Lesson Plan: Van Gogh's Sunflower Ceramic Relief

Submitted by Jan Hillmer, Visual Arts Specialist Berkeley Preparatory School
UNIT: impressionists and post impressionists -Ceramics
PROJECT: Van Gogh sunflowers relief sculpture
Grade Level: Elementary (Jan did this with third grade)

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Objectives:

Students will create sunflower drawings and relief elements on clay using a variety of tools to obtain textures. Students will observe Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings carefully - compare to work by Georgia O'Keeffe and Monet.

Materials:

clay, clay tools, canvas cloth, slip dishes, glaze (or underglazes)

Instructional Resources:

Pictures of Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings (PowerPoint) - Georgia O'Keeffe's sunflowers and Monet's flower painting. Actual flowers (or silk flowers) for study

Vocabulary:

Impressionists, Post Impressionists, clay, score and slip, fire, glaze. Texture, additive and subtractive methods of working with clay, relief

Instruction/Motivation:

Show Van Gogh’s flowers. Compare and contrast Sunflowers with Monet flowers and O’Keeffe's sun flowers. Discuss how Van Gogh used texture in his paintings.
Science integration - discuss parts of flowers (use real flowers if possible).
Demo clay slabs, scoring and slipping, additive and subtractive clay methods.

Procedures:

Distribute clay. Have students create slabs approx ½ “ thick. Add and subtract clay to create sunflowers. Add Hanging device (hole can be made with straw - or insert a high fire wire loop on the back). Allow to dry. Fire. Glaze as desired.

Closure:

Compare and contrast slabs with paintings. Does student demonstrate a variety of textures in work?

Evaluation:

Did students create textured works of sunflowers? Did students use both additive and subtractive methods of clay work?

Did students exhibit craftsmanship in working with clay and glazing?