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…

Anytime an art teacher mentions clay projects to elementary students, they immediately get excited. The problem is doing a clay project can oftentimes be expensive and time consuming. This article describes an art project that provides an interesting way to apply the concept of crayon resist to ceramics. This project is fun, easy and inexpensive.…

Creating clay animals and their habitats with second-grade students has long been one of the author's favorite classroom activities. Students love working with clay and they also enjoy drawing animal homes. In this article, the author describes how the students created a diorama instead of drawing their clay animal's habitat. This gave students…

Tales of love and hate, of athleticism, heroism, devotion to gods and goddesses that influenced myth and culture are a way of sharing ancient Greece's rich history. In this article, the author describes how her students created their own Greek-inspired clay vessels as artifacts of their study. (Contains 6 online resources.)

It was time for yet another challenge. Bright colored glazes were on hiatus; earth tones and mixed media took center stage. Inspiration was provided this time by the myriad Native American potters from the desert Southwest. The project: create a coil pot that demonstrates interesting form and good artistry and reflects, through symbolism or mixed…

A chess set project is suggested to teach multiple throwing, the creation on a potter's wheel of several pieces of similar configuration. Processes and finished sets are illustrated with photographs. (SJL)

The pots described in this article evolved through a process of pressing objects into clay pieces for textural impressions and arranging these impressed pieces together for an overall pattern. (Author)

Detailed instructions are given for creating small boxes or caskets from clay slabs. (SJL)

Thorough advance planning will eliminate much of the clutter and the mud hazards associated with the introduction of ceramics. Provides some helpful suggestions for teaching ceramics in an efficient and tidy fashion. (Author/RK)

Describes the process of making ceramic sculpture with photographs showing the process from beginning to end. (RK)

Complete instructions, materials needed, and approximate costs are given for constructing a kiln for firing Raku ceramics. (SJL)

In two related articles, the author describes (1) a field trip during which his high school ceramics club collected clay from the outdoors and (2) the process he used to create primitive pottery pieces from such material. (SJL)

History has recorded the potter's wheel to be one of man's oldest tools. Its output consists almost totally of either forms derived from a cylindrical shape, or bowl and platter styles. An attempt was made here to produce a functional configuration not dependent upon these traditional forms, while still preserving the integrity and tradition of…

Three student projects using clay are discussed. These include a ceramic wall panel with an eagle motif, clay vessels formed by coiling clay, and clay puppets made with light bulbs as armatures. Instructions on materials, forming techniques, and finishing are given. (IS)