Personal Tile

Personal Tile, 2012, Janna DeWan

Project: Ceramic tile

Adinkran Symbols

Objective: to create a personal logo.

Resources: Adinkra Symbols of West Africa

                   63 African Symbols for Creative Design

Through the use of clay, you will create a personal symbol, or logo, that represents you.  You will be inventing your own original design based on Adinkran symbols of West Africa.  Be sure not to copy their symbols, instead be inspired.  You are invited to augment shapes, move lines, combine symbols together, etc.

Step 1: Write down at least 5 adjectives that describe you

Step 2: Find similar words in the list of Adinkran symbols.

Step 3: Sketch the similar symbols 

Adinkra stamps carved in Ghana.

Step 4: Brainstorm a few different personal logos based on the Adinkran symbols you chose.  You do not necessarily need to use all 5 symbols.  You may choose to be inspired by only one, or combine two.  Remember, sometimes a simple and bold logo design is more effective than a cluttered and busy one.

Step 5: Cut out an 8"x8" clay slab at 1/2" thick

Step 6: Decide which parts of your design will be additive (adding clay) and subtractive (carving into the clay)

Step 7: Finishing touches: add any texture and smooth out all the edges.  

Step 8: Apply colored slip

Step 9: Sgraffito

Step 10: Place in kiln room

Anthony Boakye uses a comb to mark parallel
lines on an adinkra cloth in Ntonso, Ghana.

1817 Adinkra cloth

BLOG POST:

Attach a photo of your tile.

Explain which Adinkran symbol you based your design off of and why (5 sentences).

Art Fundamentals: Tile Self-Evaluation

Brayden's tile

Upon completion of your clay tile, take a few minutes to reflect on your work.  Create a blog post that shows a picture of your work and answer the following questions.

Post a picture of:

(Write a 1-2 sentence caption for each image explaining the process)

1. Your complex object sketch
2. Your 12 design sketches
3. Your ceramic tile.

CRAFTSMANSHIP: Is your project well made?  What technical difficulties did you have in creating it?  Has everything been smoothed out?  Are all the shapes carefully carved out?

DESIGN QUALITY: Which principle of design did you choose?  Did you succeed in illustrating this principle?  How?  Use at least 3 elements of design to describe how you showed your principle of design. Describe at least one other principle of design that is illustrated in your tile.

EFFORT/AMBITION: Did you work hard?  Did you go beyond the basic requirements of the assignment?

Grade yourself:

      EFFORT ___/10

      VISUAL SUCCESS ___/10

TOPIC	OBJECTIVE	POINTS
CLASS TIME	I was engaged in the lesson during class time and was aware of the objectives (effort)	5
	I used the clay and clay tools responsibly and respectfully at all times (behavior) and helped clean up at the end of class	5
TILE DESIGN	My design clearly illustrates a specific Principle of Design	20
	My design is original, unique, and interesting to look at	20
TECHNIQUE	I used subtractive and additive sculptural techniques	5
	All the shapes are carefully carved out	10
	The tile has been smoothed out and looks finished	10
BLOG POST	I included images and captions for the complex object sketch, 12 designs, and tile	5
	I thoughtfully filled out the Tile Evaluation	5
	I clearly stated which Principle of Design I chose to illustrate	5
	I described how I used at least 3 Elements of Design to show my Principle of Design	5
	I described at least one other Principle of Design that is illustrated in my tile	5
	TOTAL	100

Art fundies: Clay Tiles

Students were asked to bring in a complex object to sketch (right)
and then draw as separate shapes (left)

Using the shapes, they created designs that illustrated specific design principles

They picked their favorite design to carve into a clay tile