GROUNDED IN CLAY
THE SPIRIT OF PUEBLO POTTERY

LESSON III

CONNECTIONS THROUGH TIME AND SPACE: WHEN CLAY COMES ALIVE

Description

Lesson III explores the questions: How do I connect with family, friends, and community members? How does my pottery vessel reflect who I am and/or what I value? Students will reflect on what they learned and created in previous lessons, consider how Pueblo pottery connects community members through time and space, and build and paint their own pottery using various pottery making techniques.   

Big Idea/Enduring Understanding

“Pottery’s strength is seen through its permanence and presence through time. This permanence means that our stories will live on in these and other vessels.” – Ulysses Reid (Ts’iya/Zia Pueblo)    

For millennia, pottery has been intrinsically tied to Pueblo people. People are pottery and pottery are people; both are born from the earth and will eventually return. Pueblo pottery can connect maker to descendants through the far reaches of time. The enormous jar in the corner of a room that has quenched the thirst of generations, an aunt’s distinctive painting style, the crooked edges of child’s first pot: they tell the story of the not-so-forgotten past, celebrate the vibrancy of today, and inspire the creativity of generations yet to come.  

Lesson Procedures

Step-by-Step Instruction

Day 1 

(0-5 minutes): Warm up 

Take five minutes to play with the clay. Notice how it feels in your hands, how it behaves when you roll it, stretch it, knead it, etc.

(5-50 minutes): Building Pottery 1 (pinch pot)

Students will practice working clay, learn the basics of pottery making, and make a pinch pot to serve as the base for the coiled pot they will make in the following lesson.

1. Pound the clay to get rid of any air bubbles

2. Roll clay into a large ball, making sure the clay remains moist. If it seems to be drying out (cracking), add a small amount of water.

3. Use your thumb to push down on the ball, this will create the opening of the pot. Make sure the hole is at least ½” deep.

4. Using your thumb and pointer finger, pinch the clay upward and outward to form the shape of the pot. Use a small amount of water to smooth out any cracks.

The craft stick may be used to smooth out the pot.

5. Teachers- students may create more than one pinch pot (try different shapes and forms) if they finish their pinch pot early.

6. Place your pinch pot in a plastic bag to keep in moisture. Write your name on a paper plate and place your bagged pot on top of your plate to keep it identifiable for the upcoming days.

(50-60 minutes): Clean up 

• Make sure to cover any unused clay in plastic to prevent it from drying out.

Day 2

(0-45 minutes): Building pottery 2 (coiled pot) 

Students will learn and practice new pottery making techniques and build upon their pinch pots from the previous day’s activity to make coiled pots.

1. Teachers – using the clay cutter/wire divide up the remaining clay among students.

2. Teachers – as students get into the rhythm of working with the clay, read the catalog entries included in this lesson aloud to the class (see appendix). You may also choose to play the YouTube video(s) linked above under “Additional Resources.”

3. Take your pinch pot from the previous day’s activity out of the plastic bag and set it in front of you; it will serve as the base for today’s activity.

4. Take a small amount of additional clay and roll it out into a clay “snake” long enough to go all the way around the top of your base. This will serve at the first coil of your coil pot.

5. Flatten the coil. Attach the flattened coil to the rim of your base. If the coil is too long, pinch off the excess clay.

6. Use a craft stick and your fingers to smooth out the edges of the coil and reinforce the attachment of the coil to the base. Dip your fingers in water as you work to smooth out any cracks in the clay.

7. Continue to add coils in this fashion until you are satisfied with the height of your pot.

8. Once you are satisfied with the size of your pot you might choose to experiment by making figurines or other shapes cut from clay to attach to your piece, using a tool to carve a design into your pot, or changing its shape by widening your piece and/or adding additional height, etc.

9. Teachers – at the end of the lesson, if the class has not had enough time to complete their pieces, ask them to place their pots back in their plastic bags so that they might continue coiling the next day. If students have completed their pieces, ask them to place their pottery on their plates without the plastic bag to air dry overnight. This will prepare pieces for painting the following day.

(45-50 minutes): Clean up 

• Clean all tools.
• Make sure to cover and seal any unused clay in plastic to prevent it from drying out.

(50-60 minutes): Closure/Reflection with students

Reflect on the catalog entries read aloud while you worked. As a class, discuss the ways in which pottery connects Pueblo people to family, friends, and community across time and space. Consider the importance of childhood memories, of learning from previous generations, and how traditions are passed down through families and communities.

Day 3

(0-5 minutes): Warm up 

Review the design(s) you created in Lesson I. Think about what you learned from the Grounded in Clay catalog entries and from mapping your own environment in Lesson II. Is there anything you would like to change and/or add to your design?

(5-45 minutes): Painting Pottery

Students will paint their pottery using the designs they created in Lesson I as inspiration.

1. Using the design you created in Lesson I, paint your piece based on what is meaningful to you.

2. Place your completed piece on your plate to dry overnight.

(45-50 minutes): Clean up 

• Clean all tools.

(50-60 minutes): Closure/Reflection with students.

As a class or in small groups revisit the essential questions.

• How do I connect with family, friends, and community members? 
• How does my pottery vessel reflect who I am and/or what I value?

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