Clay Totems Poles

I've been teaching a number of kids classes over the last few years. In addition to those classes, I volunteer as an Art Docent at the elementary school my kids attend. The school has a kiln that wasn't being used very much, so a few years back I started teaching other Art Docents how to do clay projects with their classes.

It's been so wonderful to see all the amazing art projects that are coming out of the classrooms these days.  I'm especially happy when I see clay projects since it's what's near and dear to my heart. Tonight the school had their annual "Art Walk" where each class gets an opportunity to display an art project that they created during the school year.
 
My third grader's class has been studying Northwest Coastal Native Americans.  I decided to do a project that related to this. I checked out a number of books from the library to share with the kids.  There were some great images of different animals that were carved into the poles.  We learned about tradition of totem poles and the stories the Native Americans told with them.  Then we had each child create one section out of clay - incorporating the traditional Native American shapes into their pieces.  I displayed them in groups for the Art Walk.  I love how creative the kids were with the animals that they each made.  It was an ambitious project for third graders, so I was really pleased with how well they turned out. 

One interesting thing that we learned was the man who did the carving on the low part of the totem pole (the low man on the totem pole) was usually the most gifted carver in a tribe.  The upper parts of the totem pole were not as easy to see, so they were typically carved by the apprentice and less experienced men. 

It was a little tricky to figure out how to display the final pieces, since they all were individual sections.  I rolled slabs and had the kids use Pringle potato chip cans as a form, so they are hollow.  Each piece is about 10 inches tall and has a hole in the top and the bottom so they could be layered on a wooden dowel (note the dowel at the top of the pole - poking through.).  The challenge was to figure out how to anchor the dowels so they would be secure enough to hold the totems without tipping over.  SISU Bill to the rescue.

He recommended filling buckets with water after I told him that I was considering cement or rocks.  Water is cheaper and much easier to manage, for sure!  He cut up a 1" x 4" into smaller pieces of wood that were the width of the bottom of the bucket.  Then he drilled partway into the wood to seat the dowel. The dowel was attached with a screw.  He drilled holes into the bucket lids and we slid them onto the dowels.  (You can see the pieces in the back of my van before they were assembled.)  Then we attached the lids to the water filled buckets, covered them with plastic table cloths and created the display. 

It was a really fun project to do with the kids - plus I learned a lot about totem pole carving and its history!

If you are interested in doing this project and need more details, please send me a message at mkanz@frontier.com.