By Brooke Muñoz-Halm
To explore this year’s theme of Summer in Motion, the kids worked with stoneware clay to make wind chimes at 171 Cedar Arts Center. When completed, these wind chimes will capture the natural movement of the wind to create a beautiful summer sound.
Where Clay Comes From
The tradition of pottery making dates back to over 2,000 years ago. In fact, archaeologists have found pots and bowls made of clay that are thousands of years old. Many years ago, pottery was functional, made for everyday use, such as: water carrying, for cooking and food storage. Artists used traditional hand-building techniques to make pottery.
Clay How-To
Garden of Fire participants used a design handout for decorative inspiration and sketched ideas for the wind chime designs before working with the clay. We focused on the geometric patterns and nature symbolism that were also popular motifs on many native-made pieces of pottery The Rockwell Museum showed us.
At 171 participants learned how to:
- Make a pinch pot
- Use clay stamps
- Roll a slab of clay
- Use various tools to design the wind chimes
Post-molding
Now that the wind chimes have been fabricated, they will dry out. A clear glaze will be painted on and the wind chimes will be fired to about 2000°F. The firing will take an entire day to complete and then a whole second day to cool down before the wind chimes can be removed from the kiln. After they are fired, the wind chimes will be strung together so that they can be hung up. Each wind chime will be on display at the Garden of Fire Festival on August 9th.
Wind Chime Workers
- Amanda Warren, 171 Cedar Arts
- Amy Ruza, Rockwell Museum
- Christina Nurczynski, 171 Cedar Arts
- Brooke Muñoz-Halm, 171 Cedar Arts
- Katie, Rockwell Museum HSLC Intern
- Mary Franklin, Rockwell Museum Docent
Garden of Fire 