Fort Meigs African Safari - Ceramic Installation

This was a huge and very satisfying undertaking… I love clay, I love installations, this was the perfect project at the right time.  I did not photograph the making process of these animals, I made this in 2004. Before I was a blogger, before Facebook, before Pinterest.  Had I known that image sharing would be what it is… I would have documented the whole thing! So… the basic details…

4th Grade – Wild cats – any kind they wanted to make, I had lots of pictures for them to see.

3rd Grade – Elephants, Zebras, Hippos, and Giraffes – each class made one animal

2nd Grade – Monkeys, Gorillas, Alligators and Rhinos

Every project is created on a pinch pot body.  Then build with not body parts, but muscles.  If you pay attention to how the muscles attach on an animal, you can build an animal in clay to stand on four feet.  If not… they fall over.

Finishing was acrylics.  I pre-dipped all the animals in semi-gloss latex by base color needed.  Then students add the accent colors.

Display – Twisty paper bag trees with shredded green construction paper dumped on top.  Burlap and blue transparent cellophane.

Fort Meigs Farm - Ceramic Installation

This project was my first ceramic installation… The FT. MEIGS FARM!!! Love it! Cracks me up! It was super fun to make, easy pinch pot projects.  This was made in 2006 & 2007, I did it two years in a row.  Pre Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and BLOGGING! I do not have any photos of the process.  So… just enjoy!

1st Grade – Chickens, Ducks, Pigs & Sheep

2nd  Grade – Cats, Dogs, Horses & Cows

1st Grade - Eric Carle Flower Gardens

I LOVE this lesson... so much fun in the Spring! 

The first class, we make several pieces of painted paper, Eric Carle style, using scrapers and sponges. Each table or class makes a batch of a color for everyone to share. (red/oranges. yellow/oranges, blue/violets. yellow/greens, magenta/violets)

The next class, I have it prepped for everyone! 2x9 strips for cutting grass and stems. 3x3 squares for cutting flowers and a 2x9 strip for cutting suns and rays. Once finished, we use Crayola Twistables to draw some flying "friends". They LOVE to draw the flight path for each. 😀

These are 8x8 for Square 1 Art. Even small, they are super cute!

1st Grade - Laurel Burch inspired Collage Cats!

This is an ALL TIME FAVORITE lesson of mine. I have taught it many times, with very minor adjustments, depending on my mood. Always, I show students several works of art by Laurel Burch. We look at her color, line and shape patterns. 

I have 4 classes of 1st graders, so to keep everything organized, I have two classes make tall cats, two classes make wide cats. One of each start with a warm color head other, a cool colored head.  

Once the heads are traced and cut, students start with 2" strips of paper, cutting zigzag and curvy lines. They glue them down. Then, they cut white paper for eyes and a colored piece for the center.  Next, a folded 4x6 is cut for the mouth area, a strip is cut for the nose. Eyelashes and wiskers are optional. 

When all the collaging is done, we work on adding pattern through dotting with different sized circle sponges on stick.

Last step, we make flowers with leaves. Flowers are tempera paint with black India Ink details. Leaves are green construction paper with black India Ink.

Always a crowd pleaser!