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EARTHenware
Summary
In this activity, students will study the pottery techniques and
beliefs of the Pueblo peoples, and then re-localize what they
have learned and experienced in their own pottery. The consideration
of Pueblo pottery provides for students a connection to both the
past and to the Earth.
Subject
Area
This activity
has been designed for the Visual Arts curriculum at the Secondary
level in units dealing with three-dimensional media.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning and evaluation will focus on the student’s ability
to:
- Research
and describe the various ways in which potters in various cultures
have used similar tools and materials to express unique, as
well as dissimilar ideas and experiences;
- Sculpt
a clay pot and design a pattern on it;
- Exhibit
an understanding, in their work, that physical and cultural
environments influence the function and form of artifacts;
- Demonstrate
technical control of materials (clay) and tools (potter’s
wheel).
Materials
Materials include clay, potter’s wheel, and brushes. Where
possible, fuel such as firewood or dung should be substituted
for a kiln.
Timing
The length of time necessary for the completion of this activity
varies with the level of the students and the depth to which Pueblo
pottery is to be studied. The first section of this activity should
be reserved for the introduction, class discussion, individual
research and design. The second half of this activity will be
for completing the artifacts, firing them, and the summary class
discussion.
Background
Pre-Columbian Pueblo pottery (before European contact) demonstrated
a continuous development through both its design and its process
of creation. In Pueblo pottery can be found the manifestation
of the social and spiritual priorities in the maintenance of the
connections between the Pueblo people, their ancestors and the
spirit world.
To maintain a bridge with the potters who had come before, Pueblo
potters included ground-up shards of old pots along with the fresh
clay. This addition would serve to temper the new pot in a manner
similar to the use of grog in clay; the old shards would add strength.
Also, a spiritual dimension exists in that the use of old materials
maintained an explicit connection with past craftsmen. Finally,
since resources were scarce, the reusing of materials represented
a continuous connection to the earth.
The old shards, which were often dug up from the ground, became
references sources for developing the design vocabulary of the
Pueblo potters. As each Pueblo developed its own style, the designs
of the ancestors who lived in that area found their way into new
pot designs. Reference to tradition became an intentional influence
on emerging design traditions.
Pueblo pottery designs also communicate stories, in a visual language
that has only recently begun to be relearned. Hieroglyphics on
pots reveal stories about how the Pueblo people related to their
environment, and the importance of integrating thought, form,
and spirit in everything they did. One example showing a distinct
reverence for the earth explains that when clay was taken from
the earth, the potter put in its place some corn meal, so that
the transaction was considered fair by the Pueblo people and not
theft from the earth. Other stories found on Pueblo pottery reflect
this interrelatedness of the social, personal, and spiritual worlds
of the Pueblo potters.
References
Alcina, Franch Jose. Pre-Columbian Art. New York: H.N. Abrams,
1983.
Batkin, Jonathan. Pottery of the pueblos of New Mexico, 1700-1940.
Colorado Springs, CO: Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine
Arts Center, 1987.
Cushing, Frank Hamilton. Cushing at Zuni: the correspondence and
journals of Frank Hamilton Cushing, 1879-1884. Albuquerque: University
of New Mexico Press, 1990.
Cushing, Frank Hamilton. Zuni Breadstuff. New York: AMS Press,
1975.
Dillingham, Rick. Acoma & Laguna Pottery. Santa Fe, N.M.:
School of American Research Press; [Seattle, Wash.]: Distributed
by the University of Washington Press, 1992.
Classroom
Development
- Introduce
the environmental themes while telling about Pueblo pottery.
- Introduce
formal elements of pottery design while looking at Pueblo pottery
designs. Note the environmental themes, and that visual motifs,
composition, pattern, and balance, originally derived from their
perceptions of nature.
- Go over
the basic techniques required to sculpt a pot using the coil
technique. The clay is first rolled in the palms into a long
stick shape. It is then made to form a circle and the clay is
then continued around in a spiral to build up the sides of the
pot.
- Before
students do their own pot, make sure to include some ground
shard with the powdered clay or with the moist clay. Discuss
the symbolic meaning behind this act. Also, instruct the students
to start thinking about the design they will do on the pot.
Have students submit a design, outlining the symbolic references
that they plan to incorporate into their pot, before beginning
to add their design.
- The
finished clay pot can then be painted with the glazes. The pattern
to be used should have been designed first on paper, and reflect
some connection with the past and with the environment.
- The
clay pot should be then fired outside by building up fuel around
the pot. This fuel could be firewood or dung. If this is not
possible, then a modern kiln firing can be substituted. Make
sure that all safety precautions are met in either case.
Cross-disciplinary
Links
Geography—This activity could be integrated with a geographical
study of Pueblo culture.
Drama—In Drama, this activity could be part of a larger context
in which the pot is used in a performance.
History—In History class, ceramics could be used as an artifact
to reveal the history of the people who created it. Ceramics document
the history and symbolism of a civilization.
Mathematics—In Mathematics class, ceramics could be examined
to reveal how ancient civilizations used mathematics. For example,
the Pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico, Central and South America
developed sophisticated mathematics, and this is documented in
the patterns of their ceramics. The Mayans had highly accurate
calendars and even a zero long before Europe.
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