ANIMAL CRACKERS Simply Animals: Clay by Mary Erickson Ph.D. and Arizona art teacher and artist Jasen Evoy

The shapes of some animals are quite simple, while others are more complex. Photographed at Sea Life Arizona Aquarium Photographed at the Wildlife Zee & Aquarium

If we look closely at animal shapes, we discover different varieties of the same general shape. How are the shells of these two turtles alike? How are they different? How are the shapes of their heads different? Photographed at the Phoenix Zoo

Look at these sharks’ bodies (not their fins and tails). How are their body shapes different? Photographs taken at Sea Life Arizona Aquarium

All three of these fish have similarly shapes. Pick one fish and describe it only by its shape and not its color, direction or pattern. Can your classmates guess which one you described? Photographs taken at Sea Life Arizona Aquarium

These starfish get their name from their shape. Photographed at Sea Life Arizona Aquarium

Shapes are two-dimensional, while forms are three-dimensional. Shapes have two dimensions: height and width. Forms have three dimensions: height, width and depth.

Which of these are shapes and which are forms?

A 2D version of a 3D cube is a square. A 2D version of a 3D cone is a triangle. What is a 3D version of a circle?

Some people have fun by putting together simple forms to make complex ones.

Traditional and functional ceramic vessels (containers) have relatively simple forms.

Artist and teacher Jasen Evoy saw similarities in the forms of an elephant’s belly and the belly of a teapot. He also saw how the elephant’s truck looks something like the spout of a teapot.

Evoy made this whimsical teapot by cleverly combining elephant and teapot forms.

Here’s how one of Evoy’s high school students planned, developed, refined and built a vessel inspired by the forms of a giraffe.

This student began by sketching the giraffe and planning how he might best integrate the animal and vessel forms.

The student looked for simple forms in the giraffe. He simplified the neck into a curved cylinder and the head and horns into a sort of flattened cone with two cylinders on top.

The student built a vessel and other forms from wet clay ready to assemble. Forms must be hollow in order not to explode when fired.

The student used incised texture to make the pattern of the giraffe’s hide. After bisque firing, he added details with colored glazes.

This student formed a cat’s nose from wet clay. She used a needle tool to score (scratch) the nose and the face. Then she applied slip (liquid clay) between the pieces to attach them. If she did not do this procedure, the nose would fall off as the clay dried.

Another student transformed a spherical vessel into an elephant head. What elephant parts did she simplify as curved semicircles? Long, thin cones? A cylinder?

The student kept her work leather hard by storing it in a plastic bag. She also turned her piece on a small wheel while she smoothed the surface with a wet, natural sponge.

To integrate forms of a ceramic vessel and an animal: 1.Look for similar forms in vessels and animals. 2.Make drawings to plan and simplify forms. 3.Build and assemble simple forms to create a more complex form. 4.Add details.

These are finished pieces by Tempe’s Marcos de Niza High School students. (These pieces were bisque fired, glazed and fired again.)