PINCHED POTS

HISTORY AND MYP CONNECTION

MYP Global Context  Personal and Cultural Expression  What is the nature and purpose of creative expression?

Key Objective  Cultural  You will gain an understanding of the beginnings of pottery development in the Neolithic Culture, specifically the pinch pot.

 You will create a variety of pinch pots based upon your skill level.

Inquiry Questions  How were pinch pots used in the Neolithic culture?

 How can I create something of impact?

 What determines if something is functional?

You will be graded upon Criterion A: Knowledge and Understanding  Do you have a thorough understanding of the topic being studied. (Vocabulary and short answers) Criterion B: Application –  Proficiency of your finished piece.

Criterion C: Reflection and evaluation  response to what you learned and the quality of your product.

Criterion D: Artistic Awareness and Personal Engagement  Did you actively participate, show initiative, enthusiasm, and commitment?

Vocabulary to define and understand  Pinch pot: forming a pot by pinching with the fingers and the thumb.

 Stoneware: high fire clay – fires at 2,400 degrees  Greenware: Unfired pottery that is bone-dry, a state in which clay forms that is quite fragile.

 Earthenware: low fire clay – fires at 1,800 degrees  Bisque-ware: The term refers to ceramic ware that has been fired once without glaze.

Vocabulary cont.

 Leather hard: Clay which is dried sufficiently to be stiff, but is damp enough to be joined to other pieces.

 Score and slip: score means that you make scratches in the surfaces that you will be sticking together. Slip is when you wet the surface that creates a glue like substance. If you do not do this, the pieces will pop apart when fired.  Texture: The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or substance.

Parts of a pot

Who were the Neolithic People?

 The Neolithic period began in China around 10,000 B.C.

 These people lived in the later part of the Stone Age, when ground or polished stone weapons and implements prevailed.

 In the Neolithic period farm animals were first domesticated, and agriculture was introduced.  This is also when people began settlements in permanent villages, and pottery and weaving appeared.

How did they discover clay could be hardened?

 They began to use clay pottery for cooking and keeping food instead of animal skins and grass baskets.

 Clay pottery lasted longer because it could withstand high temperatures.

 Some archeologists think that clay pottery was invented by accident when a cook used clay to smooth the inside of a basket, baked it over a fire, and then found only the clay bowl left when the basket burned away.

 This discovery improved the quality and comfort of people’s daily lives.

Craftsman  Neolithic craftsmen discovered that they could etch designs into their clay that would harden into permanent decorations and furthermore that they could color their products with glazes.

 As a result, pottery became a medium of artistic expression as well as a source of practical utensils.

Neolithic Pottery  This was the pre-wheel and pre-kiln era.

 The pottery was much thicker. They added items to them to make them studier – obsidian, straw, crushed shells, and manure.

 The pots were created by the women.

 Some textural designs were made by fingernails. They discovered how to incorporate ash into their clay to give it a glossy luster look.

Neolithic pottery tools

Neolithic pottery tools

Pinched pots

Symbols of importance – Dawenkou people, China

Ceramic Vessel    Probably a pig, a staple of the Neolithic economy.

The Dawenkou people cultivated millet and domesticated pigs and other livestock.

Head and jaws of pigs were frequently buried with the dead as symbols of wealth.

Neolithic Pottery at the University of Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Making your Pinch Pot  Step 1 – Make a smooth ball of clay.

Your Pinch Pot  Step 2: stick your thumb halfway through the ball of clay.

Pinch Pot  Step 3: Pinching evenly with your fingers and your thumb in the hole, press and rotate to widen the opening.

Pinch pot  Thickness of body should be about ¼ inch.

 If it is too thick, it will take too long to dry before it can be placed in the kiln to fire.  If it is too thin it will crack and perhaps break apart during the firing process .

Pinch Pot  Step 4: when your pinch pot has strong, even walls, smooth the surface and the lip with just a drop or two of water.

 Do not add too much water, or the pot will fall apart.

Pinch Pot – adding feet      Make a coil to adhere to the bottom of the pot. Slip and score the surfaces that will be touch each other. Lightly blend the inside and outside of the coil onto the pot. Lightly tap to ensure the the bottom of the foot is slightly flat, so the pot will not roll over. Check to see if it is centered .

Sign your pot  Use a needle tool and carve your name into the bottom.  Do not press too hard, or you will break the surface.

Adding texture  Think of all the items you could use to create texture onto the outside of your pot.

 You have to be gentle because it is fairly soft, or you could wait a couple of days until it is leather hard to etch some designs.

Painting after firing

Samples of pinch pots

Create your own  Now you will create your own pinch pot. I’d like you to create three and

select your favorite to be fired.

 After it is fired, we will paint the surface with acrylic.  This means it will not be a pot to eat or drink from. We will use glaze with some future pots.

 Once this skill is mastered, we will create a variety of ceramic pieces using the same techniques, but with some variety added in for fun.

Some Creative Pinch Pots