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Primary Level: Grades K-3 Primary Standard: Artistic Creativity, Performance, and Expression
Gain knowledge about the unit's 12 ceramic objects by listening to presentations about each object's historical and cultural context, physical properties, design elements, construction technique(s), and function.
Understand how and why people of various world cultures created or still create ceramics.
Learn about the roles of ceramic artists in the contexts of past and present cultures.
Identify the characteristics of ceramics as art and ceramics as artifacts.
To complement study of the terms artifact and archaeologist, discuss what the unit's artifacts teach about the lives of the people who made them.
Use arts terminology descriptive of the visual elements of ceramics (e.g., color, shape, line, texture).
Use arts terminology descriptive of the building techniques (e.g., coil, mold, wheel thrown) and the processes used in creating ceramic works (e.g., firing, glazing).
Describe the visual choices that an artist made in creating a ceramic object by responding to questions that can be answered by looking at the object. (See the "Look" discussion questions about each object.)
Identify ceramic objects based on clues relating to their visual qualities via the online activity "Can You Find. . . ?"
Recognize that visual qualities identify certain ceramics as belonging to a specific culture or as representing a specific style.
Consider how environment influences the ceramics produced by a culture.
Evaluate how technology influences the ceramics produced by a culture.
Discover and discuss similarities and differences among ceramics having the same function; for example, the Whistle in the Form of a Dignitary, Tortoise-shaped Inkstone, Standing Figure, and Earth Spirits were buried in tombs.
Interpret each of the ceramic objects by responding to questions that help explore an artist's creative intent and the reasons behind the artist's visual choices. (See the "Think" discussion questions about each object.)
Identify and sketch symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns observed in the unit's ceramics.
Identify and sketch naturalistic and abstract designs or combinations of both observed in the unit's ceramics.
Identify and sketch organic and geometric shapes observed in the unit's ceramics.
Produce various clay objects that reflect the functions of the ceramics studied in the unit by sketching the form and surface design of the object and by using an appropriate technique (e.g., coil, slab) to create the object. These are suggested projects:
- An object that is purely decorative (e.g., Vase, Jar with Cover)
- An object that is useful and decorative (e.g., Teapot, Barber's Bowl)
- An object that represents something that would be personally important to bring into an afterlife or eternity (e.g., Tortoise-shaped Inkstone, Whistle in the Form of a Dignitary)
- An object that represents an attribute (e.g., Hydria)
- An object to bury in a time capsule--something that reflects contemporary life and that could become an artifact for study by future archaeologists (e.g., Standing Figure, Storage Jar)
- An object to protect someone from harm (e.g., Earth Spirits)
- An object that represents or is decorated with an animal as a symbol (e.g., Tortoise- shaped Inkstone)
After completing one of the preceding clay projects, discuss the decisions made about construction technique, surface design, and function.
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