So, the journey continues, and I have added art class to my list of specialty classes that I am attending with my fifth graders. I avoided this one for most of the semester as I have never thought of myself as artistic. In fact, even my stick figures are mediocre, in my opinion. It just so happened that the day I chose to spend in art, they were working in a different medium: Clay! Phew!
Something about clay was very non-threatening to me. Who doesn't love rolling out clay and cutting out shapes? The design part was the tricky element to this activity. We were given a paper plate and we were using it to shape a wreath-like pottery piece in which the pieces needed to all be touching with a shape in the middle that held it all together. We used lots of holiday and winter shapes. I chose a Christmas tree to hold mine together. Many of the kids chose gingerbread men and teddy bears as well!
We used vinegar to fuse the pieces together so they would stick once they hit the kiln. 50 minutes of art flies by once the activities begin. We all got very absorbed in what we were making!
My art lesson ended up being two weeks long because once we finished our wreaths they had to be fired. During the next class we were able to glaze them! This was another 50 minutes that flew by! Everyone tried so hard to paint neatly and cover all of the clay with the dull/flat glaze. It was SO hard to wait another week to see the shiny results! But the wait was well worth it!! Don't you think?