Angela Zesiger's Final Project

Final Project

Each of the pieces that are shown here, I threw on the wheel as a demonstration for one of my classes. I do this every year, so some of the kids have seen me do it for the last 5 years and every time they come up with new questions about how the clay is being formed. I am so impressed with how the children's questions are becoming more complexed.

I was surprised by how beautiful some of the glazes turned out. I think the students were also surprised by how the glaze turned out. They can't understand sometimes how the glaze looks chalky grayish in color and then it comes out of the kiln a bright blue.

The more I throw the larger the pieces get.  The students also can see that the pieces of pottery are getting larger.  Every student in my class from pre-k to 5th grade get to work with clay and as they get older the amount of clay that they get to use to make their artwork gets larger, therefore their artwork gets larger.

One thing about my pottery is I like to put texture on it.  Sometimes I let the students pick which tool I'm going to use to make the texture. They love feeling that they are a part of the decision process in making the art.  I guess you could say that these pieces are collaborative artwork.  I like to demonstrate in front of the children.  I feel that it is good for the student and also good for me to be able to do art. I think that it is a great stress relief from the everyday hustle and bustle for both the students and me. I love to watercolor with the kids.

I still have about 8 pieces of pottery that need to be glazed. I have a few that I will be re-glazing and re-firing to see if I can get a better effect with the glaze. The pieces in the picture are my favorites this year.  I really love how the glazes and texture turned out. The students have learned what makes these pots functional and nonfunctional.