Desert Tiles

First day – I show students an image of Henri Matisse “Beasts of the Sea.” We discuss how the artist did not cut paper shapes of objects exactly as they appear in the ocean. But he got his inspiration from the ocean in sensations and experienced feelings. In other words, he abstracted the ocean.

Next we focus on the desert as our inspiration, brainstorming what the desert makes us think and feel. We focus on nouns and adjectives. Then, I introduce the air-dry clay and we practice pushing in and pinching out to form shapes.

Day two

Review the challenges and successes of working with the clay. We brainstorm adjectives in small groups to determine the five adjectives that will be used for our project. On this day the students complete a desert inspired texture tile. They have to push, pinch and create five different textures to describe the desert adjectives.

Day Three

Orange, green and brown are the colors of the stain that we will be using. We discuss these colors and how artists use color in their work to not only describe but to create feelings. Students will choose the design of the staining on their own tile.