Clay Relief Sculpture Tiles

This last Saturday was my turn to teach at Saturday Art School. I taught the students about ancient Egyptian relief sculpture.

One thing that I wanted them to understand was what “ancient” means and just how long ago these people lived. I had a timeline, but I didn’t think they would fully grasp a line on a poster board. I then came up with the idea of collecting pennies (451) and having the students create a line with them. Each penny represented 10 years. Some of my students are 10 years old so they were able to understand how long that is. Putting the pennies in a line took a long time and we had to wrap the line around the table a few times. I explained that we would need to do that 10 more times in order to have the amount of pennies/years it is between us and the ancient Egyptians. It got the kids involved, out of their chairs and interested in what I was talking about.

Instead of having a regular poster board, I created a pyramid out of cardboard and put all the information on it. It was a crowd pleaser. :)

Our art project was to create a clay relief tile that tells a story about a proud moment or memory in our lives. We have learned the history of the ancient Egyptians because they carved stories of their lives, their kings and the culture around them. We can also tell others about us by creating art.

I really wanted the students to be able to add color to the clay, which is really hard to do in just one hour. We had enough time because we used slips instead of glazes. Now all I have to do is add a very thin layer of clear glaze to the top and fire the pieces at a "low fire" after they are done drying. The clear glaze should make the color pop!