A MIDDLE SCHOOL APPROACH TO WORKING WITH CLAY TEXTURED  FUNCTIONAL AND SCULPTURAL PIECES

Each year, students at Haileybury Castlefield in Brighton take part in ARTS WEEK, five days of immersion in and
celebration of both the Visual and Performing Arts. Our visual artist in residence this year was Jayne Byrne, who
held workshops with the year 5 and 6 students to create textured ceramic tiles in the shapes of leaves, butterflies,
buttons and hearts. Once fired, the students later formed the tiles into a magnificent Hearts and Wings sculpture
– Hearts and Wings being one of the school’s iconic emblems. These workshops inspired the Visual Arts
staff to create a Middle School ceramics program which engaged students with the creation of textures using a variety
of textile sources, then encouraged them to use and combine the textured slabs of clay to create ceramic Trophy Fish,
working Fish Fountains and Water Spouts, sculptural representations of the Bathers on Brighton Beach, and
rain-forest-inspired Cylindrical Vessels with wire creatures adorning the
trunks.       

Year 5 students developed a Design Brief which gave them the task of creating textured Trophy Fish which would
hang on a plaque on the wall. Using stretchy cotton netting and lace doylies as textural sources, students rolled out
slabs of clay, creating beautiful scaly textures.  Using fish templates developed earlier, the students cut out
two fish shapes, one slightly bigger than the other. Scrunched up newspaper was used to create shape and form on the
bottom template, while the textured slab was laid on top. The two fish slabs were carefully joined using clay tools.
Further textured slabs were created from which fins, eyes, tails and other details were created. The fish were air
dried; bisque fired and glazed using a variety of brush-on glazes. Some students elected to wipe-back, others created
a shiny finish. Following the glaze firing, the fish were mounted on black, gold-trimmed trophy boards. The Unit was
highly successful and really engaged the Year five participants.
View Skills Involved
View Design Brief
View Assessment Rubric
View Self-Evaluation Sheet

Continuing with the Fish theme, Year Six students created a Design Brief to make working Fish Fountains, which,
with a small pump hidden inside, spout water when immersed in a dish or bird bath. In this Unit, students combined
pinch pot technique (head and mouth of the fish) with textured slabs rolled onto hessian, netting, crotched lace and
macramé. The slabs were rolled around small cylinders, which remained inside the slab until the head and tail
had been securely joined and a state of balance obtained. The textured slabs provided patterns for fins, tails, hats
and other detail. Following the bisque firing the fountains were glazed, refired and fitted with small water
pumps.  Students are enthralled with their working fountains!

Year Seven students were set the task of combining untextured and textured clay sections to create the Bathing
Beauties on Brighton beach. This Unit engaged students with the proportions of the human body and how proportion and
balance could be combined with texture and colour to create character and personality. The clay figures were designed
in their Visual Diary, then built using a combination of slab, pinch pot, and coil hand-building techniques. Posed
lying or sitting on the sand or a beach towel, the only texture and colour feature in the bathing costume, hair or
facial features. Students completed the unit by building small replicas of the Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes to
complete their sculptural arrangements.
View Design Brief
View Fact Sheet

Finally Year Eight students brainstormed rainforest and plant textures which they used to create their Design
Brief. They elected to combine ceramic and wire mediums to create functional cylindrical vessels that depicted
environmental textures. Onto each vessel, a creature that would inhabit the rainforest, has been sculpted from wire,
and arranged climbing into, out of, or around the vessel. The marriage of the two mediums created a wonderful
contrast of textures and this Unit was very much enjoyed by the students.
The Design Brief, Assessment Rubric,
Student Self-evaluation Exercises and other teaching notes for each of these Units of Work are available on the Zart
Art website, please explore the links above!
View Assessment Rubric

Judi Robertson
Deputy Director Art
Haileybury College, Brighton
Suitable for Levels 4
& 5