After the basic shoe form was
completed, students decorated their
shoes with clay techniques (texture
stamping, attachments, incised linear
designs), glazes (sgraffito, stenciling,
wax resist, patterns), and/or mixed
media additions
(sequins, raffia, wood,
feathers, etc.).
The girls were fully
engaged in this project
from start to comple-
tion, as the project’s
theme embraced their personal inter-
ests. Each of their shoes was truly
unique in conception and execution.
It’s just a shame they could only be
displayed and not worn!
Shoes today are
culturally important
objects of consumption
and identity.
encouraged students to create a design
that conveyed a particular identity,
personality, or mood. Perhaps the
most famous shoes created for a movie
were the sparkling ruby slippers worn
by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I
also asked students
to consider using
materials other than
clay in their designs.
In his autobiography,
shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo muses
that there is “no end to materials a
shoemaker may use to decorate his
creations.”
Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers and More by Linda
O’Keefe. Workman Publishing,
1996.
Janine Vannata is the middle and upper
school visual arts teacher at the Hewitt
School, Manhattan, New York. jvannata@
hewittschool.org
NATIONAL STANDARD
Students conceive and create works of
visual art that demonstrate an understanding of how the communication
of their ideas relates to the media,
techniques, and processes they use.
Procedures
To make their shoes, students in
Advanced Ceramics had to combine
at least two previously learned hand-building techniques, including pinching, coiling, and slab construction.
The most difficult part for students
was figuring out which technique
would be best to use for different shoe
parts. To help visualize, students
broke down their sketches into simple
shapes they could turn into three-dimensional forms with clay. I let them
experiment and problem-solve before
offering suggestions.
WEB LINK
www.hewittschool.org/student-life/
arts-in-action
Resources
Shoes: A History from Sandals to
Sneakers, edited by Giorgio Riello
and Peter McNeil. Berg Publishers,
2011.
Objective Through the design and con- struction of a unique shoe that expresses a particular person’s character, social status, or gender, students will combine various ceramic hand-building techniques to build a single, effective three- dimensional form.
Risa Nacron,
grade twelve.
