Clay Terms

•Slip - a mixture of clay and water used like glue, used in combination with scoring. •Fire - to turn the kiln on to heat the clay or glaze the clay •kiln - the type of oven used throughout the firing (baring) process •additive - adding material to a piece •subtractive - taking away material from a piece •what is clay? - a fine grained earthly material that is wet and hardens when heated •score - to make the surface of the clay rough when putting two pieces together •leather hard - clay that is loosing moisture and beginning to stiffen-perfect for carving •greenware - clay that has dried out and is ready to be fired. green ware changes to a lighter color and is very fragile •form - an element of art that is 3 dimensional •bisqueware - clay that has been fire onced •grog - fine bits of fired clay mixed in soft clay to help strengthen the clay •glaze - a form of liquid glass put on bisqueware to have a decorative coating or finish •wedge - to knead the clay or push on it to remove air bubbles and extra moisture •cone - a small cone shaped piece of clay used inside the kiln to automatically shut the kiln off at the correct temperature •pinch - a ball pinched into a round ball shape (basic building technique with clay) •slab - a flatten piece of clay (basic building techniques with clay) •wheelthrown - using a wheel as it is spinning to form the clay (basic building techniques with clay)

The history of pottery in the Native American Culture

The first thing in making pottery is by gathering clay. In some pueblos they bring in the clay and lay it out in the sun for it to dry. Once the clay has been dried they put it into a washtub with enough water and the clay is left their so it can soak for several days and repeated until water is clear. After the clay is finally raw and clean they mash it with their fingers and mix it with water so it can pass through a sieve made of window screen. By sifing the clay it helps to remove rocks that may ruin the pottery. Then when it is ready its mixed with water, clay and tempering agents to form it like bread dough. Back then men didn't shape pottery. They would take a piece of clay and pat it into a tortilla shape. Its pressed into a shallow dish. Next they use a sandpaper, wet cloth and damp fingers to smooth the surface of the vessel. They apply slip after smoothing it and after each application of it, it's rubbed with a polishing stone. They start to decorate it by painting, impressing, carving or sgraffito. The last step is firing.

Pottery Reflection

The theme/title of this unit is pottery. I got started on this work by first drawing a side,top and front view of my animal. The media and skills I used throughout the unit is clay and skills I used was doing geometric shapes. I used them successfully because by doing geometric shape it made it easier to create the animal I choose. I found difficulty trying to attach the legs and head to the body of the animal. The element I used during the unit was form,shape and space. I used the element form throughout the whole pottery so it can look like a cat. I used shape in the head and legs and used space between the legs so the front and back legs weren't so close. The principles of design that I used during this unit was balance, and unity. I used balance in by making the animal able to stand up on its own. I used uity to unit the legs and head with the body. No, I didn't use any different compositional arrangements before producing the final work. The media my final work was produced in was clay. My work was 3 dimensional. I was happy with the final result because it turned out looking like an animal. Yes, I did enjoy the project because the project was more of a hand on thing and it was fun. None of my art skills improved during this project. New skills I learned was when doing pottery alwawys start out by drawing the top, front and side view not just the drawing of your animal. I think I could have made the eyes better to improve my work.