Teaching Ceramics in an Online World

By Maria Sezer Maria Sezer

When in March 2020 we were told that we would teach online for two weeks, I was fl abbergasted. I had diffi culties imagining how my students could work with clay at home, thinking of factors like getting the clay to them, fi nding workspace at home, drying and fi ring and glazing clay. Another diffi culty would be that as an art teacher we tend to hold our students’ projects, to turn them around in our hands to ‘look’ at them, because the tactile factor is also very important in assessing their work. That would be very diffi cult online too.

I decided that I had to let my students do work with materials that everybody would have at home and that would not antagonize other family members, materials which would continue developing their dexterity and aestethic awareness. After all, it was only for two weeks...

My students are mostly grade 12, with some grade 11, and take this elective class mostly for the purpose of having some relaxation in their diffi cult and heavy 12th year, so keeping it enjoyable was of the essence. (My motto is ‘grab their attention while they are enjoying themselves’). Cooking popped into my mind and I set simple tasks like: ‘Make a vegetable dish; take four photos of yourself doing the preparation and cooking, and one photograph of the fi nal result. The result must look attractive, so set the table with a cloth and cutlery as well: arrange the food in a nice way on the plate (make a composition of it) so the photograph will be good to look at’. During class time we used Google classroom, which served us well, because there was no classical teaching going on; rather one-to-one talks with class members listening and chiming in.

I made the assignment broad on purpose, since I had no idea what food would be stocked at students’ homes and I did not want family members to have to buy special food. Students had fi ve 40-minute periods per week, 2 double and 1 single. The single period was reserved for arranging the photographs and uploading them to the Google classroom, and possibly for writing something about the dish. The double periods were used for cooking the dish, from beginning to end. Students were allowed to cook whenever it was convenient for them. They did not have to do this during class time, but they did need to check in at the beginning of class time, so we could have a chat about what they were making and they could ask questions of me and others. We had interesting conversations about baking powder and rolling pins. Since I am not a fantastic cook myself, I learned quite a lot from my students

about unusual foods, and I also discovered that I had a student who wanted to become a master chef, which delighted me.

The school close-down dragged on and I managed to make it till the end of the year, but I found it diffi cult and not satisfying to have to fi nd new tasks, although many of the students declared they really enjoyed this program and it had brought them nearer to family members discussing recipes, baking birthday cakes for relatives etc. So when holidays came I was very happy to think next year would be normal again … Alas, it was not to be.

Next stage

At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year I had to get serious about doing this, so my students would have the education they deserved, and I decided that teaching ceramics is for a very large part 3-D design, and that working with paper mache, trying to follow those parts of the ceramics program that I could with them, would be a good alternative. This is something the students could do at home, because of the readily-found materials - and no kiln or whatever was needed. My method would be a classical approach where I would show and tell, and we would work together on similar projects via the computer screen. The further we came into the process the more variation and choice-making for the students there would be.

Since pots are classical in ceramics, and molds are used in ceramics as well, the fi rst project was making a pot using a mold. In the fi rst lesson I gave the students 20 minutes to create a workstation somewhere in their house, a table that would be their ‘permanent studio’ during the online lessons. I had already notifi ed them about this, but thought that some might need more time to prepare. I decided to use Zoom from now on, which enabled me to see everyone at the same time. When the camera of their phones or computers was tilted towards the table surface, I could follow what they were doing and call out their names to comment on their work. Likewise, students could call on me and ask me questions.

water, a cup and a whisk to make their glue in, plus some fl our and old newspaper. Funnily enough that was the most diffi cult material to fi nd, because so many households do not read newspapers anymore. Old notebooks would do just as well though, as long as glossy paper was not used because the paper must be absorbent. 30 minutes into the lesson we were preparing glue. The rule for making glue was to add Since pots are about 1 cup of water to around 1 cup of fl our, mix, make sure there classical in are no lumps, and don’t make too ceramics, and much or it will start to smell before the next lesson. Done! Trying it molds are used out before the lesson, I covered my mold with soap and oil, but the in ceramics as paper mache stuck anyway and I had to cut it off, so the whole cup well, the fi rst was torn. I asked the students to drape one layer of clingfi lm over project was their mold, so their pot would come off easily after drying. making a pot Keeping our molds upside down, using a mold. sometimes perched on a wide jar or a cardboard pipe – whatever was handy – we started covering them with strips of torn paper, making sure that the strips were not too wide. We talked about the direction of fi bres in paper and how it was easier to tear straight strips in one direction than the other. I showed how the whole of the paper strip had to be doused in the glue, and I stripped off the excess glue between my index and middle fi ngers in order to show how much glue needed to be on both sides of the paper. Some students wanted to get the work done quickly and liked to use wide strips, but this created many wrinkles which

What students needed to know

In that fi rst lesson, students had to look for an appropriate mold, where the mouth of the mold was wider than the bottom, the bottom preferably fl at and rounded on the corner. A plastic softer cup of which the sides could be pressed towards each other was best for when we wanted to take our cup off the mold. A myriad of cups, smaller and bigger, were found in their homes, so we had a great variety of shapes. Now each student had to have a pitcher of

later had to be sorted out in order to achieve a smooth surface. The first layer of strips would be vertical, the second horizontal, and then vertical and horizontal again. This was a guideline and not a strict rule, but it is essential to stress that the different directions of the layers of paper, creating a sort of lattice, make the structure much stronger. I compared it with crossing iron bars in reinforced concrete, and talked about poor construction and earthquakes. Another important point was that each following strip had to partially overlap the previous strip. It was important that we did not have any air between the layers of paper, since that would make the bodies of our pots weaker as well (reinforced concrete again). To take out any excess air, we ‘massaged’ any air bubbles out from between the paper layers. We used at least four layers of paper.

Adding features and design-thinking

The students were delighted at how solid and strong the walls of their pots became after drying, so we were all in a good mood the next week. Now we had to make a foot that would fit the pot we made, both physically and aesthetically. The pot had to look good, and to stand solidly as well. Students had to consider proportions and functionality. In the first lesson I had told my students to make sure to start collecting all kind of recyclable stuff: milk bottles, yogurt cups and so on. They should keep this under their desk for instant resource when needed. Now they could use either these ready-made recyclable objects or another mold to create a foot. Again we had many different choices and lots of discussion about what were the right shapes and proportions. One student used three toilet rolls she connected with masking tape to make a foot reminiscent of a fluted column, while some used flat bars of wood. After covering the feet with two or three layers of paper mache, they had to be connected to the main body. We used paper-based masking tape for that and covered it again with two layers of paper mache. Because of the close proximity of the two pieces it was very important to press the strips of paper strongly to each other and to make sure no air got trapped, and that the original shape of each of the parts was not lost, so the outline of the pot stayed clear and kept its character. This task was more challenging then making both of the separate pieces. The lessons wer getting a bit more difficult, but my students were getting better as well!

Since there were so many different shapes and sizes of vessels, some of the rims were not as strong as we wanted them so we had to reinforce the rims. We did this either with strips of cardboard which gave us a thickened rim, or with strips of cut-out plastic containers. In the latter case it was important to make sure the strips overlapped so the tension in the rim would be optimized. Again, the strips were fastened with masking tape and overlayed with two or three layers of paper mache. I explained to the students the importance of the rim of the vessel: ‘The rim is the card-visite of your pot!’

Now came the time to make handles. This would be a very important choice. Handles say a lot about the character of the pot. Here we talked about the function of ancient pots, about which handles were used for what purpose, and how the material of clay dictated which handles could be made. I also searched Google for handles and found some websites which I uploaded onto the Google classroom for the students to have a look at. Again, students were free to use bottlecaps, pingpong balls or whatever they found would fit their pot, or they could cut out strips from cardboard, sticking them together with white glue and bending them using the direction of the undulated inside paper in the cardboard to make a smooth curve. Some opted to use rope. It was again essential that the handles were in proportion to the pot and looked aesthetically pleasing. Some

The whole project took the first six weeks of school. I enjoyed teaching this unit greatly and my students enjoyed it as well.

students made two handles and some four, depending on the size of their pots’ main bodies and handles. Some handles became snakes, some handlebar-like. Here fine hand dexterity was practiced even more. Here freedom and choice were becoming more important.

After all was dry I talked about sandpaper types, and sandpapering the surface of our pots in order to make them as smooth as possible. Some students were looking for a contrast in texture and wanted parts of the pot to be rough. I asked them to make this very obvious, so it would be clear that it was part of the plan.

A concept

Now the pots were ready to be ‘glazed’. We would do this with acrylic paints. This would seal the paper and flour and make our pots even stronger. Three layers of white paint were applied; the first was watery, the second a bit thicker and the third diluted least of all. The students had to think of a concept they thought would fit the shape and size of their pot and enhance it. A paragraph with an artistic statement would have to be written about it, encouraging the students to think deeper about their reasoning. I was pleasantly surprised at some of their choices, and the students enjoyed the painting part of the project too. While painting we talked together and looked for composition and the elements of design, and about color, and I took turns to speak to students individually about their work. We also talked about properties of acrylic paints and the different possibilities of using it. Some students decided to varnish thier pots to make the color look like glaze.

The whole project took the first six weeks of school. I enjoyed teaching this unit greatly and my students enjoyed it as well. Even some of the parents enjoyed it. One of them told me their son’s ‘studio’ was in the middle of the living room and they would watch him, listen to me and see what was done as if watching television. I had a good laugh about that. This is not a difficult topic to teach, but it is difficult to explain through a computer screen what needs to be improved on the pot and where. I had to speak a lot, and a lot more descriptively than I ever did previously, and that was the most difficult thing for me. ◆

Maria Sezer is an Art teacher at Robert College, Istanbul ✉ msezer@robcol.k12.tr