Ceramic Flower Craft Kit Classroom Educational Component

About the Artist Zemer Peled was born in Israel in 1984 Bachelors of Fine Art from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem Masters of Art from Royal College of Art in London Born and raised in the northern part of Israel, Zemer Peled’s work explores her specific reading of nature. She creates forms that are nostalgic for and reminiscent of shattered, dense landscapes both real and imagined. Her mutating, figure like creatures are hybrid vision of land, physical matter and her intuitive process-led approach to making. She received her bachelors of Fine Art from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and her Masters of Art from Royal College in London.

1st half of the 14th century, Jingdezhen 9th Century, Iraq 1271-1368, Jingdezhen “Blue and white wares” or “blue and white porcelain” is a type of pottery that uses a type of clay called porcelain that turns a bright white when fired in a kiln, a special oven that reaches over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. The “blue” part is an under-glaze that is made of a blue pigment, generally cobalt oxide. This is where we get cobalt blue. The design can be added by using a paintbrush, stencil, or transfer printing. The design is then covered with a clear glaze to create a shiny finish. This trend of pottery decoration originated in the Middle-East during the 9th century where the mineral was excavated from local mines in central Iran. The cobalt oxide was then exported to many surrounding countries and to China. The first Chinese blue and white wares are found from the 9th century as well, though only shards have been found. 1st half of the 14th century, Jingdezhen 1426-1435, Xuande

18th Century 1506-1521, Zhengde 17th Century Over time the technique evolved and became perfected making Jingdezhen the porcelain capital of China, and China became the porcelain capital of the world. Europeans loved the porcelain works that were exported from China and worked for years to figure out the Chinese secret recipe to make porcelain. Because the blue and white wares have been around for twelve centuries, it is common in the Middle East and in China to find shards when doing archeological digs. These shards have become an important role in Israeli history and is the influence of using shards in Zemer Peled’s work. 17th Century

Zemer’s work combines the aesthetic of the blue and white wares and the history of the porcelain shards to create both large and small sculptures. In this image you can see how they are made of thousands of tiny pieces of ceramics.

Zemer creates her pieces two ways Zemer creates her pieces two ways. The first is to hand-cut tiny quill-like pieces from the clay. The other is to make larger pieces and break them with a hammer. The combination of these two methods creates contrast between the smooth edges of the hand-cut pieces and the jagged edges of the broken ones.

This image shows the inside of Zemer’s kiln This image shows the inside of Zemer’s kiln. The long white pieces with the blue tips are the clay that is being fired a second time. Notice how the tips are hanging off of the edge of the “kiln furniture.” She has to do this because when the kiln gets hot, the glaze turns almost liquid, like lava, then hardens when it cools down. If the glaze touches anything when it is in the lava-like state, it will be stuck to it forever when it cools.

Once all of her pieces are ready, she makes an armature of her sculpture out of wet clay and them presses each of her small pieces into the clay.

In addition to her large sculptures, she also makes small flowers to hang on the wall, using the same process.

Porcelain-Shard Flower How to Make Your Own Porcelain-Shard Flower

Take your clay out of the bag Take your clay out of the bag. Be careful not to over-work the clay or it will dry out. You can always add water to it, but it gets a little messy.

Next, roll it out into a snake just long enough to bring the ends together to make a doughnut shape.

Once you have your doughnut shape, place it on your paper bag so it won’t stick to your desk. Now, figure out what kind of pattern you want to make and cut your pipe cleaners into small pieces. You might want to make them different sizes to add interest. Tip: To keep the pipe cleaners from shooting off across the room, have students prop an empty folder up on their desk and have them cut the pipe cleaners surrounded by the folder.

Start on the inside and gently push the rhinestones and pipe cleaners into the clay in rows.

Do the same thing on the outside edge.

Fill in the rest of the clay with the pipe cleaner pieces, and TA-DA! The clay will need a few days to dry completely. The clay will turn white as it dries. Teachers, let us know how this project worked out in the classroom. We would love to get feed back and pictures!

Other Resources NPR interview with Zemer: http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/now-view-twists-and-turns-108-contemporary-gallery-downtown-tulsa Documentary on Chinese Porcelain: Part 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZSHq95fug4 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDLFfBhWiDk