By Alvaro Flores-Villegas,

Mr. Pesa’s World History students made Japanese Tea bowls out of clay and decorated them in October with Ms. Holter as part of an arts integration project. The students were learning about the history of Japanese culture and how the tea bowls were very essential in history. The old tea bowls were actually made from clay.

After the students learned about the bowls, they actually made the bowls out of clay. So the next day the students went into the art classroom. Ms. Holter, who is one of the art teachers at Patterson, helped them all make the bowls out of clay and decorate them in the process. So Ms. Holter made the clay hard by putting them in a kiln. A kiln is a special type of oven made for making ceramics. After the students painted the bowls she put them back into the kiln to give the paint a glossy appearance.

“My experience with the bowl was nice because I got to try and make one like the Japanese did theirs back then”, reflected Aisha Alavez, one of the students who participated in the project.

Mr. Latanishen’s World History students also worked on an arts integration project with Ms. Holter around the same time. Their project involved making cuneiform tablets out of clay using symbols that the students created.

These projects overall were quite enjoyable to the students because they got to learn about art and world history all together. Mr. Pesa, Ms. Holter, and Mr. Latanishen plan to work together on more arts integration projects like this one in the future.

(Photos: Patterson Press)