Countdown to Winter Break!

We spent the past week finishing up pending projects, and talking about everyone's plans for Winter Break! 

Students in Ceramics I had a blast painting the spirit balls that they made a few weeks ago. Each one has it's own personality and own unique sound. Ceramic artists in the Wednesday class (above) counted the number of clay "marbles" they put into the spirit ball, and we compared sounds before the painting began. 

Hey! We could start a 

spirit ball percussion band! :)

The Tuesday class painted a variety of bisque fired wares . . .

Including small sculptural works (above)

Ian added onto his to spirit ball (below) to create a highly sculptural, and very interesting piece! What a great imagination!

Ceramics II students added glaze to their functional pieces. Once these have been glaze fired, I'll be sure to post the "after" photos. 

Mae (above) and Sarah (below) worked diligently all through class to put three layers of glaze on each of their pots. It's a slow and time-consuming process, but very important since they want to use these for food.

Students in all the other classes either finished work on pending projects, or did a "student choice" work . . .

Parker, for instance, brought in reference material from home ( a little penguin toy, above) which he drew in class. Great work! It looks just like the original!

Decorated trees surrounded by wrapped gifts were also very popular this past week . . .

And there were thoughts of spending the holidays in tropical locations . . .

We're going to do some fun, Earth-friendly projects during the week before Winter break (the coming week!).

The projects will involve using "junk" mail that I've been saving  . . . very shiny junk mail that is way too pretty and interesting to toss into the landfill!

If you saw me preparing the project last week, you have some idea of what we'll be doing. If not, you're in for a real treat! But that's all I'm going to tell you!  

And, if YOU can tell ME something specific, you'll get an ATC to add to your collection! This week's web challenge is all about Raku Pottery!

Yellow gourd with two raku fired pinch pots, by Miss Robin 

For the week of December 15th through 17th: Find out* what raku pottery is, and how the raku firing process is different from "regular" ceramic firing. Bring me this information, and I'll give you an ATC!

Coil pot, burnished with sgraffito, and raku fired, by Miss Robin

*Remember: Anytime you're doing an online search, your parent or other responsible adult must be present. No exceptions!

Morgan and Parker correctly identified Andy Warhol (Warhola) as the mystery artist from last week's web challenge. Great work, Parker and Morgan! You rock!!!

REMEMBER: Whoever has the most assignment-related ATCs by the end of the semester will win a REALLY COOL PRIZE. A 2nd place prize will also be awarded. There will be a first and second prize for each school day, so get busy!  

And remember to bring the above assignment to class!!!!

Wrapping up Projects

We had quite a few students out sick this past week (get well soon!), so those in attendance spent their time wrapping up existing projects and creating independent works. 

Carson created the wonderful depiction (above) of a mother bird feeding her hungry babies . . .

. . . and Morgan started and finished the "fill in the missing side" drawing you see below. 

As one final tribute to the Thanksgiving holiday, Chloe drew this whimsical "Butterfly Thanksgiving":

This past week saw our final "wet clay day" in all ceramics classes. Students finished up their hand building projects, and will spend the coming weeks refining existing greenware, and painting or glazing bisque ware. We'll need time for works to completely dry (also known as "bone dry"), so that they can be bisque fired, then returned to us for glazing, and then back to the kiln for a final glaze firing. It's a long process! This group of four Haniwa were found having a little party during Wednesday's Ceramics II class!

And, finally, this week's:

goes to Kaylyn in Evergreen! Just look at these three exquisite botanical paintings that Kaylyn did at home!

These are just magnificient!

Great work, Kaylyn!

Students who would like to win an ATC during the week of December 8th through 10th can do so by figuring out the following web challenge that comes straight from the 

It was a time for dramatic change all over the world, and especially in the ART world! One particular artist (a man), became quite famous for his POP ART, where he turned attention back on popular culture and the world around him, and created works of art that depicted everyday "mundane" objects (like soup cans!) and huge silk screen portraits of famous people. Often his artworks, which were quite large, would have multiple depictions of the same image. His art studio was called The Factory, where he treated art making like a business, and employed many people to help him create art. Many of the images he used in his art came from newspapers and magazines. Other clues:


He was the son of Slovakian immigrants. 

He predicted that everyone would have 

"15 minutes of fame."

Because of his premature baldness, he often wore a 
funny-looking white wig. Who is this artist?

*Remember: Anytime you're doing an online search, your parent or other responsible adult must be present. No exceptions!

Whoever has the most assignment-related ATCs by the end of the semester will win a REALLY COOL PRIZE. A 2nd place prize will also be awarded. There will be a first and second prize for each school day, so get busy!  

And remember to bring the above assignments to class!!!!