The students at my school love hands-on, tactile learning. They enjoy building and solving problems with their hands. I try to give my students a diverse experience with the visual arts. When I announce to my students that we will be starting a clay project, the class usually cheers and claps.
My school opened in the late 1990s and "Learning Through The Arts" was one of the founding principles.
I am always looking for ways to integrate scientific concepts into the visual arts.
My Project
Students have made several clay projects with me over the course of several years. We use red-brown clay from the southwest and in the past we left the artwork brown or tried to paint the work with watercolor paints. The paints add some color to the work, but are not ideal to use with ceramics. The glazes provided by this grant will allow my students to decorate their pottery in full color (rather than just brown), with authentic art materials, and will help my students take their projects to next level.
Paintings come home from my class and are often discarded, but families hold on to artwork made with clay.
Many parents have told me that they have a special place in their home where clay projects from my class are on display for years and years.
In addition to making beautiful works of art, we will integrate the arts with science and my students will use the seeds to grow their own vegetables.
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