DREAM BIG #3 February 2015 | Page 23

art.

2. Learn a new process of using ceramic clay as a printing medium.

3. Learn to mix media for desired results.

Steps to setting up & preparing

1. Cut a large black of clay for each student. Assemble a large sheet of cardboard to accommodate their sheet of clay and an assortment of carving tools for incising the clay.

2. Assemble a variety of cups of acrylic paint for each table as well as water cups, spray water bottles and a variety of brushes.

3. Prepare boxes of oil pastels and collections of fine line markers for embellishment.

Directions

Step 1: Students hand flatten their clay and work in teams to roll out large sheets of clay. The sheet must be supported by a large sheet of cardboard after coming out of the press.

Step 2: Using reference photographs and resource images, students incise a variety of lines and textures into their clay to create their image. The clay must be kept moist by spraying often and covering with plastic when not being worked on. Paint is then applied in thick coats, spraying with water often and blending colors.

Step 3: Place a precut cloth over the sheet of clay and rub gently with the back of a spoon or plastic lid until absorption is visible across the cloth.

Step 4: Upon drying, embellish the print and add fine details with oil pastel and fine markers. Encourage students to leave the paint strokes and swirls to maintain the charter of the print.

Evaluation

1. How does this assignment fit into your States common core curriculum standards?

Although, Brevard County has not fully adopted the Common Core program of standards, this project clearly uses cross-curricular strategies to enable students to understand that subjects are not studied separately but integrate for better understanding.

The Florida State Standards that are met by this project include:

• Critical thinking and vocabulary

• Skills & procedures

• Historical and global connections

• Innovation and technology

2. Did you and your students enjoy working on this assignment?

The students loved the uniqueness of using clay to create a 2-D piece of artwork. I observed some disappointment as students pulled their print because some of the details of the clay drawing are lost in the print.

Exhibit Theme

"The Mars Generation; Living off the Land on Mars"

Southwest

Middle

School

Palm Bay, FL

7th-8th Grades

Mrs. Tucker

Topic Explored; The

potential of Mars

exploration and compare/

contract space travel has

developed since the Space Shuttle era.

"Discovering Mars"

Materials

1. Ceramic clay rolled in

the clay press;

2. Acrylic paint and

ceramic carving tools;

3. Fine line markers and

oil pastels on a fibrous

material.

Summary; Students

viewed online images of

Mars as well as Art & the

Cosmic Connection,

http://discovery.nasa.goc/art.

Students practiced chalk

drawings using Mars as

Art booklets produced by

NASA. This is a group of

ceramics students, so we

integrated the two

subjects by making prints

from rolled sheets of clay

and embellished them

with marker and oil

pastels.

Objective

1. Understand the

connection to science and