Backyard Birds by Mary Erickson, Ph.D., with fine arts art coordinator, Pat Burdette, and 4th grade teacher, Lindsey Anderson.

Most birds fly in space. They also hop, walk, run, or swim. A few, like the ostrich, cannot fly at all, but stay on the ground as they move through space.

Artists call the main subject of their work the positive shape. They call the space around the main subject the negative space. In this photo, the seagull is the positive shape. The sky is the negative space.

In this photo, the singing bird and the fence are the positive shapes. The blurred shapes and colors in the background fill the negative space.

What is the positive shape in this photo? What fills the negative space?

In these paintings by Anne Peyton, there are many different patterns. Which painting has patterns in both the positive shape and the negative space? Which bird shape is emphasized by blank negative space?

Artist Jake Early uses birds as the positive shapes in his serigraph prints. He fills the negative spaces around his birds with patterns.

For the positive shapes in this work, Early used: 1)The feather pattern on the bird, 2)The spine patterns on the cactus, and 3)A circular version of the Arizona flag In his negative spaces, he added geometric patterns.

You will be making a ceramic tile inspired by a bird that lives in the environment where you live. You will: 1.Research and draw the bird you choose. 2.Incise lines in the clay to make the bird your positive shape inside a circle (already pressed into your tile). 3.Leave the negative space inside the circle blank. 4.Add feather patterns to the bird. 5.Stamp small objects into the negative shapes outside and/or between the circles to add more patterns. 6.Complete your tile with a three-step glazing process.

Begin by searching the Internet and/or books to find a bird native to the environment where you live. Fourth graders in Tempe, Arizona researched birds of the Sonoran Desert.

One student researched the cactus wren.

He then drew the cactus wren. What bird would you like to research?

Your teacher will give you a square slab of moist clay with two concentric circles pressed in the center. Use your pencil to incise a drawing of your bird inside the circles.

The boy is incising his bird, which is his positive shape. The girl is smoothing out the negative spaces around her owl.

While the clay is still moist, stamp or incise feather patterns on your bird. Leave the circular, negative space around your bird blank.

You can make shapes by stamping small objects into the clay. This student used the end of a highlighter to make circles. She is using a kiln stand to make several round holes at once.

Set tiles aside to partially dry.

Choose a colored under glaze. Brush glaze over your tile while it is still moist. Then leave the tile to dry before bisque firing.

After your tile has been bisque fired, apply a black over glaze. Use a small brush so you can be sure to get the glaze into all the holes and lines incised and stamped into the clay.

Next, use a wet cloth to wipe away the black glaze on the surface. Leave only the black in the holes and lines.

When the black glaze is dry, apply clear glaze and your tile is ready for its final firing.

These individual tiles have been carefully arranged and presented as a collection. What is repeated in the collection to make an overall pattern? Presentation is important. It can help others better appreciate what you have done. These tiles were glued to a panel with a wood frame to create a single artwork. The black background and black frame help set off the bright color of each piece.

3 rd grade student from St. Thomas School, Medina, WA 4 th grade student from Rover Elementary, Tempe, AZ Also, during the project, 4 th grade students at Rover Elementary School in Tempe studied local ecology, wrote about plants and birds in addition to creating drawings and ceramic tiles. In a “pen pal” inspired side project, Rover students shared drawings, reports and information about Southwest birds online with students from St. Thomas School in Medina, WA. In exchange, similar information from online field guides created by WA students about Pacific Northwest birds (inspired by the work of WA artist Jack DeLap) were shared with Tempe students. Thank you Rover teacher Lindsey Anderson and St. Thomas teacher Hannah Salia for sharing this unique collaboration. Salia’s lesson can be linked to on the Birds of a Feather overview page.

The framed piece from Rover Elementary was displayed in the “Birds of a Feather” exhibition at the Tempe Center for the Arts near the print installation by Jake Early. After the exhibition, the piece will be hung at the school.