The Art of Ceramics

Year 8 Ceramics

Our Year 8 Ceramics classes this semester have been exploring the world of clay. Historically, clay has been used since even before the ancient days of Pharoah in Egypt with their incredible human height vases to intricately detailed jewelry. The themes our students focused on included Indigenous decorative boomerangs, ocean life conservation and Fantasy creatures and goblets.

Students were first given research projects to learn more about ceramics artists in Australia and throughout the world. They learned about the various clay types, stages of clay and hand building skills. They were involved in the process of creating a clay artwork with wired and wooden tools, applying pinch pot, coiling and slab techniques.

Then learned how the ceramics pieces were fired at a gradual temperature of 1000 degrees celcius for up to 6 hours. Then the fired artwork called bisqueware was ready to be glazed or painted with special ceramic paint to seal the porous rock hard clay and is fired again. This process crystalizes the glaze into a glossy glasslike surface which allows the pieces to be used for functional or decorative purposes.

The following artworks were displayed at our annual awards night in the Art Gallery walkthrough at Tab Corp last Thursday. Congratulations to all the year 8 students for their excellent efforts with their engagement into the art of ceramics.

Ms Schwabe

Art Teacher