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

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