Commemorative Plates

These ceramic plates are made by etching into red slip on a white earthenware clay base. I learned this technique from another city art teacher while working on a ceramics unit with my 7th graders. Unfortunately, some students smashed the plates while they were drying out on the counter, so we turned the project into a lesson on the Japanese art of Kintsugi and talked about the meaning of mending broken pottery and finding beauty in imperfections. Teaching is always a lot of improv. Anyway, I’ve been making commemorative plates for all sorts of different purposes— a gift for a good friend when she came out as her true gender, a plate for myself for finishing a challenging year, etc.