Wednesday, January 14, 2015

6th Grade Islamic Art Inspired Tiles


It's time for clay! Last year we were fortunate enough to get a kiln at school #6. The kiln is a special oven used to heat clay to around 1800 degrees Fahrenheit and turn it into ceramic. Since all of the elementary schools in Cliffside Park are so close together, we can transport clay from any school in the district to the be fired in the kiln at School #6. 

Students in 6th grade are creating clay tiles that are inspired by Islamic art. The students looked at examples of Islamic tile designs and discovered two things found in most of the designs: symmetry and straight lines. Students create two different tile designs of their own that used symmetry and some amount of straight lines. Last week students rolled, measured, and cut 4 inch tiles out of wet clay.This week students are using their favorite design and carving into the wet clay tiles. 

Now we have to let the clay dry out completely and then fire it in the kiln. Stay tuned to see what our final tiles will look like!

These photos show examples of students from #5 School working on their tiles.








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