Sculptural Ceramics
PREREQUISITE- Foundations of Art
$40.00 RECOVERY FEE
Course Outline
This is a one semester, upper level course that is offered to students with prior enrollment in Art
Foundations. No supplies are needed, but a $40 recovery fee is to be paid in the office on or before
January 15th, to cover all supplies. This course provides an introduction to Ceramic Sculpture with a
specific focus on hand building processes. Contemporary Ceramics is an expansive art form including
vessel making, sculptural works and painted tile work. The options for working with fired clay are
limitless and the technical subject matter complex.
This course presents projects which give the student experiences in developing ideas based on
contemporary culture. Sculpture processes which are additive and subtractive, plus pinch, coil
building, and slab construction methods as applied to sculpting will be taught. Glaze lectures, an
introduction to electric kiln firing and a technical introduction to the raw materials are also
presented. The class format will include image presentations and demonstrations of hand building
and sculpture techniques. Class lectures will incorporate highlights from ceramic history along with
many contemporary examples. You will have an average of six class periods to work on each assigned
project. This is an elective class and you are choosing to complete the course requirements. You
have approximately 40 hours to complete the course requirements listed below.
What you do with your time in class is most important, use it wisely….
Good Attendance is a must..
(work ethic points of 15 per day will be deducted for absences
not made up during after- hours tutoring)
Objectives
Students will show understanding for the elements and principles
of art through the creation of glazed ceramics.
Students must demonstrate appropriate use of equipment in
accordance with established safety guidelines.
Students will gain awareness of their own creative abilities and
of the world around them through spatial perception.
Project/Unit Themes
2 Pinch Pots- min. 4” inches and a pinch rattlehead
Open/ closed Coil Vases-minimum 12”
2 Textured Hump Mold bowls 1w/feet
Slab constructed Monument Public/Reliquary Sculpture
Nature: Plant form. Vegetable or Floral (life –death cycle)
Animal/Human Figurative -15” minimum
-represent a personal memory or identity form
-Hand/foot study mag. X3
Personal/Family Metaphor – start finding music now
*Students will be assigned a clean-up area that will be your responsibility for the semester to
maintain, not doing so could equal up to a 10 percent reduction in your overall grade.
* Each Wednesday will be a day for journaling about ceramics through history, current market trends
in ceramics and personal goals and achievements in the classroom. This will all be graded
assignments that will contribute to your overall grade.
*Online research, blogging and portfolio will be an expected part of your grade.
Grading Policy
Grades are comprised by the accumulation of points. Each student will be given a point sheet with the
requirements for success at that time. Work will be set out and an evaluation of the pottery will be based
on originality, throwing ability, glazing ability. Grades are given on a percentage basis (points earned
divided by points possible).
Grade Percentages
A
AB+
B
BC+
94-100%
90-93%
87-89%
84-86%
80-83%
77-79%
C
CD+
D
DF
74-76%
70-73%
67-69%
64-66%
60-63%
59 and below
Consequences
1st verbal warning
2nd verbal warning
3rd detention, parent
contact
4th referral
Each student is to have his or her name, hour and class on every project turned in to me.
*****Pottery with out a name or stamp will be discarded and no-grade assigned for that work.******
Students are to keep their work at school till the work can be graded then it may be taken home.
A continuous collection of “A” grade work will be collected and kept for various art exhibits
throughout the year. Notification of those exhibits will be given. Art will be returned to the student
before the end of the year.
No cell phones, ipods, MP3 players, CD players, radios, electronic games or anything of that nature
will be allowed inside the classroom. Once the students walk through the doorway, the items are not
to be seen or heard. Music may be listened to only on the days that there is no instruction.
1st occurrence – Teacher retains item for the remainder of the day.
2nd occurrence – Teacher assigns before/after school detention.
3rd occurrence – Teacher refers student to the office..
Students will be advised of the many possible hazards that accompany some of the mediums or tools
used on assignments. Safety measures will always be discussed before a project.
Passes are only issued on an emergency basis. Three Emergency passes will be given per semester.
Passes will only be given after the daily objectives have been given and students are working
independently.
Excessive Tardies three Tardies will result in school detention and will follow policies outlined in your
Student Handbook. The “HALL SWEEPER” program will be enforced first period, everyday.
***Three passes for late clean-up will be given to each student for the semester, when he or she
surpasses the three allowed a tardy will be given in the next class.***