Following on from my last post featuring some primary schools I have visited and worked with this year, I have since completed a huge tile project with a whole school! 218 tiles later… my kiln is now resting and I am very excited to share the results of this project.
It took two sessions, two days a week over three weeks to complete the tile making for this collaborative project. This primary school is quite large so there were two full classes in each year group.
Working with a mix of age ranges on different days was interesting to see the different abilities and excitement during the sessions. It was a privilege to work with so many wonderful children who all showed an interest and responded well to the activity. I don’t usually pick favourites but one of the classes in year 4 were particularly creative.
After a short introduction at the start of these sessions, we always head out into the gardens of the school grounds if they have one. I provide lots of organic objects and foliage for mark making, but the foraging gives the children an opportunity to collect their own nature findings to use for impressing textures into their handmade tiles as well.
This school had some very impressive RHS Five Star badges around their gardens, with a mini allotment, homemade bug hotel and wildflower areas.
Back in the classroom, after a short explanation and demonstration from me, it is over to the children to create their compositions. I think this is my favourite part, hearing the “oooh’s” and “wow!” exclamations when the patterns are revealed in the surface of the clay.
Coloured slips were used to create some really effective finishing touches, combined with some beautiful mark making.
Some children chose to draw directly onto the clay with a stick or the end of a feather. Others explored nature stamps, while others imprinted real flowers, leaves and rolled in pine cones or shells.
Although the tile making was a treat for the children just before they left for the summer holidays, they worked really hard at creating their masterpieces and were also very good at helping to tidy up. Especially during the last session which was the hottest day of the year!
This classroom felt a bit like home after visiting so regularly for a few weeks, I was a little sad to leave!
It took me the majority of the summer holidays to get every tile fired in my kiln, in-between other orders. The tiles were delivered back to the school, complete with names attached in September 2022.
Now, a year since the project started, I am so happy to share the below images with you, featuring some of the tiles in situ in and around the school. Don’t they look great? A mix of framing and displaying methods were used, including adhering straight to the wall or grouting around the edges. Some tiles were mounted into wooden frames, some were painted and some were mounted directly onto classroom walls without a frame.
Words from the Head Teacher
“Charlotte worked with all our pupils from Y3 to Y6. The children benefitted from a highly engaging enriching experience. The tile making project enabled pupils to learn about the environment, look at sources in nature and extend their skills and understanding of the use of clay in art. Charlotte’s approach made this into a powerful reflective project for the pupils in which they had to bring their own creativity and design ideas to make an individual piece of art.” – Angela Rock, Head.
