Surface Treatments on Clay and Making Meaning

This is a student centered art-based research project that explores surface treatments on clay and how they may influence creativity and making meaning. It involved me introducing more surface treatments that are alternatives to glazes into my high school classroom. I wanted to broaden my own knowledge as well as provide more opportunities for my students so they would feel a greater sense of choice, power, and meaning in their artwork. This process forced me to learn about materials, open up to the unknown, and release power to the students. It was a rewarding experience that will forever make an imprint on my ceramics studio and possibly other content areas in the future. I learned to think about the many ways art can be meaningful and to reflect on the biases about such a topic I hold as an art teacher