Ceramic Murals:
Building
Community
A High School Ceramics
Curriculum
Created by:
Connie Lavelle
Brandy Noody
Where we began? Our continued research into The Dinner Party
and Feminist Pedagogy shaped how we
designed curriculum for our ceramics course.
We based our teaching on the Big Idea of
power/equality within a community while
building basic ceramic skills.
Research
Proposals For Design Students decided to combining all their ideas: the oak
tree (mighty oak) as the center, hands as leaves, mirror pieces to reflect back and to create a night sky, and a puzzle piece border (kind of like the tree roots going up the sides to connect with the leaves-regeneration)
Site Approval After the final design was agreed upon, we
created a scale drawing, 4’x8’.
Construction Begins
We used
many
texture
tools
including
real tree
bark
Hand Legacy
Metaphor as Meaning
in Your Hand for the
Mural.
Do We Need
More Tiles?
Yes we do!
Glazing and Firing
Cutting Tiles and Mirror
Students broke
the colored tiles
into pieces and
sorted them in
boxes by color.
Arranging
the
Composition
The students
arranged and
rearranged their
handprint tiles, many
times, until they felt
the composition was
just right.
We set up the components
of the mural on the plywood
board.
We used ceramic tile
adhesive with trowels and
demonstrated how to
properly attach the tiles.
Mosaic
Making sure everything is
level and evenly spaced.
Picking
and
Cleaning
Grouting We used powdered grout
Continuously wipe and spray
the grout to prevent cracking
Stained with
Acrylic
We decided to work with
three colors of grout: blue
in the sky, brown for the
tree trunk and green near
the leaves.
Some students helped to push
in the grout, others cleaned,
and some scrapped dry grout
out of the textured tiles.
It took us a few days to fully
grout the mural and clean it
properly.
Installation
Finishing After the mural was attached
to the wall, we immediately got
to work hiding the screws.
We put up signs, asking
students not to touch the
mural, while it was drying.
encouraged students and staff
to record their thoughts of the
mural.
Our Legacy
Approaching the mural
in this way empowered
our students. They
took pride in knowing
that we trusted them
enough to place this
monumental task in
their hands.
Supplies 4’x8’ plywood
Concrete anchors
Low fire clay
Velvet under glaze
Clear glaze
Sanded grout
Ceramic tile adhesive
Acrylic paint
Trowels
Sponges/rags
Palette knives
Spray bottles/ vinegar water
Bailey tile cutters
Bailey slab rollers
Texture tools
Old mirror
Safety glasses
Wall trim/ stain
Masks
Tile nippers
Commercial tiles
Dinner Party curriculum
From There to Here
Making Recycled Sketchbooks
Marbling the Covers
Using Sketchbooks in the DIA
Ceramic Murals in the DIA
Warhol Visits Lessenger
3rd Grade Clay Monarch Tiles
Be Gentle
3rd Grade using Tux Paint
Program
Ceramic Decals from Computer
Drawings
Brainstorming Families
4th Grade Silhouettes
4th Grade Mural
Be Gentle
2015 Artist Residency
430 Nature Tiles based on the
Content Standards
3rd grade Bird Tile, 2nd grade
Weather Tile
The Reading Tree
Self-Portrait Mural
Sharing Our Worlds
You Are Here, Backsplashes
Nature Center & Peace Pole
Fish Philosophy
Michigan Maps
Katrina Mural
Thank You
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Fredonia High School
425 East Main Street
Fredonia, NY 14063