By K. Dockendorff
All the art classes have been working over this last marking period on their clay projects. Can you imagine over 500 clay projects in various stages of making, drying, glazing, firing and painting?
The kindergarteners made wall pockets and roses using pinch technique and textures, then painted with watercolors. The 1st graders made classic pinch pots that they glazed and are now using for their cereal, ice cream, juice or M & M's. They also made simulated medals like the winter Olympians, using textures from their shoes and special metallic paint.
The 2nd graders sculpted wonderful birds of all kinds, some for votive candles, all with bright bold coloring. What a beautiful flock!
The 3rd graders finished a very challenging project creating a Native American storyteller, paying homage to the family tradition of passing on history through storytelling. This included many techniques of pinch, slab, coil, and score and slip. They followed up by writing a story using Native American picture symbols.
The 4th graders had fun integrating their unit studying the Iditarod with their clay project of designing their own part of a class totem pole. Each student researched totem poles, studied the meaning of the animal spirit as well as the color meaning for their clay piece. They learned that Totem poles come from the Northwest coast, not the mid- west states. The students used the Internet for research, viewed a PowerPoint about the history and meaning of totem poles, and used slab, pinch, relief design, and carving for the clay portion of their work.
The 5th grades just finished delightful gargoyle sculptures.
One exciting note on pottery, Mrs. Dockendorff just had 2 of her pottery pieces accepted into a juried art show sponsored by the Department of Culture and Tourism. A juried show is one where you apply by sending an artist statement along with photographs of your work then they are judged and accepted or rejected based on merit. This show will be open from June 11 into August sometime. The title of the show is Change, Artwork of people with Disabilities. Mrs. Dockendorff's work will include a Raku fired bowl and a traditionally fired tall lidded vase. I hope some of you will visit the Department of Culture and Tourism gallery in Hartford to see the amazing abilities of the disabled artists.
