Tag Archives: robert fountain

Town of Webb school students join in a whirled peace project

In today’s world, peace needs to become more than just a word. On September 20, Town of Webb UFSD art students participated in an international art and literacy project known as “Pinwheels for Peace” and placed pinwheels with messages of peace in the schoolyard parallel to Main Street.

Town of Webb student participants at the Pinwheels for Peace installation held Friday morning, September 20th.

Town of Webb student participants at the Pinwheels for Peace installation held Friday morning, September 20th.

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project that was started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan of Coconut Creek, FL, as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives.

In the first year, groups in over 1,325 locations throughout the world were spinning approximately 500,000 pinwheels on September 21st.   Continue reading

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Webb art students practice art of Native American pit firing

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

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