display tiles representing small mammals, flying insects, birds, wildflowers, and more. Twenty sets have been created by elementary, middle, and high-school art students as part of…

The ceremonial copper and iron bells at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art were the author's inspiration for an interdisciplinary unit with a focus on the contributions various cultures make toward the richness of a community. The author of this article describes an Edo bell-inspired ceramic project incorporating slab-building…

Thinking how inspired her middle-school students are by color, the author turned to a book about the life and art of Peter Max as inspiration for this lesson. Though Max's first recollection of creating art was coloring his family's steamer trunks with a crayon, he would later pick up a paintbrush to create bold and exciting designs. He went on to…

While an empty cardboard box from a ream of copy paper may be the most coveted box among teachers in the author's school, for other people, brass boxes from India, Khokhlova lacquer boxes from Russia, and puzzle boxes from Japan are more the type that are collected and admired. Whether it is used for storage or decoration, a box can evoke a sense…

As part of a Professional Learning Community (PLC), the author is asked to focus on the four essential questions of learning when developing projects: (1) What is it teachers want their students to learn?; (2) How will teachers know if each student has learned it?; (3) How will teachers respond when some students do not learn it?; and (4) How can…

In this article, the author describes how to make soup bowls as a class project. The slab method is used to construct the soup bowls, but bowls could just as easily be made on the potter's wheel for advanced students, using the pinch method with beginners, or with the coil method for intermediate students. Found objects from around a garage or…

With standardized English Language Arts exams on the horizon, the author thought a game of Antonyms would provide not only a quick language arts activity for her sixth graders, but also a nice segue to an art lesson in contrast. In this article, she describes a project, a simple saucer on a pedestal base, which required students to demonstrate…