Textured slab pottery

This video is part of the sharing art project of Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio. Intended for grades 5-10, this video starts with an introduction to pottery and ends with a class making their own work. The middle section follows George Sacco as he creates a giant decorative bowls using a slab pottery technique. He uses breakfast cereal to texture the slabs before fitting them over a large form. The unfinished seams between the slabs creates more textures, as does the rough edge of the slab after rolling. Each bowl is individually fired at low temperatures around 800 - 900 degrees in a simple outdoor brick enclosure with sawdust and straw.

Slab and coil pottery

Patricia Bridges of Bridges Pottery has been making pots for many years. Creating art with an emphasis on functional forms has always been a driving force in her work. Her work is primarily done on the wheel but she also creates a significant collection of hand built pieces made by slab construction. Watch her at work as she constructs a large slab and coil vessel. Its amazing how the multiple layers of glazing over the patterned surface makes the piece come to life.

Creating surface texture on pottery by chattering

Chattering, or chatterwork, is a technique that uses a flexible tool to add texture to an object.

Flexible, folded-paper surface

Here is a video showing a piece of paper being folded into an interesting textured surface that is quite flexible. It looks interesting to play with, and I wonder how big a surface one could make. I'm also asking myself if several of these surfaces could be used to make a large abstract sculpture of some sort. Maybe some sort of kinetic art? What if the paper was reflective? Or coloured using the polymorph technique used in Rainbow Rhythm? Lots of possibilities, so take a look and let me know what ideas you have!

Watch More How to and DIY videos

Texture Without Colour

In this video, Maggie Ayers explains how shape and form can be created by both colour and texture. When the colour is removed the focus is then entirely on the texture created and the light falling on it.