This term in Visual Art, Year 5 students have been developing their design work into decorative ceramic tiles.
Students learnt how to make a clay slab, working quickly with the clay - rolling, cutting, refining - then tracing their design and incising the lines into the smooth square slab.
The tiles were then bisque fired and the students used underglaze paints to add colour to the shapes of their quarter-circle patterns. A glaze coat was applied and, after a second firing, the students created some digital art with photographs of their tiles. Copying and rotating their tile photograph 90 degrees, they used technology to complete the full 360 degree circle pattern.
Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions. It is amazing to contemplate that humans have been making ceramic artworks for at least 29,000 years. Today, students are able to combine ancient and digital technologies to enhance the creative process and explore ways to express their ideas.
Mrs Ann McDermott
Junior School Specialist Teacher (Visual Arts)