‘Let’s Create Pottery’ is a great addition to any ceramics or pottery unit.  The experience of throwing clay on a wheel and moulding a vessel on a spinning turntable is recreated in stunning HD.  

Although the muddy mess is gone (and I don’t intend to suggest that this app is a replacement for those experiences), some of the most valuable lessons from the studio are enhanced with Let’s Create Pottery.  Check out the clip below to see the app in action and below you’ll see our ideas for incorporating it into your teaching and learning.

Teaching Ideas

Instead of having students sketch a shape for a clay vase design…make it in virtual 3D.

Screen shot pictures of undecorated vase shapes – now you can print them out and have students draw their designs for vase decorations and embellishments.

Use the app to teach and test student knowledge of vessel shapes (eg: Greek amphora).  You can use the app like a game to create opportunities for students to create shapes that demonstrate their understanding.  Build a collection of designs to learn about and compare vessels across continents and time periods.

Take designs or images of iPad pottery into other apps to create resolved work on the iPad. You could use them as;
– a starting point for an animation (imagine a snake charmer using one of these pots!)
– a collection to display student work (use collage apps to show the work of a whole class)
– images for an interactive book that explores the vases of ancient Greece

In classrooms without pottery wheels (and how many do?), this app may be as close to the real thing as many students can get…so give them a go!
 

If you liked seeing this app in action, you might like my post on printmaking on the iPad – creativity & virtual art room  processes.