by Robert Fountain Town of Webb UFSD Art Teacher
Sitting on the dock from left: Lancy Frymire, Lindsay Payne, Jessica Menges, Haley Josephson. On the diving board: Tom Lindsay, Kerry Kipp, Nikki Redpath, Robin Yuckel, Allyson Brosemer, Mercedes Rice, Haley Bush. McKenzie Liddle, Jessica Hannah, Kevin Kress, Connor Rockhill. Standing back row. Gabriela Pedraza, Carlos Villareal-Montemayor, Autumn Townsend, Shelby McGill, Alexis Dolan, Mr. Robert Fountain
Art students at Town of Webb Union Free School District enrolled in my Studio, Ceramics, and Indepen-dent art classes performed a Native American Pit Firing and created Natural Sculpture builds on June 1st with the assistance of chaperone, Tim Leach.
This was the second year the trip was planned at Adirondack Woodcraft Camps.
Pit Firing is a Native American inspired method of ceramic firing that creates unpredictable smoke patterns on the works surface.
Haley Josephson, Jessica Menges, and McKenzie Liddle, and Jessica Hannah working on their sculpture involving all of the girls silhouettes created by different natural materials.
First, students completed the traditional coil building of their hand-sized pieces with Buff High Fire Clay as it is stronger than typical White Clay and can withstand the thermal shock involved in a quick burning pit fire.
Once the piece became “bone dry” or Greenware, Terra Sigillata was applied. Terra Sigillata generally is translated as, “sealed-earth”.
Terra Sigillata is similar to glaze, but different in a few distinctive ways. It consists of an incredible small amount of liquid plate-like particles that remain after days of water evaporation from a clay and water mixture. Continue reading →