Our class worked with Donna Garofalo, a ceramics artist coordinated through the T.I.A. (Teaching Integrated Arts) Program. We made bowls connected to the theme we're studying in our English literacy lessons, "Champions!" First, we made the bowls. Donna rolled out the clay with a rolling pin and cut it. We put the clay over styrofoam balls covered in plastic wrap. The plastic wrap kept our bowls from sticking to the ball and we decorated our bowls with clay and carved designs while the clay was wet. We also put a foot on our bowls, so they would look more like trophies that a champion would receive.
The next time we saw Donna, we had bowls that had dried and been fired in a kiln (a really hot oven for clay). Our bowls were bisqueware, so they were hard and white (the colour of the dry clay). We painted our bowls with glaze (a special ceramic paint). Donna had figurines that had been painted with each glaze colour and then fired in the kiln. These were to show us what colour the glaze will be after the bowls are fired. Sometimes the colour of glaze can change after the clay is fired a second time.
Donna brought our bowls back when we saw her the third time. Our bowls were fired in the kiln again and finished. A few of our bowls had broken during firing, or we dropped them, but Donna said she will glue them back together, put clear glaze on them, fire them again, and return them to us. We loved how our bowls turned out! The day before, we made up interview questions, so we interviewed each other about our bowls and some of us volunteered to present about our bowls. We also did a "gallery walk," which is when we walked around to see everybody's bowl. We had a great time working with ceramics!
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