Lesson Plan: Wheel-less Face Jugs
Overview
The Face Jug Tradition of North Carolina
Potters have made vessels adorned with human facial features for almost as long as they have been molding clay. Anthropomorphic jugs and other containers have appeared throughout the centuries and in many different cultures. Many of these vessels had functions related to funerals and other rituals, while others served as portraits of their ruling-class owners.
Traditional potters in North Carolina began crafting face jugs in the early 1900s to break up the routine of making utilitarian wares. Historians believe that the tradition came from Africa; however, the functions and meanings of the vessels are unclear.
The new technology of the early twentieth century brought great changes to social and economic life. Factories began producing many of the items that people had traditionally made by hand. For North Carolina potters who supplemented their farm earnings by producing and selling utilitarian wares, these changes were especially hard. Glass and eventually plastic factories put many potters out of business. Others adapted by making novelty items such as the playful “face jug” for a growing tourist market.
During the second quarter of the twentieth century, face jugs slowly attracted the attention of tourists looking for novelty gifts to bring home. Their height of popularity did not begin until the 1970s, however, when Catawba Valley potter Burlon Craig re-popularized the form in response to a renewed interest among his customers. Soon other North Carolina potters began making face jugs as well, so that today they come in all shapes and sizes, and with a wide variety of facial features and expressions.
Age Group
Secondary (grades 6-12)
Standards
NC Essential Standards Addressed: Visual Arts
Visual Literacy
V.1 Use the language of visual arts to communicate effectively. V.3 Create art using a variety of tools, media, and processes, safely and appropriately.
Contextual relevancy
CX.1 Understand the global, historical, societal, and cultural contexts of the visual arts.
Critical Response
CR.1 Use critical analysis to generate responses to a variety of prompts.
Length of Lesson
Five 90-minute sessions
Session 1 - Create design in sketchbook, create clay slab cylinder, and attach bottom. Session 2 - Attach facial features, remove bottle, and begin to coil top. Session 3 - Finish coiling, attach handle, and clean up rough spots.
Drying time will depend on climate of the classroom - typically 1 1/2 to 2 weeks.
Sessions 4 & 5 (after bisque-fire)-glaze works.
Glaze-fire lasts a day and then face jugs are completed.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
• Describe and interpret NC face jug art examples using vocabulary specific to ceramics and referencing cultural contexts. • Create a face jug using pinch, coil, and slab construction methods and incising and applique decorative methods
Vocabulary – Applique: clay modeled directly onto the plastic surface of clay. Incise: carve or engrave a decoration into plastic, unfired clay. Plasticity: the quality of clay that allows it to be easily manipulated and still retain its shape. Utilitarian wares: Pottery vessels that are made to be used.
Lesson sequence
1. Share NC face jug images. Ask students to describe what they see, interpret what they think the object is, and discuss what elements they find. 2. Discuss the face jug traditional in North Carolina and other cultures. 3. Share student face jug images. 4. Create face jugs inspired by NC face jug pottery examples.
Assessment
Discuss rubric at beginning of the project so that students understand the project objectives.
At the end of the project, students will complete rubric as a self-evaluation and critical response exercise.
Jody Stouffer & Brian Wohleben Lee County High School
Angler Fish Tea Pot Jody Stouffer & Brian Wohleben – Lee County High School Roll and tape a piece of newspaper around a wine bo le. Repeat a second me for two separate layers of newspaper taped around wine bo le. Use a slab roller, and roll out a flat piece of clay that is long enough to wrap around the wine bo le. If a slab roller is not available, use stacked yard s cks and a rolling pin. Use a box or rectangle cut out of mat board, and impress a rectangular shape in your clay. Use a pizza cu er or other cu ng tool, and cut out the rectangle. Save the excess clay for later use in the project. Roll the clay around the wine bo le to assure the clay is long enough. If it is too long, excess clay can be cut off. Score and slip both clay ends to assure a good seal, and touch ends to enclose clay cylinder. Connect the two ends of clay to create a clay cylinder. Use a clay tool or your fingers, and smooth the clay connec on to create a seamless clay cylinder. Take the excess clay from earlier in the project, wedge and roll it out. This will be used for the bo om of your face jug. Use a needle tool or other clay cu ng tool, cut a circle around the base of the cylinder. Save the excess clay to be used in construc on of the face. Score and slip the clay circle and the bo om of the cylinder, and a ach circle to create the bo om of the jug. Blend the seam with a clay tool or your fingers. A final blend with a damp sponge should create a smooth finish. This is a good me to have your students put their name on the bo om of their work. You are now ready to construct the face. According to tradi onal face jug po ers, the nose is the best place to start. There is no right or wrong way to make a nose. Golden Rule to Blending Completely blend out attachment lines. You should not be able to tell that facial features were added on, they should look like they have always been there.
Remind students to score and slip all face jug addi ons unless you use extremely moist clay. Students may use a clay tool or their fingers to completely blend all lines. A final blend with a damp sponge will create a smooth finish. Use your thumbs, and create two inden ons for the eye sockets. Roll out two clay balls for the eyes. Any me you make pairings, create both at the same me so they are of similar size and propor on. Score and slip the eye balls into place. Roll out coils and a ach to create an upper and lower eye lid. In this example, only an upper eye lid is created. Blend the side of the coil that touches the face. This creates a more interes ng eye feature and helps the eye balls stay a ached. Use a pointed clay tool, and add a dot in the middle of the eye ball to create a pupil. This helps to bring your face jug to life. Addi onal coils can be added above the eyelids to create eye brows. Use a needle tool, and incise the clay to create the texture of hair. Try to incise in the direc on that real eyebrows grow. Roll out coils for the lips. Insert the teeth before you a ach the lips. Create handmade teeth or use broken plates to give your face jug a more tradi onal style. Tradi onal face jugs usually highlight the top row of teeth. Teeth can be pushed into place and the lips will hold them in. A ach the lips, and blend in the outside of the lip to the face. Eliminate the seams; the face should look to be one piece. Some tradi onal face jugs have ears while others do not. As with the eyes, form both ears at the same me. It is important to leave the bo le in to a ach features. This provides support from the inside of your face jug, and prevents collapse. Remove the bo le a er all facial features have been a ached. If this segment of the project goes beyond one class period, make sure the face jug is bagged well. If the clay starts to dry, the face jug will shrink and removal of the bo le will be extremely difficult. If the face jug project ends at this stage, add a handle to the back and create a tankard style drinking vessel. Another possibility: a container for kitchen utensils. To create a face jug, coil the top of the jug to achieve the desired form. As you layer coils, stagger the start/ stop point of each coil so it does not align with coil below it. This will give form be er stability. To narrow the top of your form, layer the coil on inner half of the previous coil and blend. Because you will blend, you need only score and slip the first coil. Blend coils with either a clay tool or your fingers. Blend completely to eliminate seam lines. Blend coils together a er each coil is added.
A er desired height is reached, the final step is to add a handle on the back. The handle can be a rolled coil big enough for one finger to fit through. Fla en one end of the coil to create a “whale tail”. Align the handle opposite the face, and score and slip the handle and the jug, and blend in the “whale tail” part of the handle. Create a loop for the handle and blend the bo om of the handle into the jug. Align top and bo om of the handle with each other. Apply pressure with finger on the inside of the jug as you blend to avoid collapse. To assure thinner, fragile pieces do not dry too quickly and crack, bag completed face jug loosely to slow the drying process. A er several days, remove bag to finish drying. Touch the jug to your cheek to check dryness. If it feels cold there is s ll moisture in the clay. If it feels room temperature, its ready to go into the kiln. A er firing, students can glaze their piece or use acrylic paint to decorate it. For advanced students, this same project can be used to create lamp bases. A light assemblage can be purchased at a local hardware store for around $10. Add a lightbulb and a lamp shade and you have a completed lamp. Face Jug Project Rubric
All sections should be completed using complete sentences, proper spelling and grammar!
Name ______Medium______
Date ______Title of Work ______Keywords and Techniques
Hand building – slab and coil
Textural techniques – impress, incise, appliqué, mixed media
Hand building and Textural techniques used - ______
______
Glazes Used - ______
(15)______Completed Sketchbook work ______
(15)______Strength of Design Concept ______
(15) ______Strength of Color Concept ______
(15)______Clay Construction ______
(15) ______Texture ______
(15)______Glaze / Painting Craftsmanship ______
(10)______Time Management and Clean Up ______
(100)______Total ______
Jody Stouffer / Brian Wohleben – Lee County High School Face Jug Project Critique
1. What person / character / emotion did you try to depict for your face jug?
2. What was the best part of your creative process?
3. What characteristics did you utilize to make your face unique?
4. Is there anything thing you would change about your creative process?
5. Explain where and how you used at least 2 Elements or Principals of Art.
6. Using a minimum of five sentences, create a fictional tale that explains the “story” behind your face jug.
Jody Stouffer / Brian Wohleben – Lee County High School Selected Resources on the Southern Face Jug Tradition
Bridges, Daisy Wade, editor. Potters of the Catawba Valley, North Carolina. Journal of Studies, Ceramic Circle of Charlotte, vol. 4. Charlotte, NC: Mint Museum, 1980.
Horne, Catherine Wilson, editor. Crossroads of Clay: The Southern Alkaline-Glazed Stoneware Tradition. Columbia, SC: McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, 1990.
Huffman, Barry G., Catawba Clay: Contemporary Southern Face Jug Makers. Hickory, NC: A. W. Huffman, 1997.
Newell, Mark M., with Peter Lenzo. “Making Faces: Archaeological Evidence of African- American Face Jug Production.” In Ceramics in America, edited by Robert Hunter (2006): 122- 38.
Perry, Barbara Stone, editor. North Carolina Pottery: The Collection of the Mint Museums. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Zug, Charles G., III. Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.