FOOD SCULPTURES
ELLIE LAWSON
3RD AND 4TH GRADE
Fig 1. Example of food sculpture. Gaeddert. (n.d.). 7th and 8th grade clay food or shoes. Gaeddert art room.
Retrieved January 22, 2022, from http://gaeddertartroom.weebly.com/teacher-blog/7th-and-8th-grade-clay-
food-or-shoes
INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION
Grade level and class size: 3, 4 grade classes of 20 students
Length of class period: 40 minutes, once a week, 4+ class periods
Lesson topic & description: Food Sculptures
In this lesson, students will explore their relationship with celebrations and food to
create a mixed media food sculpture. Students will discuss how food can build
community and reflect on foods that have a special memory to them. Students will
create a thoughtful table setting to display their work to their classmates,
communicating without words how their food is special to them.
STAGE 1 – DESIRED RESULTS
A: Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that artists reflect on their personal histories
when creating meaningful works of art.
Students will understand food and meals as powerful tools for building
community and sharing our cultures.
B: Essential Questions
How can food build community?
What kind of foods have special meanings?
How can artists communicate through their artwork?
C: Standards/Frameworks:
MA Visual Art Standards Cluster 2, Practice 5. Develop and refine artistic
development and work for presentation.
MA Visual Art Standards Cluster 4, Practice 10. Synthesize and relate
knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
D: Acquisition/Learning Objectives:
o Students will be able to explain why their chosen food is meaningful to
them
o Students will complete a brainstorm worksheet organizing their ideas for
their projects including scale, colors, details, and a mixed-media element.
o Students will be able to create artwork utilizing a variety of medium and
methods.
o Students will be skilled at coil-building, pinch pots, slab rolling, and
hollowing forms.
o Students will be able to explain why presentation matters when looking at
artwork.
STAGE 2 – ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
A: Performance Tasks as Evidence:
The final product will be a well-thought-out food sculpture reflecting the student’s
experiences in some way through the use of multiple mediums and methods. A
successful example of a project will include at least one material other than clay that
enhances the viewers understanding of the artwork, as well as a thoughtful presentation
of the final piece.
Fig 2. Example of food sculpture. Kamp. (1970, January 1). Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in middle school art!
Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in Middle School Art! Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
http://calvertcanvas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-04-04T13%3A41%3A00-04%3A00&max-
results=7&start=28&by-date=false
B: Other Evidence/ Continuum of Assessments:
Students will participate in brainstorming their food projects with their
table-mates.
Students will complete a worksheet about the different aspects of their
project including the name of the food, the ingredients, the scale of their
project, a sketch (with details, color, and materials), and a special memory
associated with their chosen food.
Students will check-in with their teacher about their chosen food.
Students will decide how to display their artwork.
Students will reflect on their final artwork during a gallery walk, considering
the communities and memories shared by their classmates, as well as
reflecting on what they would do the same and/or differently if they
repeated the process of this project.
STAGE 3 – LEARNING PLAN
A: Materials and equipment:
Clay
Clay tools
Canvas or wood blocks
Slip
Glaze
Construction paper, newspaper, magazines, tissue paper
Markers, crayons, colored pencils
Yarn, string, fabric
Found objects
Glue
Tape
Scissors
Plastic bag
B: Resources: Visual, text, media, web
Oldenburg, C and van Bruggen, C. (2001). Dropped Cone Neumarkt Galerie, Cologne,
Germany.
Oldenburg, C and van Bruggen, C. (1992). Apple Core Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Oldenburg, C and van Bruggen, C. (1994). Leaning Fork with Meatball Triennale Design
Museum, Milan, Italy.
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora
Mora, O. (2018). Thank you, Omu! Little, Brown and Company.
My Food, Your Food, Our Food by Emma Carlson Berne, illustrated by Sharon
Sordo.
Berne, E. C., Sordo, S., & Oblinger, M. (2019). My Food, your food, our food. Cantata
Learning.
Brainstorming worksheet
Fig 3. Clay techniques worksheet
Fig 2. Example of food sculpture. Kamp. (1970, January 1). Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in middle school art!
Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in Middle School Art! Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
http://calvertcanvas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-04-04T13%3A41%3A00-04%3A00&max-
results=7&start=28&by-date=false
Fig 4. Example of food sculpture. Kamp. (1970, January 1). Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in middle school art!
Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in Middle School Art! Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
http://calvertcanvas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-04-04T13%3A41%3A00-04%3A00&max-
results=7&start=28&by-date=false
Fig 5. Example of food sculpture Gray. (n.d.). Trompe l'oeil. MS. GRAY. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
https://www.tustinceramics.com/trompe-loeil.html
Fig 6. Example of food sculpture. Gray. (n.d.). Trompe l'oeil. MS. GRAY. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
https://www.tustinceramics.com/trompe-loeil.html
Fig 7. Example of food sculpture Gaeddert. (n.d.). 7th and 8th grade clay food or shoes. Gaeddert art room.
Retrieved January 22, 2022, from http://gaeddertartroom.weebly.com/teacher-blog/7th-and-8th-grade-clay-
food-or-shoes
Fig 8. Example of food sculpture. Kamp. (1970, January 1). Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in middle school art!
Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in Middle School Art! Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
http://calvertcanvas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-04-04T13%3A41%3A00-04%3A00&max-
results=7&start=28&by-date=false
Fig 9. Example of food sculpture. Kamp. (1970, January 1). Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in middle school art!
Mrs. Kamp's Canvas: Adventures in Middle School Art! Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
http://calvertcanvas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-04-04T13%3A41%3A00-04%3A00&max-
results=7&start=28&by-date=false
C: Vocabulary with definitions:
Community – A group of people who share an interest or goal
Memory – record of our past experiences
Slip -mixture of clay and water
Kiln -an oven that dries clay
Glaze -surface or coating on clay
Celebration – marking an important event or occasion
Mixed media – using two or more materials
Curation – presenting a collection of art or an artwork, making displays
and exhibits
Pop art – art based on modern popular culture in the mid to late 1950s
Collage – artwork created using paper and other materials
D: Instruction & Learning Activities
Instruction
The teacher will introduce the lesson with a read aloud Thank you, Omu
by Oge Mora. The teacher will pause on a few pages and ask students
what they notice (material, content, etc.).
The teacher will share some examples of ceramic food and food
sculptures, talking about scale. The teacher will give students the goal of
finishing their worksheet for the rest of class, choosing a food, listing the
ingredients, choosing a scale, making a sketch, and writing down their
special memory.
In the next class the teacher will start by introducing different techniques
for using clay: slab building, coil building, pinch pots, and creating hollow
forms. The teacher will explain how the kiln works and how to ensure that
students projects will remain intact during the firing process, scratch and
attach and making sure their attached pieces are no bigger than their
thumbs. The teacher will pass out a worksheet that has visual examples of
the clay techniques for students to refer to while working on their projects.
The teacher will remind students that they have plenty of time to work on
this project and they do not need to rush, as well as explaining to them
that they may find working with clay frustrating or difficult but that our first
class with a new material is just for experimentation to understand how to
use the materials.
Then the teacher will tell students where to find the three things they will
need to work with clay every class: slip, a woodblock, and clay tools. The
teacher will ask students to repeat after her what materials they will need
and ask students to point to where these materials are kept in the
classroom. The teacher will instruct students who are finished with their
worksheets to get all of their materials, a woodblock, clay tools, slip, and a
plastic bag to keep their project in.
The teacher will check-in with students as they finish their worksheet,
making sure students are picking a food that ties to a special memory, and
get them started with clay.
The teacher will explain the expectations for clean-up, projects will be
placed in a sealed bag with no air, clay tools and woodblocks can be
returned to the material centers, and tables will be sprayed and wiped
down. The teacher will ask students to clean up early for their first class
with clay to ensure the clean up expectations are being met. Then the
teacher will have students line up, have a post-class check-in, and award
the artist of the day.
In the third class for this lesson the teacher will begin class with the
weekly routines, and then demonstrate the textures that the different clay
tools can create. The teacher will get students started with clay and check-
in with each student about their project while they work.
The teacher will allow students to give feedback on how long they think
their projects will take to be ready for the kiln. Halfway through the project
the teacher will begin a class by reading the book My Food, Your Food,
Our Food by Emma Carlson Berne. The teacher will pause on a few
pages and students what they notice about the artwork and why they say
that. Then the teacher will ask students if they have food that is important
to their culture.
When students finish the teacher will ask them to begin working on the
mixed media element of their projects, by incorporating a different material
to be included once their projects are glazed. After the projects are fired,
the teacher will give a demonstration on glazing and show students the
different colors of glaze. As students finish glazing, they will be asked to
continue working on using other materials to incorporate into their
projects.
On the final day of the project, when all of the food sculptures are glazed
and finished the teacher will bring in different props for students to use to
display their work. The teacher will introduce the artists Claes Oldenburg
and Coosje van Bruggen and ask students what they notice about the
artwork and why, specifically about how the artists display their work.
The teacher will give students ten minutes to display their finished food
sculptures. Then the teacher will guide a gallery walk, where students can
offer feedback to their classmates using post-it notes. The teacher will ask
students what they notice about different artworks and what they like
about them, or something the artist might add to their project. The gallery
walk will finish with students commenting on their own artwork.
Learning Activity
Students will listen to the books Thank You Omu! by Oge Mora and discuss the
artists style in the book
Students will discuss what celebrations they have been a part of in the past, and
what kind of food was served.
Students will independently reflect on a special memory they have with food.
Students will create a sketch of their chosen food, including details and materials
they plan to use other than clay.
Students will create a form out of clay with a focus on texture using one or more
of the clay techniques, slab-building, hollowing forms, pinch pots, and coil
building. Students will slip and score their work.
Students will discuss the book My Food, Your Food, Our Food by Emma Carlson
Berne
Students will create a mixed media sculpture by incorporating an element in their
artwork other than clay.
Students will thoughtfully glaze their artwork.
Students will discuss the artwork of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen,
focusing on the way their artwork is displayed.
Students will display their artwork in a way that communicates to the audience
something about their food.
Students will reflect on the final works of art as a class, leaving comments on
each other’s completed work.
E. Questions to generate discussion:
Reading
What do you notice about the artwork in the book? What makes you say
that?
Why was Omu sad? What made her happy again?
What do you call a gathering of people over a meal?
Do you have any special gatherings with your loved ones?
Introductory PowerPoint
What is your favorite food, dish, or meal to share?
When you are with your family and friends celebrating a special occasion,
what food do you make and share together?
What makes food special?
How can food build community?
Questions during ideation
What is inside your dish? What containers and utensils look like?
What is texture? What kind of texture would your food have? Will you
make this texture in clay or use another medium?
Gallery walk
How do you want your art to be seen? What do you want the viewer to
know about your art?
What is one piece of artwork that stands out to you, and why?
What is one thing you would do differently if you did this project again?
F: Differentiation:
The teacher will provide students choices, allowing them to make some
things out of different mixed media materials.
The teacher will provide premade hand rolled coils or slabs for students
who struggle with motor function.
The teacher will display a physical copy of both books available for the
students look at during class.
The teacher will check in verbally with students who struggle with writing.
The teacher will provide handouts with images of clay techniques.
The teacher will provide access to the technology if students need a
reference photo for their sketches.
The teacher will encourage students who need a challenge to create
multiple pieces of a meal.
The teacher will provide written instructions and expectations on the
board.
The teacher will provide students with a choice over the type of food they
sculpt.
