Lesson video

Hi, everybody.

How are you doing today? My name is Esther, some people call me Ms. Esther, and I'm an artist and an art teacher, and I'm going to be working with you today on our lesson, Make a clay picture.

I am really excited about this lesson because we will be using clay, one of my favorite materials to use.

It's part of our unit, My world - art and nature.

Let's get started.

Hi again.

Let's have a look at our outcome for today's lesson.

By the end of the lesson, you'll be able to make a clay picture from patterns and colors from the earth.

Very exciting.

Okay, ready to go with our key words for this lesson.

We have got clay.

If I say them first, you could say them after me.

So the first one is clay.

And the second one is earth colors.

Amazing.

Well done.

So, clay is a soft, sometimes sticky material from the ground that can be shaped into different forms, into different things.

And earth colors are colors that come from clay, sand, rock, and earth.

There's an image there of some different things in varying earth colors.

We have some more keywords to look at together.

I'll say them first.

You repeat them after me.

We have pattern.

And spiral.

And a pattern is repeating lines, shapes, or colors.

And a spiral is a shape that goes round and round and round and round, starting small and getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

We have three learning cycles for our lesson today.

The first learning cycle is exploring patterns and natural paint colors together.

Second one, we're going to be making our own clay pattern.

And then we'll be looking at telling stories through clay.

Let's start with exploring patterns and natural paint colors.

What colors do you notice here? Pause the video and list the colors that you see.

These colors can be called earth colors.

Earth colors are colors that look like nature and the ground like brown, red, yellow, and orange.

They come from soil, rocks, sand, and clay.

Some artists use earth colors to create their artwork.

They might create patterns and shapes using the natural colors that they see in the earth around them.

One example of an artist who worked with earth colors is Anni Albers.

She used earth colors in her textile art.

And we've got some earth colors here to look at in this amazing piece of textile art that has so many colors in, I don't think I could even count them.

This is interesting.

We've got three circles here to look at.

Richard Long is a British artist who uses natural materials like stones, mud, and earth to create patterns that connect to the land.

I think I can spot some mud that's very dried up in one of the circles.

Wow, lots and lots of dots here.

Let's find out some more.

Jordan Ann Craig is an artist from the Northern Cheyenne people in America.

She makes big paintings with lots of tiny lines and dots.

Her art shows her memories, her land, and special patterns from her culture.

Jordan Ann Craig looks at beadwork, pottery, and textiles from her Northern Cheyenne heritage.

She uses their patterns in her paintings.

We are going to do a check for understanding and think about what we've looked at so far.

Which image shows earth colors? Is it A? I can see some different kind of rocks.

Is it B? I can see a spiral.

Is it C? That looks like a picture of some water.

Which one of these do you think shows earth colors? Pause the video and talk to somebody nearby about your ideas.

Well done if you said A.

These are the colors of earth, sand, rock and clay.

Artists can use the natural materials that they find in the world around them to make artwork.

Here are some of the things that we looked at before.

Oh, a beautiful plant.

Oh, and a teabag.

Well, tea does come from a plant, so yes, that's a natural material.

This artist is starting their artwork by creating a pattern with tape.

Oh, and it's made a kind of crisscross pattern.

Patterns can be made by repeating shapes and colors.

Okay, so we have a lot of shape repeats.

I'm not sure I can count all of those.

And if we look below, we've got some colors.

Let's count how many of the color in the middle, the kind of orange color, how many pieces there are of that.

So, let's count together.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.

So, there are eight pieces of orange rock in our picture.

Well done.

The artist is using earth colors made from tea and coffee.

There's the tea, there's the coffee.

Now they've got some water on.

They use their earth colors to make shapes and patterns.

They make marks with their paint brush.

They layer one color over the other.

I wonder which color will be darker, the tea or the coffee? They create a pattern on their paper.

Let's hear from Jacob.

Jacob says, "There are patterns on the top of the tape, such as dots, stripes, zigzags, and soft shapes." Let's do a check for understanding.

What do you think will happen as the earth colors dry? Pause the video and talk to someone nearby about your ideas.

Aisha thinks the paint might change color.

Andeep thinks it might look less shiny and wet.

Jacob says, "The paint might get darker or lighter." Let's get ready for task A, exploring patterns and natural paint colors.

Talk about the work of an artist who uses the land to inspire them, such as Jordan Ann Craig.

When we explore an artwork, we can say what we can see.

You might say, "I can see.

." Talk about what the colors look like.

Or think of things that we notice.

"I notice lots of.

." And also very important what the artwork might remind us of.

"This shape reminds me of.

." Some questions we can ask include, what colors do you see in their artwork? Where do you think these colors come from? What shapes or patterns do you notice? Pause the video and have a think about your answers.

Great work.

Well done everybody.

You might have said, "I can see lots of orange, red, and white shapes." Sounds like an interesting picture.

Or, "The colors look like fire and sand." I like those two words together.

Or, "I notice lots of dots and straight lines in a pattern." And you could have said, "This shape reminds me of a mountain." Let's do the second part of task A, exploring patterns and natural earth colors using tea and coffee.

You'll need masking tape, paper and scissors.

Use the tape to make a pattern on your paper.

Make marks with your paintbrush using your tea and your coffee.

Layer one color over another.

Create a pattern on your paper.

Have fun painting with tea and coffee.

Pause the video and I'll see you again in a moment.

Well done for your amazing work, making patterns with tea and coffee.

You might have created an artwork like this artist, patterns such as dots and stripes, patterns made from the tape.

You might have taken away the tape to leave your pattern behind as well.

Let's start learning cycle two, making your own clay pattern.

We have a question to start with.

What's this material called? The material that we're looking at in the bag is called clay.

Clay is a soft, sticky material from the ground that can be shaped into different forms, into different things.

Some artists use clay to make spirals.

This is a shape that goes around and around and around starting small and getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

A spiral is a shape that never ends.

Check for understanding.

Which image shows a spiral? Is it image A? I can see three shaped bits of clay there and one in somebody's hand ready to shape.

Is it image B? I can see four pieces of clay there that have been shaped.

Or is it image C? I can see four pieces of clay that have a different shape.

Pause the video and have talk with someone nearby to decide what you think is the right answer, A, B, or C? Well done if you said C.

That's the correct answer.

I can see four spirals there.

This artist is starting to make spirals by rolling the clay into balls.

What do you notice? They're rolling it in the air to help the ball stay round.

To make a coil from the clay ball, gently roll the ball in your hands until you have a sausage shape.

So you're making that ball into a sausage shape and then roll the clay back and forth on the board.

Can you see how the artist has spread their fingers out and kept their hand flat to roll the clay? Press gently so the clay stays smooth.

You can use a bit of water on the clay to make it stay in the spiral shape.

You might have noticed that the spirals look like a wave or like a snail shell.

It's time for I do, you do.

I do make spirals from your clay.

Rolling the ball, then making a sausage, making the sausage thinner by rolling it on the board, being gentle so we don't squish that squishy clay, and then using a bit of water, maybe a toothbrush to make the clay a bit rougher, and get those spirals to go round and round and stick together.

And when you do make spirals from your clay, make sure you follow the steps that we can see.

Pause the video and enjoy making spirals out of your clay.

Great work, everyone.

I wonder how many spirals you managed to make.

Artists can use different tools to create different patterns on their clay.

We're going to make some patterns on clay today.

You might use tools such as a peg, a clay tool, or a pencil, and your fingers.

Fingers can make great patterns on clay.

This artist has added patterns to their clay spirals.

Fingers can make gentle marks in clay.

Can you see how the peg is being pressed in on its end? It makes bold lines in the clay.

A clay tool can be used to flatten the clay.

The clay tool is being used more kind of on its side, not as upright as the peg is being used to make the pattern.

This artist has added patterns to their clay spirals.

What marks do you think the pencil will make? Pause the video and have a think about it.

A pencil might make small, curved circles in the clay.

It's time for a check for understanding.

Which tool creates soft, gentle marks in the clay? Is it A? I can see the pencil.

Is it B? I can see somebody's fingers.

Or is it C? I can see the peg in C.

Pause the video, have a talk with someone nearby, and share your ideas.

Well done if you said B.

Fingers can press gently to make soft marks in the clay.

It's time for task B, which I'm really excited about, make your own clay pattern.

We're going to add some patterns to our clay spirals.

You might use tools such as a peg, a clay tool, a pencil, or your fingers.

Pause the video and have fun making your clay patterns.

Amazing.

Brilliant.

Well done.

I wonder what patterns you've created.

You might have used your fingers to make gentle marks in the clay.

Used a peg to make some bold lines in the clay.

Used a clay till to flatten the clay.

Made small, circular patterns with a pencil.

Now it's time to look at our third learning cycle for this lesson, telling stories through clay.

The Lenca people are from Central America.

The Lenca people make beautiful pots from clay, using spiral shapes and colors from the earth.

Wow, I love this brown and white pot.

Fantastic.

Their pottery shows love for nature and helps tell stories from long ago.

They look after the clay because it comes from the earth and they respect it as part of their culture and their traditions.

Culture is the special things that people do, that people make, and people share.

And everybody's culture is important.

And a tradition is something that's happened time and time and time and time again.

They might look after the clay by keeping it moist and soft, firing it in a hot oven called a kiln to make it strong and to make things from the clay, and they might look after the clay by only using what they need.

Here is our check for understanding.

True or false? We can use as much clay from the Earth as we want.

Pause the video and have a think about your answer.

Well done if you said false.

Let's find out a little bit more about why this is false.

We share natural resources like clay and we use them carefully so there's enough for everyone.

The Lenca people in South America make beautiful pottery with spiral patterns.

People have used spirals in art for thousands of years.

Their designs come from nature.

Spiral patterns can be found in shells, water and snails.

Earth colors and spirals can connect us to the land and to its stories.

When we use earth colors and spirals in our art, we are learning to look closely at nature and feel a connection to the world around us.

What does your spiral or pattern remind you of? Pause the video and talk to someone nearby about what your spiral or pattern reminds you of.

Amazing.

Well done.

Thank you for sharing all of your ideas.

You might have said, "My dotted pattern on my spiral reminds me of the marks on a ladybird's back." Or, "The path to school has little stones.

My spiral pattern reminds me of that." Great thinking.

Amazing work.

Well done.

This artist has used their earth colors and clay spirals to tell a story.

"I have made patterns like the grass in the field behind my house." "I have put my spirals onto my earth-colored paper." That's a brilliant idea to bring the two things together.

"This part shows a pattern that I saw on a butterfly's wings." Now we're ready for test C, tell a story through your patterns and clay spirals.

Think about what your earth colors remind you of.

Add your spirals to your earth-colored paper.

What does your artwork now remind you of? Pause the video and have a think about what your patterns remind you of or make you think of.

Have fun doing some thinking.

You might have said, "My artwork has spirals like I see on the fence at the back of my garden." Or, "I saw a spiral in a flower, and in the wind on the water in a puddle." Oh, I really like that idea of the wind on the water.

You could have said, "The little dots made with my earth colors are like little grains of sand." All fantastic ideas.

Well done for all your hard work today.

You've been amazing.

Now we'll have a moment to think about what we've explored today.

We've looked at pattern.

Patterns can be made through color and shape.

We've particularly looked at earth colors, didn't we? We looked at tea and coffee and patterning with earth colors.

And we explored clay.

Clay and color come from the earth and should be shared and respected.

We made those amazing clay spirals and then adding some amazing patterns.

And then we looked at the history of spirals as a pattern.

People have used spirals in art for thousands of years across cultures and time.

I wonder now that this lesson has finished how many spirals you will spot in nature and around you? Thank you so much for doing this lesson with me.

I look forward to seeing you another day for an art lesson.

Bye for now.