Hundertwasser Inspired Clay Tiles

I began the ‘Built Environment’ project by getting the students to make ink drawings of buildings from Barcelona (I had been there over the summer and collected lots of photos).  We then looked at the work of Hundertwasser and the students designed their own building in his style.  They considered his use of colour, hidden faces, patterns, multiple view points and took inspiration from nature – just like he did.  These drawings were then used to make the clay tiles.  Some students chose a small section of their drawing to make in clay, and some created new designs for a tile, taking elements from all different ideas. 

The clay tile is a really easy technique – it’s a bit like making pastry in the way that you roll out the clay and cut out shapes. The students also had the choice to use glass on their tile.  They chose what colours they wanted and I helped them to place the cracked glass on the tile (it can be a bit dangerous if the students do it, because of all the little sharp pieces).  The glass liquefies in the kiln and creates some really beautiful results.  The glass always produces different results which is fun and exciting to see when they come out of the kiln!   

Some examples that I made, these are them before they went into the kiln and were drying out.