Students Teach Teachers How to Create Fall Masterpieces

The students are taking over! Ms. Murchie has given her students the task of teaching the teachers in their latest art project. Using a technique called “slab construction” students taught their teachers how to create a Fall-themed ceramic project. 

Together, students and staff members collaborated to make a slab-constructed decorative plate. To make a plate, the artists had to find the plant or plants that they wanted to make an impression of on their plate. The plant then needed to spend time flattening and drying out between the pages of a book.

Once their plant was flattened, they came up with a design for the plate, then put the plants on top of the clay and roll them in with a wooden rolling pin. Finally, they remove the plant, leaving a beautiful impression. 

The artists, wait for the clay to dry to be bisque fired in a kiln at 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. 

After it is fired in the kiln, the artists paint their creation with a thin and colorful glaze, then once again, the plate is placed in the kiln glaze fire the plates. This marks the end of the process of making the decorative Fall plates and the artists can enjoy their plate for themselves or gift it to a loved one like Mrs. Reed did. 

Mrs. Reed collaborated with Chase Swagger to make a special plate for her daughter. When asked if she was nervous about her ability to make a plate, she responded, “I felt pretty confident about it because Chase seemed to know what he was doing.” 

Overall, this was a fun and worthwhile experience for everyone. The students got a chance to take charge and the teachers ended up making about 20 fall plates.