Have A Great Summer!

To all Hosmer students and families, thank you for a wonderful, creative, art-filled year! I am looking forward to making more art with you in September! And a big congrats to all our 5th graders as they move on to middle school -- I will miss you!

Have a fantastic summer and feel free to email me with updates: haein.kim@watertown.k12.ma.us

Exquisite Corpse

During the last weeks of school, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade artists played a fun drawing game inspired by the Surrealist game Exquisite Corpse. In this game people would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold it over to hide part of it and pass it on to the next person to do the same. The game ended when someone finished the story, which was read aloud -- a collaborative mad libs, of sorts. In our drawing game, students each received a piece of paper marked with 'head,' 'body' or 'legs' and a number. Each piece had marks to help them get matched up later.

Students sat with other people working on the same part, and created an interesting head, body or legs. Beginning with pencil, students outlined their drawing with Sharpie marker and added color using crayon. At the end of class, groups were called by number and heads were matched up with bodies and sets of legs to reveal a unique collaborative creature! Check out our creations below:

3rd grade (Lutz)

4th grade (Doherty)

4th grade (Mattson)

5th grade (Domermuth)

3rd grade (Stone)

3rd grade (Lutz)

5th Grade Clay Projects

Recently 5th grade artists made an independent clay project. We discussed what we knew about clay, how it clay comes from the Earth and is made up of different minerals. We learned that clay goes through many stages to become a ceramic object, starting with wet clay, drying out in the air to become bone dry, then getting fired in the kiln the first time to become bisque. 

Our options were a pinch pot figure, such as an animal or flower; a coil pot; or a slab box. We sketched out our project idea and the following class, students got clay and got started. For pinch pot figures, students started with a pinch pot. First we put our thumb in the middle of the ball of clay. We pressed down to form a hole and then used our fingers to pinch the sides. We turned our clay as we pinched so that the sides of our pot would be even and in a circular shape. Then this could be transformed into a flower, adding petals on the sides, or turned over and use to form the body of an animal, like a cat. 

Another option was a coil pot, which begins with a circular bottom and rolling the clay into coils around the sides to form the walls of the pot. Students made sure to score and slip the coils. 

The third option was a slab box, which involved the most measuring and scoring all the pieces. To make the slab box, students rolled out the clay to create flat pieces or slabs and cut them using a template to form the bottom and sides of the box. They assembled the sides by scoring the base and each side and using slip to attach everything together and smooth all the edges. Some students created a lid for their coil pot or slab box, and added details, such as shapes or letters, on the outside. 

Projects were left to dry for a week and then put in the kiln, which is an oven for the clay to get heated and become hard. Students got to take a look at the kiln in small groups, to better understand what it looks like and what it does. Students got their clay projects back after they had been bisque fired in the kiln. The clay projects had turned white and had gotten a little smaller. 

Then we used glaze to add color. Different color stations were set up and students went to different stations to use the colors they wanted. Each color needs 3 coats, or layers, of glaze to show up true to color.

We made sure to dab and pat our brush around to get all the areas and cover all the white spots, since the clay has a texture and is not always smooth or easy to paint. We got our projects back after they had been fired again, to melt the glaze and make it shiny. 

Camila, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Adam, 5th grade (Twomey)

Eden, 5th grade (Bellis)

Zuhi, 5th grade (Twomey)

Koji, 5th grade (Twomey)

Kaleigh, 5th grade (Psychoghios)

Sandra, 5th grade (Bellis)

Rohan, 5th grade (Bellis)

Jack K., 5th grade (Twomey)

Bianca, 5th grade (Twomey)

Emma, 5th grade (Bellis)

Anita, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Betzaida, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Arsen, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Pinch Pot Monsters

After our art and music around the world journey, 2nd grade artists ended this year by making clay pinch pot monsters. We began by discussing the properties of clay and how clay has been used by cultures around the world to create pottery and ceramic objects. 

We began our pinch pot monsters by forming a pinch pot with a ball of clay. Students pushed their thumbs in the middle of the clay ball and then pinched around in a circle to create a pot or bowl shape. Then, we turned them on their side and added details to create monsters. Some students chose to add tongues, teeth, multiple eyes, and horns.

Students made sure to score or scratch up the clay and use slip to add their smaller detailed pieces to their pinch pot, so that everything would stay on. After getting bisque fired in the kiln, students used glaze to add color to their monsters. Students moved to different color stations depending on which colors of glaze they wanted to use and painted three layers of each color.

Students got their pinch pot monsters back after they had been glaze fired in the kiln. Some classes had time to make a background for their monster. We brainstormed different ideas, such as a stage, forest, outer space, underwater and a park. Below are some examples of our pinch pot monsters:

Raffi, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Ava, 2nd grade (O'Leary)

Priya, 2nd grade (O'Leary)

Yensi, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Sophia, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Brixton, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Mariam, 2nd grade (Pearse)

Mackenzie, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Ketly, 2nd grade (Pearse)

Clay Pinch Pots

This month, artists in PK and Kindergarten made pinch pots using clay. First, we learned that clay comes from the Earth and is made up of different minerals. For thousands of years, people have been using clay to make pottery, making the clay into cups, bowls and vases to use. We also learned that clay goes through many stages to become a pinch pot and the first stage is wet clay. 

We watched a demonstration and then everyone got their own ball of clay. We felt it in our hands and noticed that it was wet and squishy. To make a pinch pot, first we put our thumb in the middle of the ball of clay. We pressed down to create a hole and then used our fingers to pinch the sides. We turned our clay as we pinched so that the sides of our pot would be even and in a circular shape. 

After we were done, the pinch pots were left to dry for a week and then put in the kiln. We learned that the kiln is an oven for the clay to get heated and become hard. We felt some examples of pots that had already been fired in the kiln so we would know what to expect. 

The following class, students got their pinch pots back after they had been bisque fired in the kiln. Students noticed that when we used the clay, it was a gray color, and after being fired in the kiln, the clay turned white. We glazed our pinch pots using glaze to add color. There were 6 different color stations in the room and students went to the colors we wanted to use. 

We started by painting the inside of our pots with one color of glaze, and then carried our pinch pots carefully to another color station to paint glaze on the outside. Each color needed 3 coats, or layers, of glaze. We made sure to dab and pat our brush around the pinch pots to get all the areas and cover all the white spots. Students got their pinch pots back after they had been fired again, which melted the glaze onto our pot and made it shiny and bright. Below are some examples of our finished pinch pots:

Jacob, Kindergarten (Bolton)

Hannah, PK (Blackwood)

Joshua, PK (Blackwood)

Dalton, Kindergarten (Bolton)

Norah, PK (Blackwood)

Brianna, PK (Blackwood)