Ancient Pot Project

Much of the world's ancient pottery was made using a coil technique. This was a pretty easy process for most of my students to learn. They rolled each snake-like coil of clay out on the table, stacked it into the place before blending it into the wall. It is important to push the coil down into the outside and the inside of the pot. It is OK to see finger marks as you are blending.

The pot can be embellished by adding a foot or arms. When it gets leather hard, students were even able to carve into the surface. This was a great lesson to review the our Ancient Greece notes from months ago. Students could choose from traditional forms, learn what that specific type of vase or pot was used for, and review the names of the parts of the pot. The technique of hand building by using coils was the main learning objective, but there's so much more to this lesson. And getting to have a nice flower vase in time for Mother's Day is a bonus.

 

Coil Pots

Coil pottery is an ancient technique and a fun way to introduce functional ceramics to art students. 

The process begins by rolling out a "snake" like shape with clay. This is used to  coil, or spiral around in a circle to form the bottom of a bowl, or it can be added to a slab (clay rolled out into a shape) to form a small wall. Layers of coils are added using the slip-and-score technique in which the attaching edges are scored with hatch marks and a slimy clan-water mixture is added for glue. If the clay is very soft than the slip and score method isn't needed; as two pieces can be smoothed together.

In the past, I have had assignments in which the students must smooth the inside and outside as they go along building the wall, but for this assignment, only the inside was smoothed so that the outside showed the texture of the coil process. Students were encouraged to use a variety of ways to add coils, in squiggles, spirals, horizontal layers etc. This way the end product makes it possible to see, feel, and remember the process.

Coil Pots

A thousand years before I moved to the south, there were Native Americans here making amazing pottery with the same Georgia clay, and the same coil methods that we use today. I taught my art students the styles and techniques used by the Mississipian and Creek nations, beginning with the shapes of their vessels.

I needed to make drawings with puffy paint for my blind students who couldn't see the slide show.

They each sketched their own variation of pot, using the correct terms for the parts: neck, lip, shoulders, foot, and handles. Some students tried to replicate what they felt in my drawings, using wiki sticks.

Then the students made coils "or snake like shapes from clay by rolling their hands on top of the clay and moving each hand and finger further apart to evenly stretch it.The bottom coil rolled up like a spiral and was smoothed out top and bottom. In the end, I didn't want the coils to show at all. 

The Ocmulgee Indian Mounds is a National Monument in our town. It has videos showing how the coils were smoothed and used to create walls. Then wooden carvings were pressed into the sides of the pots to create pattern. I required my students to use a repeated texture too.

There is a school wide media fair coming up, during which each teacher will show case how their students learned about the people and history of the state. We will showcase some of our pots in the bisque fired state so that they look more authentic. Once the show is over, we will glaze and fire the pots again. Maybe, they will be ready just in time for Christmas. Who wouldn't want an ancient style, modern twist, home made, coil pot!