Background for the Teacher
The ceramic sculptures of Ancient Mexico offer students superb models for making clay sculptures. Sculpture that is carved in stone is too imposing to inspire the young artist, while the plasticity and intimacy of the molded figures of the Mayan, for example, could serve to inspire the young artist.
Numerous ceramic sculptures are in many museums around the country and photographs of these are in all books about Ancient Mexican art. The figures are usually in active positions representing athletes, workers, or family groups such as the Yale Art Gallery’s
Whistle Figure, Seated Woman with Child in Lap,
and also at Yale,
Figurine, Standing Man, with Snake Form Around Neck
, both illustrated below. The two figurines at Yale have the long faces, flat brows, Oriental-like eyes, and strongly modeled lips of the Mayan sculptures and people. Both also have a wealth of applied and incised details that would fascinate any viewer, while the lack of anatomical details (and lack of accuracy) would keep the beginning artist from feeling threatened.
Another Yale Art Gallery clay piece would strongly appeal to the students because of its iconography. The
Group of Ball Game with Spectators
measures only about eighteen by ten inches, yet it contains a total of nearly thirty figures. Five male ballplayers can be seen, wearing belts that they use to throw the ball between them. Some scholars claim that the ball was the skull of the captain of the last losing team. This will surely appeal to the middle school child’s fascination with the horrific, but it may also be mentioned that the games may have been played to “solve” political or social disputes that in our society would cause a war. The warm relationships between the spectators, evidenced by the parents and children seen arm in arm, should also be pointed out.
(figure available in print form)
Whistle Figures, Seated Woman with Child in Lap
, Pottery, 7" H.
Jaina Island, Maya, Western Yucatan, Mexico (600-900 AD)
Reprinted by permission from the Yale Art Gallery, New Haven.
(figure available in print form)
Figurine, Standing Man with Snake From around Neck
, Pottery, 7-1/8" H. Jains Island, Maya, Mexico, Western Yucatan (600-900 AD)
Reprinted by permission from the Yale Art Gallery, New Haven.
(figure available in print form)
Group of Ball Game with Spectators
, Pottery, 17-3/4" L., 10-1/4" H.
Western Mexico, Ixtlan region, Nayarit, (100 BC-250 AD)
Reprinted by permission from the Yale Art Gallery, New Haven.
Objective
The objective is that the students freely experiment with using clay to depict movement of the human form.
Materials
Clay (ideally, self hardening); any kind of modeling tools from toothpicks to plastic spoon; newspapers to cover the tables; bowls of water; wire hangers.
Introduction
The teacher should show the students Ancient Mexican ceramic figurines such as those at Yale.* To involve the students in a discussion aimed at understanding the figures, questions such as the following should be asked: “What is this figure doing?” “Can you describe the facial features?” “Do you think the artisan was more interested in the action or the decorative surfaces; the emotions or the actions of the figures?”
Once the students have described the physical characteristics of the works they may be encouraged to speculate about the purpose of the figurines: “Do you think that these figurines tell a story?” “What do they tell us about the culture in which they were made?” “Do we have any sports that resemble this one?” “What do you think about having athletes solve political problems?”
Many students should discuss their ideas about positions or actions for their figures before they begin, to avoid mind blocks and other frustrations. They might want to create artifacts of modern sports such as baseball and basketball, swimming and track. Figurines dressed in modern clothing may be more to their liking than emulating the sparsely dressed ancient model. When the children are left purely to their own devices they may too often come up with “I don’t know what to do.”
Methodology
See the sections on clay preparation and on modeling figures out of clay from the last lesson.
* The Yale Art Gallery offers free tours of the galleries as well as free transportation!