Ceramic Dogs in the Style of Steve Fullmer

What a wonderful way to start the new term, a clay lesson with Maria’s creative Year One and Two class. Everyone was very excited at the prospect of using clay, it was a great way to begin the term.

Today we looked at the art of Steve Fullmer who is a New Zealand based ceramic artist. I am a fan of Fullmer’s work and thought that the offbeat nature and whimsy of his designs would appeal to the students. I was correct. The kids loved his work, especially the ocean themed pieces from the Cutting a New Orbit exhibition.

The goal for today’s lesson was to learn to make a pinch pot and join clay pieces to it using slip. We used Fullmer’s ceramic dogs as models for our work. The students rolled balls of clay in the hands, pushed their thumb into the middle and pinched the edges around to make a pinch pot for the head of their dog. They joined ears and noses by using the score and slip technique. They created a rough surface by drawing cross-hatching lines on both the pinch pot and piece to be added. They then added slip to both surfaces and joined them together by smoothing out the edges of the joined piece onto the pinch pot. I am really proud of how well the students worked on this technique - it can be quite challenging for little people but Maria’s class were amazing!

One of the techniques that the kids loved learning the most how to make the eyes for their dog. I showed the students how to create an eye socket and then add a tiny ball of clay (with the score and slip technique of course!) as the eyeball. They finished off the eye by poking a skewer into the eyeball to make a pupil. The result was a much more realistic looking eye than just drawing the eye on the clay with a clay tool.

The dogs are drying in my art room and will be fired in the school kiln in the next week or so. Hopefully the students will be able to add a glaze or paint them when they are back in class with Maria.  I’m hoping to do an update of this post later in the term with the finished dogs - watch this space!

Chiara, age 5

Harvey, age 6

Kees, age 6

Abby, age 6

Mya, age 6

Silas, age 6

Jacqui, age 6

Dhunanjay, age 6

Lia, age 6

Shammah, age 7

Edie Rose, age 6

Matthew, age 6

Cayden, age 6

George, age 6

Franklin, age 7

Ana-Maria, age 6

Genevieve, age 6

Edie Spain, age 6

Leo, age 7

Phoebe, age 7

Maia, age 6

Sylvia, age 6