ART Lesson
Teacher: Susan S. Kopecki
Overview Students will see the connection that art makes to a society and a culture by exploring the art of Dave, an enslaved African American potter from South Caroline who began making pottery before the Civil War, from around the early 1820’s to the mid-to-late 1860’s. Dave is famous for his ability to throw very large pots often up to 40 gallons or more in size and for the fact that he was able to read and write. We know that because his pots were often signed, ‘Dave’ and the pots often contained short poems that he wrote. The poetry and pottery created by Dave serve as excellent primary source artifacts as we decipher a great deal of information from the poetry about the life and conditions of a slave.
The best current estimate is that Dave was born around 1800. Much of the information that historians have been able to assemble on Dave has come from examining the records of the families that ran the principal pottery works in the region. Over time he was bought and sold by the Drake, Gibbs, Miles, and Landrum families. Dave, for example, was the property of Harry Drake until the
latter's death in 1832. After emancipation in the 1860s, Dave took the last name of Drake, perhaps in commemorative remembrance of the man who presumably taught him to be a potter.
latter's death in 1832. After emancipation in the 1860s, Dave took the last name of Drake, perhaps in commemorative remembrance of the man who presumably taught him to be a potter.
We will use the several books on African American Art, along with the Leonard Todd’s book, ‘Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter, Dave’ along with an NPR podcast to explore the life of Dave. My students will complete an art unit, combining clay sculpture with a literacy component as they too learn to express themselves through the visual arts, just as Dave, the Potter, did back in the 19th century.
Essential Questions
- How does society influence art?
- How do people express themselves through art?
- Where do ideas come from?
- How does a persons views, beliefs, and opinions shape the way they view and make art?
Enduring Understandings.
- In the world today we learn as much through visual images as we do through written word.
- Art can be a representations of an individual's response to the world.
- Art can reflect individual, community and cultural differences in the world.
CT STANDARDS:
CT Social Studies Curriculum Framework:
Content Standard 1- Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts and information from history and social studies is necessary to promote understanding of our nation and our world.
Content Standard 2- History/Social Studies Literacy: Competence in literacy inquiry and research skills is necessary to analyze, evaluate and present history and social studies information.
CT Art Curriculum Framework:
Content Standard 3- Content: Students will consider, select and apply a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.
Content Standard 4- History and Cultures: Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and culture.
Content Standard 5- Analysis, interpretation and Evaluation: Students will reflect upon, describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others’ work.
Objectives Students will create a clay vessel that will be inscribed with a couplet reflective of a connection they have to their life, inspired by the work of a slave named
Materials Clay, clay tools, glaze, underglaze, paint brushes, water, pencils, sketch paper, plate/draped cloth
Vocabulary
• Couplet –Usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.
• Ceramic-Object made of clay fired sufficiently high in temperature for a chemical change to take place in the clay body, usually over 1550 degrees R.
• Slab – Flat pieces of rolled clay often draped over a form or into a form.
• Underglaze- Liquid clay slip that contains coloring oxides and chemicals used to apply color and designs to a ceramic piece.
• Glaze- A coating of material applied to ceramics before firing that forms a glass like surface. Glazes can be colored, opaque, translucent or matte.
• Kiln- The furnace in which ceramics are fired.
DAY 1
• Students will see a PowerPoint (link below) on the history and life of ‘Dave the Potter’, view some examples of his work and listen to a podcast written by a currant author on Dave’s life. Pass out handout on Art Homework: Memory.
Art Homework: Freedom
Name______________________________
We have just discovered how Dave the Potter used Art to express himself and share details of his life with poetry. Please write a short paragraph reflecting your views now on slavery.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DAY 2 Students will share their Art Homework: Freedom with the class and write a couplet that represents this story. It may or may not rhyme. Traditionally couplets rhyme, but not all. Because the rhyme comes so quickly in rhyming couplets, it tends to call attention to itself.
Handout ‘Verses on Vessels Made by Dave
• Passout handout, read and initiate group discussion.
Verses on Vessels Made by Dave
Put every bit all between
surely this jar will hold 14
12 July 1834
Horses, mules and hogs-
all our cows is in the bogs-
there they shall ever stay
till the buzzards take them away
29 March 1836
A better thing I never saw
When I shot off the lions jaw
9 November 1836
Ladies & gentlemens shoes
Sell all you can & nothing you’ll loose
29 January 1840
Give me silver; either gold
Though they are dangerous; to our soul
27 July 1840
Dave belongs to Mr. Miles
Wher the oven bakes & the pot biles
31 July 1840
Another trick is worst than this
Dearest Miss, spare me a kiss
26 August 1840
I wonder where is all my relations
Friendship to all – and every nation
16 August 1857
made this jar for cash
Though it is called lucre trash
22 August 1857
Making this jar: I had all thoughts
Lads & gentlemen: never out walks
30 January 1858
If you don't listen at the bible
You will be lost
25 March 1859
I made this for our Sott
it will never - never – rott
31 March 1858
This noble jar will hold 20
fill it with silver then you'll have plenty
8 April, 1858
A very large jar which has four handles
pack it full of fresh meat - then light candles
12 April, 1858
The sun, moon and – stars
in the west are plenty of – bears
29 July 1858
I saw a leopard & a lions face
than I felt the need of - grace
3 November 1858
When Noble Dr. Landrum is dead
May Guardian angels visit his bed
14 April 1859
Hive is eighteen; hundred + fifty nine
unto you all I fill in---cline
18 April 1859
Good for lard and holding fresh meats
blest we were, when Peter saw the folded sheets
3 May 1859
Made at Stoney Bluff
for making lard enuff
13 May 1859
Great & noble jar
hold sheep goat and bear
13 May 1859
The forth of July is surely come
to blow the fife = and beat the drum.
4 July 1859
I saw a leopard & a lions face
then I felt, the need of grace
7 August 1860
A noble jar for pork or beef
Then carry it a round to the indian chief
9 November1860
I – made this jar all of cross
If you don’t repent, you will be lost
3 May 1862
Homework
• Practice writing your couplet several times on a sheet of paper. Choose one of these scripts or create your own.
DAY 3 Clay Slab Construction
1. Using slab-rolling machine, roll out one large slab (15x15) per student and place on a plate draped in cloth.
2. Press clay slab into the plate and cut edges to fit the size of the plate. Smooth edges of plate with a small wet sponge, ridding the clay of jagged edges or imperfections.
3. Details may be added to the dish for decorative elements (leaves, flowers, shapes).
4. Students may also press into the clay various patterns or textures, leaving space though for the couplet.
5. Clay slab must dry for one week and be bisque fired in a kiln.
6. Using underglazes and very small brushes students will paint their couplet onto the clay plate. Pencils may be used first to space the writing. Decorative elements or patterns may be painted on the plate.
7. Clear glaze is then sponged onto the entire plate (except the bottom) and plate is then fired for the 2nd time.
SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
• Clay Poetry Plate
• Rubric
RUBRIC
Clay Poetry Plate Rubric
Use of Materials Concept Effort
Homework: Couplet
Homework: Practice
(Alphabet)
Clay Construction
Underglaze Application
1-Outstanding 1=A
2-Above average 2=B
3-Average 3=C
4-Below Average 4=D
Name_______________________ Overall Grade __________
EXTENSIONS/RESOURCES
• http://www.sciway.net/afam/dave-slave-potter.html
• http://www.davetheslave.org/
• http://www.usca.edu/aasc/davepotter.htm
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