Middle School Studio Lesson
More Than the

Sometimes in my lesson devel- opment, two things come together at the same time. Usually I do a bit of research and find a project or a visual, and I table one until the other reveals itself. For this lesson, however, the connection between the elements was almost instantaneous.

I was surfing the Internet and stumbled upon some amazing and surprisingly beautiful microscopic structures of living organisms. The colors and shapes of these individual forms of life were beautiful, textured, and intricate. I immediately began collecting the imagery in a PowerPoint presentation.

Previously, I had been layering underglazes on tiles and then applying sgraffito to them. When I fired the tiles, I immediately saw how the linear quality of the sgraffito technique and the layering of the underglazes looked like the microscopic structures I had seen. I decided this lesson would best fit with the eighth-grade curriculum, and the science department in my school was excited about the interdisciplinary connection.

Wendy Armstrong

ples of living organisms such as nerve cells, proteins, bacteria, and fungi. I was so pleased that my students were also captivated by the surprising beauty of these images.

We then moved on to the history and application of sgraffito. Students learned the Italian word sgraffito, apply layers of underglaze, and then scratch through them to reveal the layers underneath. Students liked the clean and graphic quality of the line, but saw that the underglaze could be made painterly and transparent.

waited patiently for each color to dry before brushing on the next layer. I had a hairdryer on hand to expedite the process. Students understood that their three different layers would be scratched with varying pressure to reveal different layers underneath.

When I fired the tiles, I
immediately saw how the
linear quality of the sgraffito
technique and the layering of
the underglazes looked like the
microscopic structures I had seen.

Transferring Drawings When the underglazes were dry, students placed their drawings on top of the tiles and pressed hard with pencils to transfer the designs. Some chose to draw their designs directly into the tiles instead. I encouraged this and told them the drawings did not have to be exact replicas of their sketches. I reminded students that the depth of the scratch marks would reveal dif-

Sketching Microscopic Structures Next, I gave students 4 x 4" pieces of cardstock to use for their biological image sketches. For each table, I provided color visuals of the structures in the PowerPoint presentation to use as reference and inspiration.

Blaise Jacobson, grade eight.

Introduction to Sgraffito I began by showing students the microscopic images I had collected. I hid the descriptions of each image and had students try to guess what each was. They were so surprised when I revealed what each structure actually was. The images were magnified sam-

Applying Underglazes

Once students completed their drawings, I asked them to think about a combination of underglaze layers to use on their tiles. I reminded them that the medium, if painted thinly, was transparent, and that they could create interesting visual texture if the brushstrokes were applied unevenly.