BEING SCULPTORS
As archaeologists in this Mantle of the Expert unit we have
studied many artefacts that were sculpted in stone and pottery in the Golden
Age of Ancient Greece. We have
seen a lot of relief sculpture where the pictures are carved in to stone so
that they stand out. We have seen
this style of sculpture on Ancient Greek buildings including The Parthenon and
The Erecthion, often in the form of friezes that go around the building. The goddess Athena,
goddess of Athens and Odysseus’s saviour, is also the goddess of crafts
including pottery and sculpting.
So…
today we had a go at being sculptors. We worked with clay to make a series of tiles to illustrate
the story of the Odyssey, which we are now all experts on! We learnt a lot about how to work with clay using different tools, with lots of problem solving and creativity along the way.
MAKING TILES
First we had to roll out clay and cut our tile shapes. We used long straight pieces of wood to
make straight sides and a ruler and knife to cut out our square. We then used a special potters tool to
make grooves in the back of our tile so it would not curl when it dried. We also made two holes in the top so it
would be able to be hung on a wall.
HAVNG A GO AT RELIEF SCULPTURE
Next we worked with small bits of clay to sculpt our
pictures. We used our plans from
last week as a guide but had to do lots of experimenting to see how best to
make our pictures work. We used
toothpicks and other clay tools.
We also made slip (a mixture of clay and water) to attach pieces on to
our tile. We learnt how potters
attach handles to cups by scratching grip marks onto the handle pieces and the
cup before using slip like glue to attach it. We experimented with this method until we got our relief
work looking how we wanted it to.
SOME OF OUR TILE CREATIONS
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Six Headed Scylla |
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Odysseus's Boat |
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Goddess Athena puts a stop to any more fighting. |
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Odysseus with his great bow ready to shoot through the holes of 12 axe heads. |
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Hermes the messenger god - with wings on his feet.
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