Green Thumb Pottery

"All good things are wild and free." -Henry David Thoreau

New Buffalo artists have been sculpting clay with a planted purpose this trimester! Each handbuilt from a ball of clay, middle school and high school students pinched figurative sculptures and planters. These projects were made possible by collaborating with Patty Iazzetto, the Food Services Director, who donated recycled plastic trays for mixing chia seeds, Vance Price, Middle School Science Teacher, who contributed extra wheat grass seeds, and Rich Eberly, Engineering Teacher, who provided access to the NBHS greenhouse and mentored my students on their plant maintenance.

Students learned how to pinch a hollow clay structure in the design of their choice. They could either plan a functional piece to grow plants or create a figurative sculpture. Their designs had not only portray three-dimensional features but also include drainage holes in their planters. My 7th and 8th grade students were very excited about the Pinch Pot Planter challenge along with the individual choices they had to bring their ideas to life.

Many students prepared their projects for planting seeds while some chose to create stand-alone sculptures.

Above (Left to Right): Turkey, Anglerfish, and Snake planters

Above (Left to Right): Cherry, Snowman container, and a Monsters Inc. pumpkin

There were many functional and sculptural pieces created with this prompt in mind. Some students stretched their ideas to include the clay construction skills learned and applied them to more individual concepts. I always like to encourage this kind of motivation from students as long as they still incorporate the lesson objectives so they can take advantage of the learning opportunity in clay by working through their own problems instead of simply copying my example.

Below: Thor's Hammer, a Cat/Dragon, a Legless Pig planter, and a galaxy lantern.

In high school, the Art I class sculpted solid sculptures from a block of clay that they sliced in half and hollowed out the interior with carving tools before attaching them back together. They could choose to either build a Chia Pet or a figurative sculpture of their choice using the pinch & hollow out method demonstrated in class.

The chia pets had to include an opening at the top for filling with water and surface texture to attach seeds to the exterior. Each sculpture was hollowed out for airflow when firing but also serves the purpose of a water container for chia pets.

Above: Bunny Chia, Llama Chia, and Garfield Chia

Those who did not choose to create chia pets used these same skills with the hole on the bottom instead to prevent exploding in the kiln firing.

Above: Piggy Bank, Rat, and Rubber Ducky

I could tell my students were really excited about this project!

After the bisque firing, those who chose to create sculptures without seeds either painted or glazed their projects during the last week of classes. These will be glaze fired and put onto display after Thanksgiving before returning the work back to the artists.

Above: Eye-Pot (iPod), Snowman, and Cherry

Then the magic began to happen for the green thumbs in the art studio! Middle School students who made pinch-pot planters added soil to their ceramics and pressed wheat grass seeds into the top layer of soil that were donated from Mr. Price's 7th Grade Science labs. We took a stroll down to the greenhouse where they watered and positioned their planters.

Mr. Eberly demonstrated how to water the plants by recycling from the fish tanks. “Dirty” fish tank wastewater water isn't healthy for the fish, but it's rich in beneficial bacteria with nutrients that plants absorb easily to boost photosynthesis and grow lush, healthy leaves.

My middle school students asked almost every day if they could go check on the plants to water them!

In the Art I class, students who made Chia Pets began the seed preparation by soaking their sculptures in the sinks for 30 minutes to fully absorb water into the ceramic body of the artwork. In the meantime, they mixed 2 teaspoons of Chia seeds with 2 Tablespoons of water in plastic trays that Mrs. Iazzetto donated to the Art Department.

The Chia Pet growing instructions are accessible online here for anyone wanting to try this process! Everywhere the seeds were pressed into the details of their sculptures would be where the chia would grow.

We transferred the Chias to the greenhouse alongside the middle school planters to dry out for two days so the seeds would adhere to the ceramic surface.

When the chia seeds toughened up after a few days, we realized that the greenhouse conditions were too intense to grow chia plants. Every day their containers would be filled with water and the next day the water would evaporate and they would be completely dried out.

Mr. Eberly recommended that they be sent home at that point so that the students could keep a closer eye on their progress by spraying the exterior with water and keeping the interior filled with water while sitting on a windowsill instead of the greenhouse sun. I don't think the students were too upset that the plants hadn't germinated yet because they were happy to be able to take their sculptures home by the end of the trimester.

I considered displaying the planters and chia pet sculptures in our hallway art gallery but I knew that the plants would need to be maintained daily or else they would die without water and sunlight. Instead, we took pictures for the New Buffalo Art blog and school yearbook and I sent these beautiful works of art home with the students. I also let them know that pet cats love to nibble on wheat grass because it helps break down hairballs in their digestive system. This made the cat lovers in class very happy. :)

Overall, the collaboration between the Art and Science Department was a success and the students appreciated the opportunity to create ceramics with a functional purpose. I've always thought that it is comforting to have something green growing inside when the winter weather hits Southwest Michigan!