Ceramic Busts
An armature of newspaper and tape is used underneath the clay and slabs are added to the top to create the bust form.
Access the full lesson with vocab, teacher instructions, and step-by-step student instructions!
Busts (sculptural portraits of a persons head, neck, and shoulders) have been around for thousands of years—they are important pieces of history that give us a glimpse into the past. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all created busts in their own styles. Before photography, art was often used to depict rulers so that their subjects knew what they looked like. As a result, sculptors were often instructed to add wrinkles to a young ruler to make him look more wise, add muscle to smaller individuals, and otherwise adjust appearances to influence the perception of the public. I love teaching this unit to students because it not only helps them gain a LOT of clay skills, but also challenges them to do something that has been done so many times before in a way unique to them.
I have taught this unit multiple times and have tried both using an armature underneath the clay, and sculpting solid clay to then hollow out later. To the right, you’ll see the armature method. However, I prefer sculpting with solid clay and then hollowing it out at a later stage when the clay is hardened enough to hold everything up.
Here, you can see the face sculpting begin. When I teach this unit, I demo a new facial feature each class so that it is fresh in everyone’s heads. In the full lesson, I detail how to sculpt each feature with photos. We talk about skeletal structure, muscle, fat, and generally how the face is anatomically set up. Sculpting a human is difficult, but sculpting a specific human is much more difficult. Therefore, you can have students create a face as they go to make it less challenging or have them sculpt off of a specific person for a higher level of challenge. Any expression (worry, smiling, etc) will also add to the difficulty.
My personal favorite part is the detail. Adding wrinkles, scars, pores, and skin texture makes the face come alive. To do this well, I like to cut off a piece from a plastic bag (in this case, what the clay from the box was wrapped in) and place it on top of the skin before poking in pores or drawing in wrinkles. This makes sure that no clay crumbs are created and gives it a realistic feel.
Once you take the plastic off, you can also use a paintbrush to gentle push water into the texture you created to make it softer and more subtle.
If using an armature, you’ll pull it out at the end. If sculpting solid, you’ll need to make sure you hollow the bust out at the leather-hard stage (a gentle poke with a finger should not cause the clay to be pushed). After all of the sculpting is finished and the pieces are bisque fired, I typically have my students paint with acrylic to achieve accurate skin-tones and realistic colors. I also have had students paint the entire piece a solid color or treat their busts more artistically. Both are fun!
Try the full lesson with vocab, teacher instructions, and step-by-step student instructions and let me know how it goes for your class!
