Think back to your high school years, and think about what your favorite art elective was.  Typically the answer is, “I love ceramics!” or if you’re in a fundamentals of art level class the question that always arises is, “When will we get to use clay?”  It is super exciting to have students who are eager to learn about the medium, and even more exciting when you get to start teaching one of your favorite mediums on the second day of your second student teaching placement.

My philosophy for this class is that I want my students to create things that they like or want to know how to make, that they can sell or give as gifts if they do not want to keep them. Most of all I do not want students to copy things that they see from online.  The one thing that I always disliked about some of my art classes and do not want to happen with my student was that the final pieces collect dust on a shelf or sit in a box under their bed for the next 15 years.

So, I heard that most of my ceramics class wants to learn how to make mugs,  and I sprang at the opportunity to teach them a few different ways to assemble a mug and all of my helpful tricks. I even learned some new tricks and tested different templates for making them.

Pictures of the finished pieces will be added in a post after the bisque and glaze fires, but here’s what we looked at for inspiration:

I also purchased a book called Pinch Pottery for some new hand building techniques and I think it’s awesome!

*All inspiration images were found and saved from my Pinterest account. I do not own any of them.