Pip: Art With Korb is one week out from clay, and the whole school feels it — that particular tension of knowing something messy and ancient is coming.
Mara: Frank korb’s latest update from the middle school art studio covers three grade levels all converging on ceramics, from slab-built keepsake boxes to wheel throwing to Photoshop work wrapping up just in time. Let’s start with what’s actually happening in the studio this week.
Week 13: One Week Away From Clay
Pip: The through-line across all three grade levels right now is anticipation — everyone is either finishing up what came before clay, or already deep in the techniques that clay demands. The question is what that looks like grade by grade.
Mara: The eighth-grade situation sets the tone. The post notes that students “are coming in at lunch ALL ON THEIR OWN to practice practice practice the process of the wheel,” and it anchors that effort to a Warren Mackenzie quote: “The first 10,000 pots are difficult and then it gets a little easier.”
Pip: Ten thousand pots. That’s not encouragement, that’s a sentence. But it also means the bar is clear — and the self-assessment rubric the post mentions is doing real work, giving students an actual goal to aim at rather than just vibes.
Mara: Alongside the wheel, eighth graders are building bas-relief sculptures — slab-based, architectural, using both additive and subtractive techniques. Their own homes or another meaningful building. Glazing and test tiles are next.
Pip: Sixth grade is approaching clay from a completely different angle: keepsake boxes. Small containers built to hold something that matters — for themselves or someone they love. The post frames the technical load honestly: slabs, coils, flanges, slipping and scoring, and a serious emphasis on craftsmanship, all before glazing even enters the conversation.
Mara: The vocabulary list alone signals how much is packed in — greenware, bone dry, scoring and slipping. The assignment asks students to plan and template first, which is where the week is actually landing.
Pip: And then there’s seventh grade, still in Photoshop — which, in this context, feels like the one grade level not yet allowed at the table.
Mara: The post is straightforward about it: two more days of layering, masking, and file management in the Visual Biography project, and then, as it puts it, they move “from 21st century technology to that from 32,000 years ago.” The contrast is the point — digital tools out, hands in clay.
Pip: All three grades, different materials, same destination.
Mara: And the post closes with a Corita Kent reminder that cuts across all of it — rule number seven: the only rule is work.
Pip: Ten thousand pots, one keepsake box, a Photoshop file you finally close — the studio keeps asking the same question in different materials.
Mara: Next week, all three grades should have clay in their hands. That’ll be worth checking back in for.
Hello Friends of Art with Korb! Mr. KORB welcomes you!
Welcome back to the Middle School Art Studio. We are all working towards clay – ONE WEEK AWAY!
6th Grade Artists are beginning with the ideas of slab building and boxes. The use of the slab roller or rolling pins and slats are just a part of the process. This artwork might be just as challenging as the 8th graders work on the wheel! Keepsake boxes are small containers to hold something of importance to the person and we are creating these for our sixth grade persons OR someone we love and care for. What would you want to create a keepsake box to hold? We are working with SLABS, COILS, FLANGES, SLIPPING and SCORING, as well as really focusing on the idea of CRAFTSMANSHIP! We aren’t even TALKING about glazing yet. What do you want to make a box for?
7th Grade Artists are wrapping up Adobe Photoshop and non destructive photo editing and masking layers. We have gathered CREATIVE COMMONS images or images that were free to use (than you Pixabay) and brought them into Photoshop. File management has been a huge part of the process and the 7th graders are learning as much about that as they are about making art. Photoshop is a great place to build images and manipulate photographs. Layering and masks are in the process as are filters and transparency. We even get to lay in a background that can relate to us. Photoshop was and is a good place to explore making art that is still made digitally with the artists hands in play (no thank you AI).
8th Grade Sculptors continue working on the wheel and on the Bas-Relief sculptures. The kids are coming in at lunch ALL ON THEIR OWN to practice practice practice the process of the wheel. It is challenging and they are doing great. The use of the self assessment rubric has given them a stronger sense of a goal and how to set that goal for success. OK kids – 9,995 more pots to thrown and then it will get easier. Remember, “The first 10,000 pots are difficult and then it gets a little easier.” – Warren Mackenzie. In addition to the wheel, they are working on the use of the slab to make architectural bas-relief sculptures. The ideas here is to create a low relief sculpture using slabs, coils, additive and subtractive techniques on the slab. Then we will be working on the glazing techniques. Next up – TEST TILES!
As always, it is important to be in the studio ourselves. What are YOU doing in your studio? Keep at it artists. Decisions (and art) are made by those who show up. What was Sister Mary Corita Kent’s rule about making? #7 – The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch onto things.
Here are the 6th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
We are into the world of Keepsake boxes and clay. What you put into the box is up to you! How you build it requires a lot of thought and consideration as well as a lot of practice and process. Let’s take a look at the process together. This week we are planning and creating templates to get the ball (or slab) rolling. What are the tools we need to use? Slab Roller? Rolling Pin and Slats? Slip and needle tools? Yes – and we need to keep the space CLEAN!
Vocabulary? There is a lot in the process. Clay and ceramics, scoring and slipping, green ware and bone dry. Can you identify any of these terms?
Here are the 7th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
Let’s keep this part of the post the same until next week… then we’re onto clay (we hope).
This is the end of the road for this work. Two more days and then we assess and get our hands into the clay. From 21st century technology to that from 32,000 years ago.
Using Photoshop and the internet to gather images (or maybe you can gather some of your own) we are going to spend time working with layers and masking. This is a high end artowkr with some high end computer skills that you are going to learn (and master?)! Beginning with yourself we are going to trace and import and erase and layer and resize and the list goes on and on and on… excited? I hope so!
Not one of our artist’s works but this is an idea that can take you places! What do you think about this artist and what they are interested in? Let’s get editing and layering!
8th Grade Sculpture: Wheel Throwing and Slab Building
Here are the 8th Grade Sculpture semester Lesson Plans for you to see what our day will look like.
What is new in the pottery world today? Tools maybe. What is new in MY studio today? A paper towel dispenser on the wheel. I’ll show images later.
As an artist for my entire adult life, this is what I have landed on for the past 5 years. This is how I start my day and end my day. My life and business partner do this work together and keep our little potter up and running in Korb Pottery. What the artists in the studio will be doing is the same… but maybe not as much or as large.
Starting with one pound of clay and working to pull up a cylinder is the goal. How hard can that be right? Yeah – right! The biggest challenge is going to be the centering, then the opening, then the pulling, and don’t forget to keep the arms locked and the hands in place, and don’t forget to breath. Wedging? No way am I going to try and teach that – well maybe a little. One pound of clay kids…
AND at the exact same time we are working on SLAB constructions of a work of architecture. Their homes or another work of architecture that is important to them. Maybe I’d choose a work of Brutalist Architecture from our nation’s capital – I LOVE that work. Basic techniques will be revisited AND the work will be on their own. Solve some problems, work it out, don’t let it dry out. Ugh. All that one has to remember.
Pip: Art With Korb, where the Chromebook battery is bulging and the clay is just getting started — a normal week in an art room, by any measure.
Mara: Frank Korb’s latest post covers three grade levels moving through very different materials — clay planning, digital photo editing, and wheel throwing — and the throughline is what it takes to actually get better at something.
Pip: Let’s start with hands in old school clay and new school technology.
Week 12: Hands in Old School Clay and New School Technology
Pip: Three grade levels, three completely different processes running simultaneously — and the question underneath all of it is the same: how do you get good at something that takes years of repetition before it starts to feel natural?
Mara: The pottery wheel section puts a number on that. Warren Mackenzie’s words are quoted directly: “The first 10,000 pots are difficult and then it gets a little easier.”
Pip: Ten thousand pots before things ease up. That is not an encouraging timeline, but it is an honest one — and it reframes what practice actually means in a ceramics classroom.
Mara: The eighth graders are already coming in during lunch to log more time on the wheel. The post notes there have been strong advances from artists putting in that extra practice, which tracks with the Mackenzie idea — the only path forward is more throws.
Pip: Meanwhile the sixth graders are nowhere near the wheel yet. They’re in the planning stage for keepsake boxes — thinking through what a keepsake even is before a single slab of clay gets cut.
Mara: The post walks through that vocabulary carefully. Templates are introduced as paper shapes cut before the final clay slabs, explicitly to save time and effort later. Terms like scoring and slipping, green ware, and bone dry are flagged as things students need to identify.
Pip: So the sixth graders are learning the language before they touch the material — which is a different kind of rigor than throwing ten thousand pots, but it’s still rigor.
Mara: The seventh graders are in a completely different medium. They’re deep in Adobe Photoshop, working on non-destructive editing and masking layers for a Visual Biography project — layering personal photographs with gathered images to build composite portraits.
Pip: Non-destructive editing is one of those concepts that sounds technical until you realize it just means you can always go back — which, honestly, ceramics could use.
Mara: The post closes with a reminder aimed at art teachers specifically: staying active as an artist matters, even outside the classroom. The ideas in your head should be made into art, big or small.
Pip: Onto the closing.
Pip: Ten thousand pots, a keepsake box that hasn’t been built yet, and a Photoshop layer that can always be undone — patience runs through all of it.
Hello Friends of Art with Korb! Mr. KORB welcomes you!
This week brought out a bit of technology issues here at home. The Chromebook battery seemed to have gotten hot and began to bulge on the old computer. I needed to shut it down and put it aside. Fortunately, Chromebooks are affordable and a new one is in my hands so I can try and catch up. Ok, what’s up?
6th Grade Artists are now beginning the unit with Clay! Woo Hoo! Keepsake boxes are in the works and the planning is starting this week. What is a keepsake? What do you want to keep safe? A small something from a loved one? A token from a good friend that has moved away? A souvenir from a vacation you took last year? These are all things that you might think about and are all good ones to build your ceramic keepsake box for. EXCELLENT IDEAS! We are planning on the ideas and getting our measurements begun. Templates and all. (Templates are paper shapes that are cut before the final slabs of Clay are cut – save time and effort for later!)
7th Grade Artists are still deep into Adobe Photoshop and non destructive photo editing and masking layers. The challenges are not only the use of Photoshop but also following along with the videos and attempting to stay on task while Mr. Korb works around the room to keep everyone on task and understanding the program and the process. Once one understands some of the process, the rest becomes a lot easier and can be used in MANY ways on MANY layers. More to come as we wrap this up next week. Then… ONTO CLAY!
8th Grade Sculptors are still working on the pottery wheel and watching a few artists online (and me) for more inspiration and tips. Thank you Florian Gatsby, Earth Nation Ceramics, and Jon the Potter (and Frank Korb) for the videos and helpful advice. There have been a good number of artists coming in during their lunches and making STRONG advances on the wheel. The only way to get better is to be on the wheel and practice. How many pots do you need to throw? “The first 10,000 pots are difficult and then it gets a little easier.” – Warren Mackenzie. Mr. Korb has about 7000 more before they get a little easier. How many do you have?
Once again, what are YOU doing in your studio? It is important that as an art teacher you are making art as well. Does that mean huge works and every day? Not necessarily, but it is important to practice our profession. (Just one artist’s thoughts.) The ideas that are in your head are ideas that should be made into art – big or small, long studio time or short. We need to be ACTIVE as artists! Keep making great work!
Here are the 6th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
We are into the world of Keepsake boxes and clay. What you put into the box is up to you! How you build it requires a lot of thought and consideration as well as a lot of practice and process. Let’s take a look at the process together.
Vocabulary? There is a lot in the process. Clay and ceramics, scoring and slipping, green ware and bone dry. Can you identify any of these terms?
How do you make strong ceramics works?
Here is the assignment for Photography
7th Grade: Visual Biography and Photoshop
Here are the 7th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
Let’s keep this part of the post the same until next week… then we’re onto clay (we hope).
We all make photographs, we all have passions and interests, and we all have a silhouette. What can we do with those in PHOTOSHOP? We are about to find out.
Using Photoshop and the internet to gather images (or maybe you can gather some of your own) we are going to spend time working with layers and masking. This is a high end artowkr with some high end computer skills that you are going to learn (and master?)! Beginning with yourself we are going to trace and import and erase and layer and resize and the list goes on and on and on… excited? I hope so!
Not one of our artist’s works but this is an idea that can take you places! What do you think about this artist and what they are interested in? Let’s get editing and layering!
8th Grade Sculpture: Wheel Throwing and Slab Building
Here are the 8th Grade Sculpture semester Lesson Plans for you to see what our day will look like.
This post is the same as last week – the only thing that has changed is that the standards for height in the cylinder and a 4 is now 4″ versus 5″
As an artist for my entire adult life, this is what I have landed on for the past 5 years. This is how I start my day and end my day. My life and business partner do this work together and keep our little potter up and running in Korb Pottery. What the artists in the studio will be doing is the same… but maybe not as much or as large.
Starting with one pound of clay and working to pull up a cylinder is the goal. How hard can that be right? Yeah – right! The biggest challenge is going to be the centering, then the opening, then the pulling, and don’t forget to keep the arms locked and the hands in place, and don’t forget to breath. Wedging? No way am I going to try and teach that – well maybe a little. One pound of clay kids…
AND at the exact same time we are working on SLAB constructions of a work of architecture. Their homes or another work of architecture that is important to them. Maybe I’d choose a work of Brutalist Architecture from our nation’s capital – I LOVE that work. Basic techniques will be revisited AND the work will be on their own. Solve some problems, work it out, don’t let it dry out. Ugh. All that one has to remember.
Pip: Art With Korb is back, and this week the studio is juggling photography editing, Photoshop portraits, pottery wheels, and a Brewers championship — which is either the best possible week to be an art teacher or the most chaotic.
Mara: fjkorb brings us deep into Week 11 — grades, conventions, clay, and digital work all converging at once. Let's start with what's happening across every grade level right now.
Week 11: Grades, Clay, and a Championship
Pip: Week 11 lands at an interesting crossroads — a statewide convention just wrapped, grades are in, and three grade levels are all mid-project in very different directions. The question is what's actually moving forward and what's still being figured out.
Mara: The convention sets the tone right away. The post describes it as offering "NO OTHER WAY to get as much relatable professional development than to be around other art teachers and share the knowledge and wisdom with one another" — covering everything from digital photography to glazing techniques to shaping behavior with intentional words.
Pip: That last one is doing a lot of work. The idea of modifying Studio Habits through spreadsheets and conversation with kids is the kind of thing that sounds simple until you're actually in the room on Monday.
Mara: And Monday is exactly when it gets tested. Sixth graders are wrapping up their Camp Snap photography unit — final edit sessions, narrowing down to thirty images, and learning file maintenance alongside composition. The unit covered close-ups, point of view, and elements of art before heading toward clay.
Pip: Thirty images sounds manageable until you remember these are sixth graders navigating Apple Photos for the first time, and the post notes some are easily sidetracked by everything else the software can do.
Mara: Seventh graders are into Photoshop — the Visual Biography unit, where students build layered digital portraits using their own silhouettes, passions, and photographs. Layer masks, non-destructive editing, tracing and importing. The post calls it "a high end artwork with some high end computer skills."
Pip: And eighth graders are at the pottery wheel, which is where the post gets genuinely specific about difficulty — centering first, then opening, then pulling, elbows down the whole time. The rubric now covers height, width, trimming, and wall thickness, and the post notes even the teacher doesn't always score a four.
Mara: Running alongside the wheel work is a slab-built architecture piece — students' homes or another meaningful structure. Soft clay, self-directed problem solving, and the constant threat of it drying out. The post closes with a reminder that being an art teacher means staying active as an artist yourself.
Pip: Go Brewers, apparently. The championship gets exactly the energy it deserves — all caps, one line, full commitment.
Mara: Convention takeaways, three concurrent projects, and a ceramics rubric that even the teacher finds humbling — it's a full week.
Pip: Next time, we'll see whether the clay survived the weekend. Keep making the work.
Hello Friends of Art with Korb! Mr. KORB welcomes you!
We have just wrapped up our Wisconsin Art Education Association Statewide Convention for 2026 and has it been great. There is NO OTHER WAY to get as much relatable professional development than to be around other art teachers and share the knowledge and wisdom with one another. From Digital Photography to Glazing Technique sessions, Standards and Studio Habits to Shaping Behaviors with Intentional Words, a lot was brought back to the school studio that can be implemented on Monday. Even OUTSIDE of the session great conversations were had. How can I use a spreadsheet and conversation with kids to help modify their Studio Habits? We will find out on Monday!
The 10th Annual Running With Scissors was a small but GREAT SUCCESS – Next Year let’s get 11 for the 11th Annual!
Onto the classes.
6th Grade Artists have wrapped up the making of photographs and are now going to spend 2 days editing them down. The final photo-count on their computers will be 30 images – so file maintenance is going to be a good thing to teach (and learn) as well. We have studied the Camp Snap camera and the challenges it has as well as the STRENGTHS that is in the simple mechanism. From Close Ups to Fun With Animals, Point of View to Elements of Art… we have covered a lot of ideas in the unit. After this week we are onto CLAY (I hope).
7th Grade Artists are wrist deep into Adobe Photoshop (clay next for them too). We have begun the digital portrait and biography unit. Collage and what makes up a person (12 and 13 have some good memories behind them already – and so many more yet to come). With layer masks and non destructive photo editing, we are going to make some GREAT works. Portraits are in the bag and importing is on the agenda. This is a complicated project and the results from last year were phenomenal. I am excited to see what the artists come up with this year!
8th Grade Sculptors are working out the pottery wheel and watching a few artists online (and me) for more inspiration and tips. Thank you Florian Gatsby, Earth Nation Ceramics, and Jon the Potter (and Frank Korb) for the videos and helpful advice. What’s the hardest part? For some it is keeping their elbows down. For others it is coning up and down. Centering is the biggest challenge in order for anything else to happen. And the challenges just keep growing as they move forward. The expectations have also grown this year as the 5 rubrics (thank you Joshua Simmons and The Good Pottery for your help) have pushed the group to a specific goal of the height and width and trimming and walls and SO MUCH MORE to a good work. Even Mr. Korb falls short on earning a 4 on all of his works – I can do it! The other half of the concurrent assignment is the Bas (BAAAA like a sheep) Relief sculpture – and even the storage of the works is challenging for some of them. We are looking at architecture and the ideas of building up the sculptures from a flat surface. The soft clay is tough to work with at times so – failure and challenges abound. They will do great!
What are YOU doing in your studio? Being an art teacher and an artist means more than calling yourself one. The ideas that are in your head are ideas that should be made into art – big or small, long studio time or short. We need to be ACTIVE as artists! Keep making great work!
Here are the 6th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
Photography with the Camp Snap camera allows us to make photos and not worry about the results until we upload them. This is going to be a new challenge as well while we log into the Apple Computers in the digital lab and work through Apple Photos to do our editing and uploading. This is going to be FAST and FURIOUS! What kinds of new ideas have you come up with about cameras so far?
Vocabulary and the use of the camera – no thumbs – is important as we learn how to make a great photograph. Some kids are easily sidetracked into he other things that Apple Photos can do so, it is up to them to redirect when told and stay on task all on their own.
Here are the 7th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
We all make photographs, we all have passions and interests, and we all have a silhouette. What can we do with those in PHOTOSHOP? We are about to find out.
Using Photoshop and the internet to gather images (or maybe you can gather some of your own) we are going to spend time working with layers and masking. This is a high end artowkr with some high end computer skills that you are going to learn (and master?)! Beginning with yourself we are going to trace and import and erase and layer and resize and the list goes on and on and on… excited? I hope so!
Not one of our artist’s works but this is an idea that can take you places! What do you think about this artist and what they are interested in? Let’s get editing and layering!
8th Grade Sculpture: Wheel Throwing and Slab Building
Here are the 8th Grade Sculpture semester Lesson Plans for you to see what our day will look like.
This post is the same as last week – the only thing that has changed is that the standards for height in the cylinder and a 4 is now 4″ versus 5″
As an artist for my entire adult life, this is what I have landed on for the past 5 years. This is how I start my day and end my day. My life and business partner do this work together and keep our little potter up and running in Korb Pottery. What the artists in the studio will be doing is the same… but maybe not as much or as large.
Starting with one pound of clay and working to pull up a cylinder is the goal. How hard can that be right? Yeah – right! The biggest challenge is going to be the centering, then the opening, then the pulling, and don’t forget to keep the arms locked and the hands in place, and don’t forget to breath. Wedging? No way am I going to try and teach that – well maybe a little. One pound of clay kids…
AND at the exact same time we are working on SLAB constructions of a work of architecture. Their homes or another work of architecture that is important to them. Maybe I’d choose a work of Brutalist Architecture from our nation’s capital – I LOVE that work. Basic techniques will be revisited AND the work will be on their own. Solve some problems, work it out, don’t let it dry out. Ugh. All that one has to remember.
Pip: Art With Korb is back, and apparently so is the second quarter — which, if the first quarter is any indicator, will arrive and vanish before the clay even dries.
Mara: fjkorb walks us through what every grade level is tackling right now — photography, digital image-making, and ceramics — plus some bigger-picture changes to how students assess their own work. Let's start with what second quarter actually looks like in the studio.
Week 10: Second Quarter Hits the Ground Running
Pip: The question this segment is really answering is: what does the shift into second quarter mean for each grade level, and why does the pacing feel so compressed the moment you walk back in?
Mara: The post sets up the ceramics unit for eighth grade with real specificity — here's the line on wheel throwing: "The biggest challenge is going to be the centering, then the opening, then the pulling, and don't forget to keep the arms locked and the hands in place, and don't forget to breathe."
Pip: So the upshot is that throwing on the wheel isn't a single skill — it's a sequence of interdependent steps where each one depends on the previous one landing correctly. Miss the centering and nothing downstream works.
Mara: And running simultaneously with wheel throwing is slab building — students are constructing architectural forms, their own homes or another building that matters to them. The post even mentions a personal preference for Brutalist architecture from the nation's capital, which tells you something about the range of reference being brought into the room.
Pip: That's a genuinely interesting constraint — you're not just building a box, you're making a case for why a particular structure is worth your hands and your clay. Architecture as an argument.
Mara: Meanwhile, seventh grade is moving into Photoshop and the Visual Biography project. The post describes it as "a high end artwork with some high end computer skills" — layers, masking, tracing, importing, resizing. Students are starting with their own silhouettes and building outward from there.
Pip: Which is a real ask. Photoshop layers can humble a professional on a slow afternoon.
Mara: Sixth grade is wrapping up photography with CampSnap cameras and then pivoting hard — the final session is dedicated to the Elements of Art, vocabulary, and definitions. The post flags file management and working in Apple Photos as skills that matter just as much as the images themselves.
Mara: And threading through all of it is a rubric update — grids are being added to the self-assessment section to make them easier to read, with the existing checkboxes staying in place. Small change, but it directly affects how students track their own progress.
Pip: Assessment infrastructure quietly doing its job. From vocabulary and self-assessment, the through-line here is really about students building the language to talk about what they're making — and that's worth sitting with.
Pip: Three grade levels, three very different materials, and one consistent push to make students fluent in the vocabulary of what they're doing — not just the doing itself.
Mara: The clay, the pixels, and the photographs are all just different ways into the same question. More from the studio next time.
Hello Friends of Art with Korb! Mr. KORB welcomes you!
Rubrics and Assessment are moving along and the changes are going to be helpful for you the artist. Grids have been (or are being implemented into he self assessment portion so that they are easier to read. The check boxes are still there so let’s keep making use of those.
In 6th grade the artists are wrapping up Photography this week and next. What kinds of images have you been able to come up with as we use the CampSnap cameras? More than the photographs, how are you able to work with the computers and file management? As strange as it seems, even us artists need to know how to manage files and work with technology! Our last day is going to be spent learning the ELEMENTS of Art. We will take some time to work through the words and the definitions so be ready to be thoughtful as you put on your thinking caps.
7th Grade Artists have wrapped up the pastel prints (well done) and the DIGITAL IMAGES are going to begin. We should have the portraits from the neurographic images still available so – unless we re-shoot we will be using those. The use of PHOTOSHOP is going to be our main goal – yes – digital images and technology. (From here we are going to go into clay so buckle up as we use the time machine to go way back after we are done here.) Photoshop and the Visual Biography with layers and layers masking. This will be fun. Take art they say. It’s easy they say.
8th Grade Artists have now moved into the realm that Mr. Korb spends most of his (and Mrs. Korb’s free time) CERAMICS! We are working on the wheel and the slab build sculpture called Bas-Relief (pronounced like what a sheep says – BAAA-relief). The wheel is going to challenge one with the steps of throwing (centering, coming up and down, poking, opening, pulling, trimming, patience, and craftsmanship. And do not forget about cleaning!). While we also look at the ideas of what a Bas (or low) relief sculpture is. Make sure you keep your clay sealed while you’re not using it. If it dries – you are starting over mi amigo!
Here are the 6th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
Photography with the Camp Snap camera allows us to make photos and not worry about the results until we upload them. This is going to be a new challenge as well while we log into the Apple Computers in the digital lab and work through Apple Photos to do our editing and uploading. This is going to be FAST and FURIOUS! What kinds of new ideas have you come up with about cameras so far?
This is not one of my kids works but this is the direction we are going. How can you use an element of art as the focal point for your work? These artists are using line! Can you explain how that is the focal point? Let me know. One point perspective is a great use of a lot of the art vocabulary – this is another goal this year. VOCABULARY!
Here are the 7th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
We all make photographs, we all have passions and interests, and we all have a silhouette. What can we do with those in PHOTOSHOP? We are about to find out.
Using Photoshop and the internet to gather images (or maybe you can gather some of your own) we are going to spend time working with layers and masking. This is a high end artowkr with some high end computer skills that you are going to learn (and master?)! Beginning with yourself we are going to trace and import and erase and layer and resize and the list goes on and on and on… excited? I hope so!
Not one of our artist’s works but this is an idea that can take you places! What do you think about this artist and what they are interested in?
8th Grade Sculpture: Wheel Throwing and Slab Building
Here are the 8th Grade Sculpture semester Lesson Plans for you to see what our day will look like.
This post is the same as last week – the only thing that has changed is that the standards for height in the cylinder and a 4 is now 4″ versus 5″
As an artist for my entire adult life, this is what I have landed on for the past 5 years. This is how I start my day and end my day. My life and business partner do this work together and keep our little potter up and running in Korb Pottery. What the artists in the studio will be doing is the same… but maybe not as much or as large.
Starting with one pound of clay and working to pull up a cylinder is the goal. How hard can that be right? Yeah – right! The biggest challenge is going to be the centering, then the opening, then the pulling, and don’t forget to keep the arms locked and the hands in place, and don’t forget to breath. Wedging? No way am I going to try and teach that – well maybe a little. One pound of clay kids…
AND at the exact same time we are working on SLAB constructions of a work of architecture. Their homes or another work of architecture that is important to them. Maybe I’d choose a work of Brutalist Architecture from our nation’s capital – I LOVE that work. Basic techniques will be revisited AND the work will be on their own. Solve some problems, work it out, don’t let it dry out. Ugh. All that one has to remember.
Pip: Art With Korb, where the first quarter of the school year has apparently already happened, whether any of us were ready or not.
Mara: fjkorb's latest post covers a lot of territory — photography, soft pastels, printmaking, and clay — and the throughline is how much the process matters, not just the product. Let's start with what Week 9 actually looked like across the grades.
Week 9: A Quarter Down, Clay, Cameras, and Pastels
Pip: By the end of nine weeks, students have moved through watercolors, markers, portraits, cityscapes, and interiors — and now each grade is stepping into something that feels distinctly like a new phase. The question the post is really asking is: what does it mean to let the process lead?
Mara: The post is direct about that priority. On the subject of products versus process, it reads: "YES the products are important and so is the process (perhaps process is more important – YES – process IS more important – ALWAYS)."
Pip: That's not a throwaway line buried in the intro — it's the framing for everything that follows. Centering clay, running a print through a 1970s press, uploading photos for the first time: none of those go smoothly on the first try, and that's exactly the point.
Mara: The 6th graders are in the digital lab now, working with Camp Snap cameras — shooting close-ups of animals and the environment, then editing in Apple Photos on the Mac lab computers. The post notes the biggest challenge last week was simply logging in: remembering email addresses, capitalizations, spaces in passwords.
Pip: Which is a very honest thing to lead with. The art is almost secondary to the login screen, and somehow that's not discouraging — it's just accurate.
Mara: For 7th grade, the soft pastel unit wrapped up with something genuinely unusual: students laid their pastel drawings onto a 1970s printing press, placed dampened watercolor paper on top, and ran it through. The pressure transferred the pastels in reverse onto the watercolor paper.
Pip: A monoprint made from a drawing that was already finished — the press as a one-shot collaborator.
Mara: The post acknowledges the results were a surprise, and not always in the expected direction. Wolf Kahn's pastel landscapes are referenced as an inspiration for the color work, and the post is candid that some colors transferred better than others.
Mara: Then there's 8th grade, which has been waiting two years for this: the potter's wheel. The post lists the sequence — centering, opening, pulling, trimming — and adds that the real test of patience is what comes after: waiting for pieces to dry before firing and glazing.
Pip: Alongside the wheel work, 8th graders are also building slab bas-relief sculptures of their homes or another meaningful piece of architecture. Two simultaneous clay projects, both demanding, both new.
Mara: The post frames that combination as a deliberate departure from previous years — specific product goals alongside the open-ended process experience. It's a harder ask, and the post says the instructor is "just about as excited as they are."
Pip: Which tracks. Enthusiasm and mild terror are basically the same feeling at the start of a ceramics unit.
Mara: Process over product, across every grade, every material — that's the throughline the whole quarter keeps returning to.
Pip: Clay, cameras, and a printing press from 1970. Next time, we'll see what the second quarter brings.
Hello Friends of Art with Korb! Mr. KORB welcomes you!
We have created cityscapes and interiors, portraits, and movies that are entertaining to everyone. The skills that have been learned have been many in all of the Artmaking experiences and in each class. Watercolors and markers are the heavyhitters in 6th and 7th grade so far AND we brought in watersoluable materials in the 7th grade portraits also. The use of a lot of materials is what middle school art is about. YES the products are important and so is the process (perhaps process is more important – YES – process IS more important – ALWAYS).
6th Grade has moved into the digital lab and begun working with Camp Snap Digital cameras. FOCUSING (haha) on the close up, some fun with animals and the environment, ALL of the elements (and maybe we will incorporate the principles), and approving life and photography from a different point of view. We will be making photographs for the next few days and then uploading them in the MAC lab, editing them with Apple Photos and then moving along to the next work. ALWAYS having a solid crit at the end to remind them of the successes and challenges they had.
7th graders have learned all about the soft pastel and created some wonderful landscapes or floral drawings and now have made those into soft pastel prints. We took the drawings and laid them on the 1970’s printing press, laid dampened watercolor paper over the top, and then ran it through the press. The pressure of the press and the dampness of the paper transferred the pastels (lightly) onto the watercolor paper (in reverse). This was a GREAT experience and the first time many of these kids (all of them) have been in the driver’s seat with a wheeled vehicle… maybe.
The 8th grade artists are jumping out of their skins to get a hold of clay and the potter’s wheels. THIS is the event for many of them. They have been looking at the wheels for that past 2 years and are itching to get onto them. I do not blame them, the wheel is SO COOL! We are going to be working on developing some skills in centering, opening, pulling them up, trimming, and then the hard part starts… waiting for things to dry so we can fire and glaze. We are working on a specific set of PRODUCT GOALS as well as the experience here – this is a departure from the past years. In addition to the wheel, they are ALSO going to be working on a slab built bas relief sculpture of their homes or another work of architecture. This is a challenging set of artworks for the kids and I am just about as excited as they are.
Here are the 6th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
Photography with the Camp Snap camera allows us to make photos and not worry about the results until we upload them. This is going to be a new challenge as well while we log into the Apple Computers in the digital lab and work through Apple Photos to do our editing and uploading. This is going to be FAST and FURIOUS! Looking back at last week, the biggest challenge we had was learning our email addresses and remembering the passwords. SPACES and CAPITALIZATIONS COUNT!
This is not one of my kids works but this is the direction we are goin. Toys and putting them in a place where we could believe it is happening (right, like Darth Vader would actually push a Storm Trooper – he would use the FORCE!). One point perspective is a great use of a lot of the art vocabulary – this is another goal this year. VOCABULARY!
7th Grade: SOFT PASTELS and PRINTMAKING as we wrap up the Neurographic Portraits and Color Schemes
Here are the 7th-grade semester Lesson Plans to show you what our day will look like.
We are wrapping up the printing and the editiopning this week – mounting and naming, hanging and critiquing are all a part of the upcoming studio time. Thanks for the hard and dedicated work artists. Some colors work better than others. That’s part of the process. I think the look on the faces for some was a bit of a surprise as to how the images turnedout. I was a bit surprised as well.
What can you do with SOFT PASTELS? We are going to be working on landscapes or floral drawings and then we are going to make MONO PRINTS from them – assuming it all works for us – AND FOR THE MOST PART IT DID!
This was new to us last year and the CRAYONS did not work out (cheap and not as good as the ones I have used int he past) so we are switching to SOFT PASTELS – MUCH BETTER! We will also take a look at Wolf Kahn’s pastel works! He was a contemporary artist who did landscapes in soft pastels – the colors are great! The Soft Pastel drawings are WONDERFUL and the Printmaking comes up this week. I feel like it is going to be ONE PRINT and that’s it. This was a GREAT experience – and it CAN open up a whole new direction for the making of art.
Ok. Above is NOT one of the middle schoolers, it is Mikey one of the Waterford 7+ artists I work with over the summer. We did not make prints but we DID work with Soft Pastels and BOY oh Mikey did they do a great job! Thanks for the hard work 7th graders (and Mikey).
What do YOU remember about Soft Pastels? Here are some techniques to explore.
8th Grade Sculpture: Wheel Throwing and Slab Building
Here are the 8th Grade Sculpture semester Lesson Plans for you to see what our day will look like.
As an artist for my entire adult life, this is what I have landed on for the past 5 years. This is how I start my day and end my day. My life and business partner do this work together and keep our little potter up and running in Korb Pottery. What the artists in the studio will be doing is the same… but maybe not as much or as large.
Starting with one pound of clay and working to pull up a cylinder is the goal. How hard can that be right? Yeah – right! The biggest challenge is going to be the centering, then the opening, then the pulling, and don’t forget to keep the arms locked and the hands in place, and don’t forget to breath. Wedging? No way am I going to try and teach that – well maybe a little. One pound of clay kids…
AND at the exact same time we are working on SLAB constructions of a work of architecture. Their homes otr another work of architecture that is important to them. Maybe I’d choose a work of Brutalist Architecture from our nation’s capital – I LOVE that work. Basic techniques will be revisited AND the work will be on their own. Solve some problems, work it out, don’t let it dry out. Ugh. All that one has to remember.
