Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts Revised Lesson Plan Format 2006
Lesson Title & Arts Area Making Faces in Clay/Visual Arts
School & Grade Level
Arts Educator
Lesson Designer
Short statement about
designer & lesson
Rollings Middle School of the Arts
Pam Steele
Pam Steele teaches visual arts through residencies. She has 39 years
experience in the classroom and has taught at all levels including
development & place in university. This unit presentation follows a f a lecture and building
Long Range Plans
techniques demonstration in the style of early slave craftsmen who
produced utilitarian pottery. Students will build their knowledge and
skills from teacher demonstration and modeling to construct a 3-D face
jug. The pottery will use the hand-building techniques of pinch and coil
construction as well as textural embellishments with exaggerated facial
features.
Unit Description
Big idea?
Essential questions?
This unit covers expression and communication through
portrait sculptures and face pots based on southern potters and face
pots
Art is a means of communication that is immediate (artist and audience
in the present) and timeless (art communicates ideas from times past).
How have artists depicted human emotions throughout history? How can
we depict emotions in our own artwork?
South Carolina Visual
and Performing Arts
Standards Addressed
I.C. Use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.
III. A. Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate
meaning through their artworks.
V. B. Analyze their own artworks and those of others and describe
improvements that could be made.
Instructional Objectives
1. The student will use clay techniques combining pinch, and coil with
embellishment method to construct a 3-dimensional face pot.
2. The student will use exaggeration and extended proportion to
display emotion in the face pot.
3. The student will critique his/her face pot.
Description of
Instruction
The teacher will lead the class in a discussion of clay work and building
methods that includes proportion, emotion, and purpose. The teacher
will demonstrate correct techniques for working with the clay and
modeling a face pot using the students’ faces as a guide. The teacher
will model writing a short critique. Students will work individually on
their sculptures.
Teacher Procedures
Introductory Statement: In our last unit, we learned the importance of
using correct proportions in drawing a face. Now we’re going to learn
about distorting those proportions to show emotion.
The teacher will
•
review facial proportions.
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Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts Revised Lesson Plan Format 2006
•
lead a discussion of techniques by asking students questions
about example photos and example face pots.
•
outline and review the history of Southern Pottery and face pots
from the field trip.
•
discuss creating character by developing expression and asking
students to model various emotions including happiness,
sadness, confusion, anger, etc.
•
help the students explore the 3-dimensional qualities of the face
and facial expressions using their own faces as models.
•
review correct procedures for working with clay and demonstrate
how to construct a pinch pot. Correct procedures include
additions of coils and features so that the construction is secure.
Using water to smooth and attach pieces. Avoiding pinching the
clay into thin edges or creating cracks by overworking the clay.
•
review the rubric and critique activity so students understand
what is expected.
Student Activities
The students will
•
answer questions and discuss the examples looking for examples
of expression, exaggeration, and face proportions.
•
•
practice modeling different expressions.
use their own faces as guides in discovering 3-dimensional
qualities to be used in their face pots. They will feel the deep
parts of the eye sockets, the curved surfaces of the cheeks, the
changes in the facial structure when smiling or frowning, etc.
•
use clay and tools to create a 3-dimensional portrait expressing
emotion referring to the rubric as they work.
•
Assessment
will write a short critique of their finished piece.
The teacher and students will use an analytic rubric to evaluate the
products for craftsmanship, expressive qualities, and completeness of
the written critique (see attached).
Materials Needed
Clay, tools, water, plastic, examples, paper, pencils
Resources
Photos depicting face pots and other clay work from the artist. Several
examples of face pots or portrait sculptures. A power point presentation
on face pots.
Attachments
Analytic Rubric, critique sheet
Curriculum Connections To arts areas: Theatre, II.D. creating characters
To content areas: Social Studies and History, utilitarian and southern folk
art of slave potters
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Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts Revised Lesson Plan Format 2006
Making Faces – Expressive Face Pot
Student Name ____________________________________________________________________________
Needs
Satisfactory
Excellent
Improvement
Craftsmanship
I did not correct my
I tried to correct all
I corrected all
mistakes. I have
mistakes and I have
mistakes and have
cracks and
few cracks or
no cracks or
incomplete parts on
construction
construction
my face pot.
problems.
problems.
My work is
identified.
Expression
Critique
My face does not
My face pot shows a
My face pot shows a
show a clear
clear expression. I
clear expression
expression. It is
did not add any
with details and
incomplete.
details to make it
features to enhance
better.
the expression.
I did not write a
I wrote three
I wrote more than
critique.
sentences about my
three sentences
face pot. I included
about my face pot
some art words.
using many art
words. I described
the art work and
made suggestions
for improvement.
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Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts Revised Lesson Plan Format 2006
Making Faces – Expressive Portrait
Student Name __________________________________________________________________
Please use the following terms to write at least three sentences about your sculpture.
Make sure that you describe the art work, write about what is good about the work,
and make suggestions for improvement.
form
texture
expression
exaggeration
details
proportion
balance
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