The students at Forest Ridge Academy worked with visiting artist, Jeremy South, to make a clay mural to be displayed in the front foyer of the school. I designed this project so that all of our students here at FRA could participate in making a collaborative large scale artwork that would be enjoyed by anyone who sees it. The ocean themed work features hand made sea creatures and objects completely sculpted out of clay. All the pieces were combined to make larger forms that will come together in a fully arranged wall mural. The students painted the forms with glaze that will taken back to be fired. The permanent display will be located in the front foyer next to Mrs. Bognar's window. The finished assembled work will be ready to view by early Spring. In the mean time, take a look at these pictures of our students in the process of working on our project. We hope you will be as excited as we are to see and enjoy all of our hard work.
Once the design was planned out, clay slabs were made in the specific shapes we needed. The fifth grade had the task of rolling out slabs of clay and cutting the size and shape of the forms. These would serve as the background pieces for all of the other objects we were going to make.
Next the students attached a raised slab of clay with holes in it to attach wire for hanging. All aspects of this project had to be thought out and planned carefully.
Even our Young Scholars class got their hands in the clay. Here Mr. Jeremy is showing them the press molds they will be using. The molds had shapes of shells, fish, and other ocean forms.
Wondering what those tennis balls are doing there? Students used them to roll out the clay into thinner slabs. Junior Kindergarten are making fish for our mural. After they cut the fish shape out, they had a variety of tools to add texture like rubber stamps and even lace doilies.
Fourth grade had fun adding in the molded shapes along with making some of their own.
As some of the pieces were finished, they got painted with a ceramic underglaze. Students had to be careful to get all the spaces from every angle.
Second grade had the special task of making turtles. It was a step by step process they followed, but each one is unique for sure.
Kindergarten took turns either painting or making some more clay animals. This group is making snails to be added to our mural.
There were a lot of things made and now they all had to get glazed. First grade is working hard to bring our ocean mural to life with lots of color.
Middle school had the important job of fine tuning the details. They finished up anything that needed special attention; drawing details into the clay, layering the glaze for special color effects, and making sure each piece is show worthy.
This is what the pieces look like before they are fired. It has some pretty amazing details and some fun elements. The pieces were brought back and the whole mural was installed. Our school-wide reveal was exciting. We had fun music playing and a surprise from student council for all of our students.
We all had oceans of fun making our clay mural and everyone worked so hard. Our ceramic artist Mr. Jeremy was very impressed with our school and our students, and loved the mural we made together. Mrs. Covello and Mrs. Brimer were great volunteers and helped so much. Mr. Smith and Mr. Baker did a great job hanging up the backboard and trip. And I am proud of all the work we did and how amazing it looks. Now located in the front foyer, it is the perfect Forest Ridge Academy way to say. . .
"Welcome to Our School"!
