Nasia Palaios - Lesson Plans

Ceramics 1

Pinch Pots

The big picture of this lesson is connection. To clay, to me as their educator, their peers as community, to culture, and human history, The plan is to introduce students to the idea of clay, to get them comfortable with the material, and to have them learn the basics of clay. They should be focused on putting forth effort, letting go of all preconceived notions of clay, creating a plan, and following through. This lesson aims to reconnect the students with a process that is inherently human and natural to us all. Pinch pots are the most primal form of clay and ceramics vessels, so it is intrinsically one of the most primal ways in which everyday life has been carried out for centuries. Hopefully this is what they engage with. Not perfection. Not idealized forms or outcomes. Just mastering and honoring the basics.

Slab-Built Sgraffito Mugs

The purpose of this lesson is to further the students' understanding of what it means to make a comfortable, functional piece. With our slab-built mugs, the wall thickness and weight, the seams that join all parts, the handles, rims, and overall smoothness were of highest importance. This heavily stressed the idea of paying close attention to detail and spending intentional time with a piece, with the user and the act of sharing in mind. The lesson also educated students on a significant, longstanding carving technique within ceramics, known as Sgraffito– an Italian carving technique that allows artists to include the elements and principles of design. This taught them how to create a dynamic piece within a given composition, to be patient and attentive with carving their designs into the mug, and to strengthen their artistic eye when it came to balance and design translation from their drawing to carving.

Coil Pots

The overall idea for the lesson is to introduce students to one of the last, main handbuilding techniques in ceramics. Coil building is one of the most versatile techniques in terms of possible outcomes, but it can often be very repetitive and frustrating. This lesson aims to teach students perseverance and attention to detail as they work towards even coils to build an even, symmetrical pot. How to they pay attention to form, stability, evenness/consistency, refinement, and/or how they may push those boundaries in an intentional way is the primary focus. With a size requirement of 8-10 inches pre-bisque firing, this lesson also will hopefully instill a sense of confidence as the students go from making small, one pound pinch pots for their first lesson, to large scale, multiple pound vessels.

A Clay Break

This collaborative lesson aims to get students to think about the deeper meaning of what we are all working towards in our ceramics class. Clay is a very unforgiving, confusing, unexplainable medium and entity, and mistakes or mishaps can easily come off as failures and heartbreak for the students. Yet, ceramics is all about what you do with what you learned from instances that went wrong. Do you let this piece go wrong define you, or do you revisit it all, remake it better, and come back stronger. In this lesson, students were invited to participate in a collaborative process in which we all either 1. Took pieces that we made that could have been made “better” or turned out to be a “ceramic disaster” or 2. Took clay home, took the time to make the most perfect piece possible, and brought it back to school to fire. We then all took our bisqued pieces, reflected on what we learned in this class so far, how we’ve chosen and will continue to choose to persevere, and smashed our works into bits. All those bits were then tied together in this installation to exemplify and present our “failures” as beautiful lessons learned– turning it all into something for the community to admire alongside us.

Pinch Pot Project

Slab Built Sgraffito/Mishima Mugs

Ceramics 2

Truncated Forms

The big idea of this project is to get the students thinking about form. Much like drawing, how can we get complex shapes from much smaller, simpler shapes? Building upon their knowledge of slab building from ceramics 1, in this lesson we will use templates and slabs to create either an abstract form or a more realistic form/object. The students are asked to choose at least 3 truncated forms to combine together to create an overall piece. While thinking about form, we are also thinkning about stability, refinement, and making intentional artistic choices.

Art History Trays

The purpose of this lesson is multi-faceted. Firstly, we want to get students more comfortable/familiar with the use of underglaze- what we can accomplish with it, and the nuances of application techniques. Secondly, we want to demonstrate how we can use everyday functional ware as slump/hump molds with the slab techqniue. Thirdly, we want students to do research on their artist or culture of choice, as some may never have taken an art class before this. Artistic movements and cultural history has influenced every medium of art. Lastly, we want the students to think about the act and culture behind the idea of serving others. For example, what is the purpose of highly decorating a serving dish, if all we do is serve/eat off of it? What are the hidden implications of the act of serving/eating? Why is it important to investigate and research art history, as art students?

Wheel Challenge

The overall idea for the lesson is to get students back on the wheel, get them more comfortable with the techniques and tool(s) required for the wheel, and get them to create forms/pieces they have in mind, not just ones they make on the fly. Within this lesson, our goals are to work on centering more effectively, utilizing our clay (its weight/mass) more effectively, using larger amounts of clay, and trying out different forms. Within two weeks or so, students are asked to throw a 1 pound cylinder that is at least 3 inches tall, a 1 pound bowl that is at least 3 inches wide, a 2 pound cylinder that is at least 5 inches tall, and a 2 pound cylinder that is at least 5 inches tall. Hopefully this lesson will get students more comfrotable and confident not only on the wheel, but in themselves and their abilities as ceramic artists.

Lidded Jars

The purpose of this lesson is to highlight the historical significance and technical sophistication that lidded vessels represent within the culture of ceramics, as well as cultures around the world. Lidded vessels have the intent to store something, to keep that something safe. For this reason, the ideas of longevity, preservation, and purposeful intent that ceramics inherently puts forth is taken further with our lidded forms. In this lesson, students were tasked with a throwing challenge of completing four basic forms of various weights, with their lidded vessel being their fifth and final, most challenging form. The purpose of this project was to further improve their skills on the wheel that they initially established in ceramics 1– including how to center more effectively, make better use of the clay’s mass, try out different forms and shapes, and to increase their patience with, confidence on, and overall understanding of one of the most popular tools/techniques in ceramics.

Truncated Slab Project

Historical Serving Tray Project

Throwing Challenge Project