Sherman High School Lead art teacher Sherry Young was excited about the possibility to offer a more engaging art curriculum after two large kilns were installed at the campus, and she made that possibility a reality this year.
“All of my Art II, Art III and Art IV classes all had clay projects,” Young said. “Art II had simple pinch pots, and my III and IV made pieces of totem poles and shrines of something or someone special to them.”
The addition of ceramics to the art classes has been spectacular, with student artworks lining the cases in the school’s art wing. Young even hinted at a student art installation using the totem poles coming soon to the courtyard.
“The way we’re doing this gives all the upper-level students an opportunity to work with clay,” Young said.
Ceramic clay as a medium is very different from traditional painting or drawing. It’s three-dimensional, and designs can push and pull on each other. It’s challenging to work with, something Young said some students had to accept.
“They wanted to make it perfect, and clay is a hard thing to get perfect, especially for beginners,” Young said. “They would have perfect designs, but they can’t make the clay perfect. It was a good lesson, though, to let the art be what it is.”
Sophomore Hannah Parker created a pinch pot last year, and while she was excited at first, she said she grew frustrated with the “fickle” medium. While mistakes could be smoothed over easily, it was difficult to get things just right.
“I thought it would be like a wet Play-Doh. I was wrong,” Parker said. “I would make a pattern somewhere, and it would squish another pattern somewhere else. It was hard to maneuver through.”
Junior Alyssa Graham enjoyed the opportunity to be creative with clay, something she hadn’t done before her Art III class this year. However, she wrestled with managing the thickness of her landscape-themed clay totem pole. Make it too thick, and the wet clay explodes when fired in the kiln.
“I had to get all of the pieces similar in size,” she said. “It couldn’t be thicker than your thumb.”
When the clay was finally baked, then came glazing, the part that makes ceramics shine. To have a project shine meant painting the glaze on it, firing it, reapplying and then firing it again. Some students had a surprise waiting when they took their artwork out of the kiln.
“It came time for glazing, some students went by the color of the glaze before it was fired,” Young said. “Glazes may be pink going in, but they may fire blue or green.”
Students have yet to use the pottery wheels stationed in the back of Young’s classroom, something she has been saving for the end of the school year after testing wraps up.
“Everybody may get a chance to try their hand at that,” Young said. “That’s going to be a crazy time.
“I’m really excited for next year,” Young continued. “I’ve got some really cool ideas. This year was a great beginning to a ceramics program.”
