ABSTRACT
This chapter describes clay and mosaics, as well as their qualities, functions, and meanings in society. It aims to identify best practices for teaching clay and mosaics and create instructional resources for teaching clay and mosaics. Early humans first discovered clay’s ability to hold a form by shaping it in their hands and drying it in the sun. Students can produce designs with natural and/or manufactured clays when studying the works of historic and contemporary ceramicists. Handbuilding techniques produce hollow forms, cylindrical pieces, and flattened surfaces. Pinch pots are usually small sculptures that students form by shaping a ball of clay in their hands to produce a hollow, cylindrical form. Some artists select natural and synthetic clays to produce jewelry. During antiquity, Greek artists made the first mosaics by arranging different colored pebbles into a pleasing design to create durable floors. Comprehensive art lessons provide students with ample opportunities to study the works of global ceramic and mosaic artists.
