Slab-Built Cup Set

Contextual Factors

                  This lesson is taking place in rural Union City High School.  The student population consists of 98% Caucasian students.  50% of the students at Union City High School also qualify for free and reduced meals at the school.  The total number of students at the school is roughly 400 in grades 9-12.  The art room is very well equipped and the department has a very large budget for such a small school.  The school offers classes in drawing/painting, weaving, ceramics, stained glass, arts and crafts, graphic design, and more.  There are two very large storage closets and a ton of cupboard space for storage.  There is an electric kiln and two wheels for ceramics class; there are 5 floor looms and several table-top looms and inkle looms for weaving class; there are soldering torches, band saws, kilns, and grinders for the stained glass class; there are also the normal essential materials that every art room has.  This school really has most of the necessary supplies you could think of.  There are 7 tables at which students work and the room is filled with visual aids and example projects for student inspiration and knowledge retention. Class periods are 84 minutes long and students are seen every day for an entire nine-week marking period.

                  Students will be creating their own custom set of hand-made slab-built ceramic cups.  Students from this economically depressed area of the state enjoy creating pieces that they know can be useful to them in their homes.  Because these students typically come from poor farming families, things that are useful to them in their every day lives hold much more value to them than something that hangs on the wall or sits on the table collecting dust.  Students will appreciate this project, as it will be an active and functioning aspect of their family system.

Goals and Standards

• To create a set of at least two cups that has a unifying theme. 9.1.E Delineate a unifying theme through the production of a work of art that reflects skills in media processes and techniques
• To explore functional ceramic art from contemporary potters around the world by using technology to access online gallery shows 9.1.K Evaluate the use of contemporary technologies in furthering knowledge and understanding in the arts.
• To examine the history and development of the drinking vessel 9.2.C Relate works in the arts to varying styles and genre and to the periods in which they were created
• To appreciate the form and function of handmade ceramic mugs 9.4.B Describe and analyze the effects that works in the arts have on groups, individuals, and the culture
• To analyze and critique the work of their peers and professional artists 9.3.A Explain and apply the critical examination processes of works in the arts and humanities

Content

                  In this lesson, students will be creating unique, one of a kind hand-made slab-built ceramic cups.  Students will be required to make a set of at least 2 cups that either interact in some way or hold a central theme that ties them together as a set.  The cups are required to have a handle and must incorporate carving as a method for surface decoration.  Students must also use food-safe glazes on the interior of each of their cups so that they can properly function in their homes.   I will show them several methods for creating their slab cup, such as using a paper template, darting, etc.  Students will be encouraged to make unique, one of a kind pottery that represents a bigger idea (personality, poverty, farming, war, family, love, nature, etc.). 

Day 1: Students will begin project on slab built cups.  I will give an introduction, presentation, and demonstration for the project.  Students will do a preliminary drawing and plan of execution that will be approved before they begin working with clay.  During demonstration, I will show students how to roll out slabs with a rolling pin and slab-roller.  They will also be introduced to several construction techniques including using paper models and several alteration techniques such as darting, adding sculptural elements, and changing the shape by pushing and cutting.  I have brought in many cups from my personal collection.  Students will interact with these cups and discuss what they like/don’t like about them and why.

Bell-Ringer:  Do you have a favorite cup you use at home?  Describe the cup in detail.

Pre-Assessment: Hold discussion about the relationship that humans have with cups, ask/answer questions as necessary to facilitate conversation

Formative Assessment: Check for student understanding through discussion and active participation.  Guiding questions: Do you have a favorite cup?  Why is it your favorite? How does this handle feel in your hand compared to that one?  Have any of you made a paper model for a three-dimensional form?  If I cut out this 2-d shape and fold the ends to create a 3-d form, what shape will the form be?  To attach two pieces of clay, what method do I use?  What is a theme?  Do these cups look like they can be a set?    

Day 2: Students will turn in drawings and continue to work on their slab built cups.  They will make a set of two cups that relate to one another.  For more ideas and continued interest in the subject material, students will take notes/sketch during a presentation featuring the work of contemporary potters.  We will talk as a group about the aesthetics and processes involved in the construction of the cups. 

Bell-Ringer:  Write a few sentences describing the “Intimacy Hierarchy” that you learned from the video last class.

Pre-Assessment: Review material from previous day and make clarifications when necessary

Formative Assessment: Ask questions and hold class discussion/critique regarding aesthetic, function, and design during the contemporary cups presentation.  Check student work for understanding and assist where necessary. 

Day 3: Students will continue to work on their slab built cups.  Students will be encouraged to look at the book 500 Cups by Lark books publishing company to do more brainstorming.  Students will be shown a demonstration on how to properly use the slab roller.

Bell-Ringer:  What is your cup set’s unifying theme?  Why did you choose that theme?

Pre-Assessment:  Remind students of the importance of creating unique ideas/themes for the cup sets.  Ask students about their themes and work with them to strengthen their ideas where necessary.

Formative Assessment:  Check for successful construction methods and assist where necessary.  Ask students about their designs in order to push their creativity and success.

Day 4: Students continue working on cup project.  They will be shown an online gallery of a recent cup show and will participate in discussion about the work.

Bell-Ringer:  How do you alter the thickness of your slab when using the slab roller?

Pre-Assessment:  Check progress of student work at beginning of the class.  Students should have one cup completed at this point. 

Formative Assessment:  Facilitate discussion and active participation during presentation, assist students with construction, ask/answer questions as necessary.

Day 5: Last day of working on cup project.  Some students will be making cups; others will be glazing past projects, etc.

Bell-Ringer: Draw a picture of your cups in process.

Pre-Assessment:  Check for understanding about the safe and proper use of glaze materials.  Guiding questions: How do you know if a glaze is safe to use on the inside of pottery to be used to eating/drinking?  How do you find out how many coats of glaze are needed for desirable results?  Where are the glazes located and how are they organized?

Formative Assessment:  Check for student understanding, ask questions/assist students as necessary. 

Vocabulary/Word Bank

• Unifying- to make or become a single unit
• Theme- an idea that recurs in a work of art
• Slab- thin, flat sheet of clay used for construction of pottery
• Carve- to use tools to take away portions of the clay in order to add surface imagery

Materials/Resources/Technology

Student Materials

• Clay, Slab roller, Rolling Pins, Slip, Clay tools, plastic bags, etc.

Artists/Works

• examples of past student work, work of multiple contemporary professional potters

Teacher Resources

• Pete Pinnell Thoughts on Cups http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChFMMzLHVs&list=PL39FBD022E65671EB&index=7&feature=plpp_video
• Charlie Cummings Gallery Show Cup: The Intimate Object VII http://claylink.com/zen/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=83_239
• Crimson Laurel Gallery Source Material: An Exhibition on Water and the Ceramic Cup  https://www.crimsonlaurelgallery.com/shop/source-material/
• PowerPoint presentation about contemporary cups and the history of cups
• Cups from my personal collection

Summative Assessment Plan

• Students will be assessed based on the guidelines outlined in the rubric.  I will assess them based on the guidelines of the rubric, and the students will assess themselves based on the guidelines in the rubric.
• Students have created a cup pair shares a theme that is thoughtful, original, and understandable.  Their idea must be original, creative, and easily recognized as a set of cups to be viewed together. 
• Students will have participated in an analysis of the work of contemporary potters through active discussion and bell ringer questions.
• Students will have participated in an analysis of the work of contemporary potters through active discussion and bell ringer questions.
• Students have critiqued the function and aesthetics of the ceramic cup during their active and thoughtful participation in a group critique activity.
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