Animal Effigy Bowls

Today we will: 1. Review ceramic terms 2. Draw 3 animal bowls/jars 3. Make a pinch pot form with

clay

Ef f i gy pot s are j ars, bowl s, bot t l es and vessel s made i n t he shape of humans, myt hol ogi cal f i gures

( l i ke t he cat - serpent ) or ani mal s. Some of t he ani mal s represent ed i n Mi ssi ssi ppi an ef f i gy

pot t ery i ncl ude bi rds, f i sh, f rogs and t urt l es .- - f rom t he Ol d St at e House Museum Websi t e

Depart ment of Arkansas Heri t age

Utilitarian v.s. Decoration

Which one of these can you use?

Which one of these items sits on your table for decoration?

Effigy Bowl Examples

Beaver

Wooden bowl carved in the form of a beaver; eyes inset with brass tacks. Kaskaskia Tribe, pre-1797.

Effigy Bowl Examples continued…

Owl

Effigy Bottle, Orendorf site, Fulton County.

Student made

Get Ideas

Sketch out Pottery Ideas

•All artists sketch out ideas before starting a new idea

•It speeds up making the bowl because clay dries very fast

four states of clay:

Plastic: clay that is soft, pliable and easy to work with.

Leather Hard: clay that has been allowed to dry slightly, making it stiffer and able to support its weight, but can still be worked on and have parts attached.

Bone Dry: clay at its most fragile state, can not be worked on at this stage

Bisque: the first firing for the clay, removes all of the water, (both actual and chemical) and carbon, The fusing of the particles has begun, yet the clay is still porous to allow for glaze absorption. It can no longer be slaked down and recycled

How to Make an Effigy Bowl

Start with a ball of plastic like clay

Pinch– The hand building process of starting with a ball of clay,

inserting your thumb and "pinching" the clay between your thumb and fingers, gradually expanding and shaping the wall into a bowl-like form.

Add Animal Design Features

Neck Head

– Eyes– Nose– Mouth– Ears

Tail or Beak Legs and Feet

Slip and Score

– The method for joining pieces of clay where the two surfaces are scratched up and slip is added like a "glue" to create a strong, melded bond. It is an essential step in ceramic construction, because clay will stick to itself when wet, but when will fall apart after bisque when all the water is removed. Texturing the surface gives the clay some grip, almost like Velcro.

Think About Design Quality

El Salvador - Maya Animal Effigy Vessel

Texture

Add texture in the Leather Hard drying stage of

clay. Use tools to make texture

and designs

Sgraffito - This comes the Italian word meaning "scratched through" and is done by incising orcutting a design through a colored slip coating to reveal the clay body.

Time to Dry to the Bone

Next it goes into the Kiln

Kiln

A furnace that use electricity,

gas or wood, but may also be fired using coal, oil, manure or even old tires.

Is used to Fire the clay till it hardens to a stone like form.

Paint Yourself Silly

Glaze – A mix of chemicals and minerals when heated to a really hot temperature melt together and form a glass like color coating on the outside of clay objects.

Objectives

Objective #2:Students will learn to pinch, join, shape, design, glaze or paint a clay effigy bowl. They will choose animal features using their own thumbnail sketch ideas.

Objective #3:Students will consider the importance of animals to our culture and why we keep them as pets, guards, etc.

http://www.in.gov/ism/Newsroom/ALookattheCollection/loc_bowls.aspx

www.osartistsco-op.com/how_pinch.html

http://www.solonschools.org/accounts/cfurda/CeramicVocabularyList_1028200884526.pdf