Coiling a Pot

•  Teach the steps for forming a coil pot by demonstrating the process.

•  Have students make pots using the coil method.  Have students observe and record changes in clay during the steps of the pottery-making process and, if possible, record changes in temperature for the science lesson.

•  Looking at the shapes of the students’ pots, discuss how the vessels could be used in students’ lives.

coming soon

• What types of lines do you see? Follow a line with your eye and describe how it curves, angles or bends.

• What shapes are created on the surface? Categorize them as organic or geometric.

• Examine the patterns that the shapes and lines create.Do they seem balanced?Explain.

• How do the lines and shapes work together to show parts of an animal? What animal parts do you recognize?

• Give examples of animals that have beaks similar to the one on this work of art. What sound might this make if it came to life?

• Observe the diagonal shapes and zig-zag lines on the side.How do they give you a feeling of movement?Move your arms to demonstrate. The implied movement of those lines and shapes represent a type of bird called a macaw.

• Those shapes and designs on the sides of this work of art are designed to show the feathery wings of a macaw. How are those designs similar to wings? What other areas remind you of birds?

• Do you think this is three dimensional? Why? What type of form does it have?

• What do you have in your kitchen cupboard that might have this same form?

• What type of material might this have been molded from?

• Discuss the properties of clay and explain the coil process, using a piece of hand-coiled pottery made by the teacher for students to touch.
• Discuss balance and symmetry in the focus work of art.
• Discuss how students use pottery in their lives today.

• This bowl is a type of pottery made from coils of clay placed on top of each other and pinched together. Imagine how that method would create a pot in this shape. Explain.

• Are the coils visible in this bowl? A pebble would have been used to smoothen the look of the coils. Have you ever smoothened the sides of clay? How?

• This bowl was created a long time ago when pebbles were used to polish and smooth bowls. Since it was made in the 1300’s, calculate how many years old it is.

• Compare the macaw represented in this bowl to pictures and/or videos of live macaws. How are they the same? Different?

• Research what regions of the world macaws inhabit. This Macaw Effigy Bowl was made in Casas Grandes, Mexico. Since it is very chilly in the desert at night there, they built special structures with furnaces so the birds wouldn’t get cold and the people could use the birds’ feathers in special ceremonies. How important do you think macaws were in this culture? Hypothesize why this bowl might have been made to represent a macaw.

• If you made a bowl in the shape of something special in your life, what would it be? Elaborate.

This bowl has been transformed into an effigy of a macaw by the simple addition of a head and tail to the standard Casas Grandes bowl shape.  Macaws were prominent in Casas Grandes, where their brilliantly colored feathers were prized for ceremonial offerings.  The birds were bred and raised in special structures with furnaces to keep them warm during the chilly desert nights.

The geometric designs covering the entire surface in bold diagonal patterns are found on most Southwest pottery of this time, but here are carefully chosen and placed to evoke the wings of the macaw.  The crisp painting in black and red is especially fine as a result of direct influence from the Mimbres culture to the north.  The expressive head with its squawking beak gives the bowl a presence greater than its small size would normally command.

Native American pottery was made by building up the vessel from a flat base using coils of clay placed on top of each other and pinched together.  The artist used a pebble to smooth and polish the surface of the vessel.

The ancient cultures of the American Southwest extended into present-day state of Chihuahua in Mexico.  Between 1000 and 1350, these cultures enjoyed a golden age, when influences from the sophisticated civilizations of central Mexico far to the south reached the area.  The town of Casas Grandes, at the southern edge of the region, occupied an advantageous position for transmitting these influences to the north.  It developed as an important trading center for such Mesoamerican products as copper bells and ornaments, sea shells, and tropical birds.

This small Macaw Bowl reveals stylistic images from many cultures in the American Southwest.  Lively trade spread diverse pottery styles and designs throughout the region.  Here, the stylized feather designs come from Sikyatki Pueblo in Arizona.  Bird images are also found on historic pottery from the Acoma Pueblo in Arizona and on vessels from the Zia and Zuni Pueblos in New Mexico.