I love a good slab and tile lesson, and this clay facial feature slab lesson builds (or introduces!) so many hand-building skills. I currently teach this to my Sculpture II students, but it can totally be taught to students who have zero to very limited clay experience. It takes up very little space (and clay!) which is helpful if you have giant classes or limited storage space. I teach high school currently, but I have successfully taught a similar lesson to 6th graders.
Clay is very adaptable for all abilities, and this lesson can be modified for upper elementary to advanced high school students.
Here is a quick view of the steps needed to create this artwork:
Introduction
Students start by sketching out their ideas based on a facial feature they find interesting or challenging. I use this as a hook/introduction lesson for our clay busts we will be making next. I encourage students to think of which facial feature they would find most interesting when creating their clay bust or which facial feature they feel like they need more practice with.
An option I have used before is to go more hands-on with instruction and focus on step-by-step directions on how to make an eye. This would be a great adaptation for larger or less experienced classes. Eyes are a great subject matter and can allow students to be creative while honing their skills.
Recently, I like to give students more freedom of which facial features they will create. I always review basic steps, but I am lucky to teach a group of students that have had Art I and Sculpture I, so their base knowledge is much higher. It’s so fun to watch their creativity and confidence grow as they work.
Slabs
After students create sketches, we make slabs. I do a hands on demonstration using a rolling pin. You can create a template with paper to cut out perfect slabs, or wing it for an organic shape. Many students have to make their slab more than once due to it being too small or too thin. We use the width of our thumb as a guideline.
Draw Designs
After our slabs are created, which is typically the next class period, we gently sketch out designs with a wooden skewer. You can use a needle tool, but sometimes students cut too deep with the sharp point. Students are instructed to create at least three stacked layers of clay (including the slab) and also to include subtractive and carved designs and textures.
Additive Techniques
After the design is mapped out, students begin hand-building and constructing their layers. They can roll coils, cut shapes out of slabs and hand-build any section they need to build additive layers. I review the score, slip and blend method in detail before they start.
Some students naturally understand form and sculpture, while others struggle to break out of the more 2D aspects of a relief sculpture. I try to coach students to think as sculpturally as possible and not just flat or drawn designs on a surface.
Subtractive and Carving
Once all the layers and 3D details have been added, it’s time for students to explore subtractive techniques. Just like with any concept, some students naturally understand carving and surface texture variety. Some students just want the whole piece smooth and have to be encouraged to explore surface variations. We use a variety of tools to carve and create texture. I still think a bamboo skewer is one of the best clay tool for the classroom.
Art History Connections
We do daily art history warm-ups in their sketchbook. This is hands down my best classroom management strategy as well as a meaningful tool for incorporating art history, art criticism and meaningful class discussions. My detail blog about that is here:
We start by looking at Egyptian Amulets which are a great example of a relief sculpture and a fragment of a face. Another artist that is fun to explore is Israeli artist Ronit Baranga. Some of her work can be provocative so I have to curate pieces that make sense for the grade level I teach. You can download my free daily warm-ups here. Feel free to use this as a guide and come up with your own style!
Display Options
At this point students have been working for a week or more and their slabs are not leather hard, but slowly getting there. This is a good point to carve names and dates on the back of the slab as well as consider display options. These can be propped up on table top easels, have metal hooks epoxied after firing for hanging, poke holes in both sides for a more visible wire display, or fashion clay notches with holes for wire on the back. Just don’t forget until they are leather hard to attach any display pieces or they will be difficult to add with fresh clay.
Glazing and Surface Treatment
We use these for test glazing so they are very familiar with glazing techniques for their larger and more in-depth clay busts. I really love Amaco Underglazes, especially the watercolor sets. They are expensive so I only use them with my smaller classes. Any gloss glaze works well with careful application and sometimes three coats of a Crystallex glaze is the perfect simple solution.
**This post contains affiliate links to products I truly love and use in my classroom. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting this public school teacher’s side hustle so I can continue to provide free content.
I am also a fan of certain cold finishes, although acrylic paint takes a skilled painter to bring to it’s full potential on bisque ware.
Clay Facial Feature Slab Lesson Student Work
