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GRADES 4-12Cross Curricular: Art, Social Studies

Lesson Plan and Artwork by Eric Orr, Art Consultant

OBJECTIVES• Students will join pinch pots to create a 3-D

animal form.

• Students will elaborate on animal features and create a functional bank.

• Students will detail and glaze their animal banks with fun and fanciful color schemes.

DESCRIPTIONChildren have always been encouraged to save money for a “rainy day.” A piggy bank is a unique form to encourage savings or “feeding the pig.”

Historically, in the middle ages, household containers were often formed from a cheap and plentiful earthenware red clay called “pygg”. When folks had an extra coin, they would drop it into a clay jar for saving. Because owning a pig was a sign of simple wealth, these jars soon became shaped like a pig, especially in Javan (Indonesian) society, and similarly in Europe.

Piggy Bank: “When Pigs Fly”

National Core Arts Standards-Visual

CreatingAnchor Standard #1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.Anchor Standard #2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

ConnectingAnchor Standard #11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

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DIRECTIONS1. Create two pinch pots with 2 one-half pound balls

of AMACO® low fire clay.

2. Start by rolling each soft clay ball into a perfect sphere. Push your thumb deeply into the ball to open it.

3. With thumb in the middle, press and turn the ball, thinning and expanding the outside with even pressure from your four fingers.

4. Try to pull and expand clay upwards and inwards, like a vase, not outward like a bowl.

5. Strive for even wall thickness.

6. Form the second ball in a similar fashion striving to make it the same diameter as the first.

7. When both pinch pots are done, turn them over and gently tap the rims on the table top to even them out.

8. Score and slip both rims and gently push them together. Your form will look like a baked potato.

9. Roll a wet clay coil and place it over the joint. Smooth the coil with a clay tool and then your fingers to cover the joint.

10. Scrape the seam with a serrated or smooth rib to make the joint/seam disappear. You now have the body of a pig or other animal.

11. Study the features of your pig or other animal and add features...neck, head, legs, tail, etc.

12. Add details and facial features. An AMACO® foot sprig mold is a fun way to create legs.

13. Be sure to score, slip and press all features onto hollow pinch pot form.

14. For bank, cut a slot in the back of the animal 1/2” wide by 2” long. This cut also allows air to escape during firing of an enclosed form without blow-ups.

15. When dry, bisque fire to cone 04 (1949°F)

16. Glaze with three coats of Amaco® CTL glazes. Add painterly details with the Amaco® Teacher’s Palette glazes. Foam daubers are a fun way to add other colors over your base glaze coats.

17. Glaze fire to cone 05, (1888°F).

MATERIALSItem # Description400258 AMACO® Versa Clay #20, White, 50 lbs. 1402970 AMACO® Teacher’s Palette® Class Pack #3, Assorted Colors, Pints, Set of 12 1356612 AMACO® Crystaltex Glaze Classroom Pack 4, Pint, Set of 12 1288659 Sax® Mini Pattern Imprinting Mats, Assorted Patterns, 1” x 6-3/4”, Set of 24 457376 Jack Richeson™ Boxwood Modelers, 6 in Standard Tools, Set of 10 385142 Kemper Fettling Knife, Hard Blade, 4-1/2”, Each 1289641 Royal® Ceramic Classroom Value Pack, Set of 16 457358 Jack Richeson™ Flexible Scraper, Each 404606 Jack Richeson™ Foam Daubers, Set of 40

Score and slip both rims and gently push them together. Your form will look like a baked potato.

Roll a wet clay coil and place it over the joint. Smooth the coil with a clay tool and then

Scrape the seam with a serrated or smooth rib to make the joint/seam disappear. You now have the body