I have been wanting to do this project for a couple of years, but I finally found a way to get it into my Art 1 curriculum. The only thing that would have made it "sweeter" is if the Foods class could have been doing cakes at the same time and we could have looked (and eaten) real cakes. Maybe next year.
Anyways, for my clay unit this year we looked at the works of Wayne Thiebaud and all of his yummy looking pop art paintings. I knew we were going to do this in clay so it was fun to see the students translate his 2D works into 3D boxes. Yes all of these cakes are actually hallow boxes where the lids can come off. That alone was a challenge for some of them, especially the ones that wanted some sort of sauce to look like it was draping over the edge of the cake.
So the criteria I gave them was this. They needed to make either a cake or a pie box. It needed to be between 5-8 inches in any direction and it needed to have some clues as to what was their flavor. To help them think outside of that box (do you see that I use this concept a lot, maybe I need to get an actual box for them to step outside of. Now that would be a site, but I digress) I gave a short 10 question speed quiz. If you have never given your students a speed quiz I highly recommend it. This is where you throw out random questions and they have to write down the first thought that comes to mind. So here were my questions; you can play along if you want to, but remember to answer as fast as you can. Don't think!!
1. Favorite fruit
2. chocolate or vanilla
3. Favorite holiday
4. Favorite toy when little
5. Frosting - thick or thin
6. Favorite candy
7. Favorite food - no sweets
8. Salty or Sweet
9. Favorite color
10. Cake or Pie
So how did you do? Are you questioning my sanity like some of my students? A few were confused about why I asked about toys, but I thought maybe they would remember a decoration from one of their own birthday cakes when they were little. Same with holiday, maybe they love pumpkin pie at thanksgiving. Again, the purpose is getting them to think. Also I don't require them to use anything from this list. I just usually hope that it shows them that they don't all have to make a piece of chocolate cake.
I did ask them to do a drawing in their sketchbook of a rough drawing of what they wanted to make in clay. And then we started. Like any clay project it took about a week to make, a week to fire all of them and then a few days to glaze and then another 2 weeks to glaze fire them all. I hope you enjoy my favorites.
Anyways, for my clay unit this year we looked at the works of Wayne Thiebaud and all of his yummy looking pop art paintings. I knew we were going to do this in clay so it was fun to see the students translate his 2D works into 3D boxes. Yes all of these cakes are actually hallow boxes where the lids can come off. That alone was a challenge for some of them, especially the ones that wanted some sort of sauce to look like it was draping over the edge of the cake.
So the criteria I gave them was this. They needed to make either a cake or a pie box. It needed to be between 5-8 inches in any direction and it needed to have some clues as to what was their flavor. To help them think outside of that box (do you see that I use this concept a lot, maybe I need to get an actual box for them to step outside of. Now that would be a site, but I digress) I gave a short 10 question speed quiz. If you have never given your students a speed quiz I highly recommend it. This is where you throw out random questions and they have to write down the first thought that comes to mind. So here were my questions; you can play along if you want to, but remember to answer as fast as you can. Don't think!!
1. Favorite fruit
2. chocolate or vanilla
3. Favorite holiday
4. Favorite toy when little
5. Frosting - thick or thin
6. Favorite candy
7. Favorite food - no sweets
8. Salty or Sweet
9. Favorite color
10. Cake or Pie
So how did you do? Are you questioning my sanity like some of my students? A few were confused about why I asked about toys, but I thought maybe they would remember a decoration from one of their own birthday cakes when they were little. Same with holiday, maybe they love pumpkin pie at thanksgiving. Again, the purpose is getting them to think. Also I don't require them to use anything from this list. I just usually hope that it shows them that they don't all have to make a piece of chocolate cake.
I did ask them to do a drawing in their sketchbook of a rough drawing of what they wanted to make in clay. And then we started. Like any clay project it took about a week to make, a week to fire all of them and then a few days to glaze and then another 2 weeks to glaze fire them all. I hope you enjoy my favorites.
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| Austin M. |
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| Katelyn S. |
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| Lane E. |
The plate was an optional item that they could make. It was not an requirement.
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