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Containers Teacher Notes

Teaching objectives for the tour
Background discussion
Other artists inspired by containers
Cross-curricular & QCA links

General Techniques

Making containers
Decorating containers

Classroom activities based on selections of objects in the tour

Animal shapes– make a container based on an animal, either real or imaginary
Holding memories–a striking class display using memory boxes
Weaving magic– weave a bag and learn how to create weaving patterns
Be a potter– clay pots: coiling, moulding, stamping, decorating
Face it– container designs using a class ‘face bank’
Telling a story– on a container using pictures or writing

Teaching objectives

To explore the use of different materials and media to create their own containers
To consider the production of containers from ancient history to the present day
To work individually, in small groups and as a whole class
To be able to describe, compare and contrast the form, function, purpose and decoration of a variety of containers from different cultures and periods.

Background discussion

In the classroom, introduce the concept of containers. You could do this by brainstorming different kinds of containers eg:

Vessel, box, tin, bowl, jug, flagon, bag, sack, case, basket, urn, coffin, chest, crate, trunk, holdall..

And other words to do with containers eg:
(verbs) pour, move, tilt, carry, spill
(adjectives) portable, capacious, minuscule

Using the Tour, explore these questions.

Different containers are designed for different purposes; ask pupils to match the images in the Tour to their purpose.
Who would use them?
What shape/form do they take?
How have they been decorated? Why have these designs been chosen?
What materials are they made of and why? What do these tell us about their society?
What does each container tell you about the owner (issues of wealth and status)?
Think about the containers you use every day: what do they look like and how do you use them?

Artists

A small selection of artists to get you thinking creatively about containers.

Richard Deacon b. 1949 (sculptor)
Struck Dumb 1988 Welded steel (Tate Modern)

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) (painter)
Painted still lives of interesting ceramic containers e.g.

The above artists and more can be found via the link to the Tate – go to Artists A-Z

Grayson Perry (Turner Prize Winner, 2003). Puts designs with a modern message on to
traditional ceramics vases:

Bernard Leach (1897-1979) (potter)

Cross-curricular projects

Split the class into designers, production (including materials finders), advertisers etc
and set them up as a ‘production line’. The aim is to produce a class container to a brief.
The finished product will have been contributed to by all and can be displayed
prominently in the room.
Research industrial methods for making containers today.
Explore a range of alternative materials for creating a container. Design a new container
for the 21st century or design a container for taking into space.
Design a container to tidy an area of the classroom.

Literacy
Many containers have changed their use over the years. Have a look at the Sarcophagus of Nectaneboin Explore which started as a coffin, then became a bath.

The Rillaton Cup started as a royal drinking vessel, and ended up holding George V’s cufflinks on his dressing table. When new cultures find an object, they often do not know what its original use was, and so use it for a new purpose.

Imagine you are one of the ancient containers in the tour (or choose another one from Explore). Write an imaginary history of your life up to the point that you arrived in the Museum. You must change function at least four times in your life.

History
From one section of the tour (e.g. Food Containers) choose two objects and compare:

How they were used
When they were used (e.g. for special occasions or everyday?)
Who they would have been used by
How they were made

How do your answers to the above reflect the culture and date that each object is from?

Numeracy

Geometric patterns – design your own; look at tessellation
Capacity and volume – estimate and measure the capacity of various containers
Shape and space- design and make your own nets of boxes and make 3D shapes to decorate and hang around the classroom.

Citizenship

Recycling bins - design a new bin to have around the school/local community to encourage recycling. Think about creating an eye catching design that will make people see the importance of recycling.
Rubbish - list all the containers that you throw away on a regular basis. Collect one day’s worth of container rubbish and bring it into school for the children to see. Mention the growing problems of increased landfill. What are the alternatives to this?
Research how this can be tackled, starting by looking at the materials that the containers are made of.
Make a new container by recycling used ones from rubbish.
Encourage pupils to reuse containers such as plastic bags, bottles etc, rather than always taking new ones. How could they persuade others to do this?

PHSE
Containing memories project: Create a ‘memory box’ about a person, or even a pet, which has died or gone away, or about an occasion that they want to particularly remember. Include pictures, photographs, writing and objects about them. The box can then be symbolically put away, to look at on an anniversary perhaps, or buried with a few well-chosen words.

QCA Schemes of Work links

Design and technology at Key Stage 2 (Year 4)
Unit 4A: Money containers
Textiles – designing and making a container – link to ‘Weaving’ activity
Art and design at Key Stage 1 (Year 1/2)
Unit 1C: What is sculpture?
Learning about sculpture made from a range of different materials. Tour images could be used asa means of discussing different made objects, looking at what they
are made of and how they might be used.

Art and design at Key Stage 2 (Year 5/6)
Unit 5B: Containers
The tour links into projects on making vessels and containers in this scheme of work. Use it tofuel discussion and sketchbook investigation into vessels and use the teaching ideas to helpdesign, make and decorate your own container.
Unit 5A: Objects and meanings
Use the objects in the tour to discuss the use of objects in still life. Compare them with containers in a selection of still lives by famous painters.

General techniques

Making containers

Possible materials: Papier mâché, clay, modroc, card, foil/metal, paper, stone, glass, fabric..
Card - Can be bent, joined, cut, and built on with modroc, papier mâché or various collagematerial. It can also be used to create interesting angular shapes; even the off cuts can makeinteresting relief decoration. Experiment with nets of 3D shapes (how they look when flattenedout); make sure flaps are added to join them together.
Modroc – Apply over objects covered in Clingfilm. This is an excellent means of
creating casts of objects - a great starting point for interesting shaped containers.
Fabric - Simple sewing, using hand stitches to join fabric. Alternatively ‘bondaweb’ is great forquick joining without sewing, just use an iron.
Modelling materials such as clay and plasticine are easy ways of creating and sculpting a hugearray of shapes and ideas.
Wire can be used in its own right or as an armature for modroc or papier mâché

Decorating containers

Different containers allow you to decorate in different ways:

Modelling: as you make your container with a material such as clay or plasticine, you can carve patterns and shapes into it. You can change your mind and adapt as you go along.
After it has been made: you can decorate your container with a range of paints, charcoal and other flat media.

Collage

You could photocopy images/drawings and glue them onto your papier mâché/ cardcontainer.
You could glue on beads or plastic jewels to enrich your vessel.
Use string and glue to create interesting relief, which could be painted over when dry or tinfoil could be glued on top to give a metal effect.

Glass painting project

Use the images in the tour to fire your imagination and create a design for a clear container or jar of your choice. Make a template in paper of your design checking that the dimensionsfit your jar/vessel.
Place the design underneath some clear sticky back plastic or stick inside your jar/vessel and start by outlining the design with a glass paint outliner.
Infill the areas of colour with glass paint, once outline is dry.

Classroom activities

based on selections of objects in the tour

1. Animal shapes

Links to these objects in tour:
Wooden grease dish with face and flippers – before 1787 AD, Canada
Cosmetic box in the shape of a duck (and fish) – 1500 – 1370 BC, Ur, Mesopotamia
Canopic jars of Neskhons – 1069-945 BC, Egypt

See also in Explore:
Rhyton in the shape of a bull’s head

Discussion points Look through the objects above:

How do the objects incorporate their animal shape into their design?
Which ones work best and why?

Project idea
Make a container based on an animal, either real or imaginary

Design a container using any animal/bird/insect that is important to you. It can be a real ormythical creature.
Research your chosen animal as fully as possible using a sketchbook to record ideas. Findout if it has any particular meaning in other cultures.
Decide what kind of container you want your animal to be. Think about your design and howyour creature can fit into this. Try to be as imaginative as possible.
Research animals used creatively as part of a design, see:
Spouted jug with dragon handle
Griffin head spout
Krater with sheep’s head handles

Can you challenge each other to design a container with a specific body part performing aspecific function, e.g. a beak as a spout, a wing as a lid, a tail as a handle?

2. Holding memories

Hans Sloane’s specimen tray – 18th century, England

Discussion Points

Why might Hans Sloane collect such interesting items?
What do you think he did with them?
Have you ever collected interesting items – where did you find them?
What does this tray remind you of?

Now have a look at the work of the artist Joseph Cornell. Much of this consists of containersdisplaying various objects, for example:
‘Pharmacy’
and some other works in the GuggenheimMuseum:

Also look at the work Boîte-en-valise, or ‘box in a suitcase’ by Marcel Duchamp:

Project ideas

Make a large class ‘specimen tray’ for display on the wall.

Each pupil uses a shoebox to collect interesting items such as photos, cuttings of text,objects such as sweet wrappers; they could be related to a theme, such as individuality, or interests, and could be titled ‘My Box About Me’.
Use these items to decorate the inside of the box, giving each one a brief label. They must beglued in firmly (use PVA Medium) as the boxes need to be displayed on a wall, next to eachother to look like a specimen tray.
Undertake a project with your class where a container is designed to sort out an area of theclassroom, or materials which always seem to be in a muddle (e.g. an art materials organiseror perhaps a desk pencil tidy).

3. Weaving magic

Links to these objects in tour:
Woven baskets – 19th century, Tierra del Fuego
Salt bag – 19th century, Pakistan

Discussion points (salt bag)

Why might someone want to carry salt around?
What is the importance of salt to nomadic people and what might they use it for?
How could a woven bag hold salt? Discuss the properties needed for a salt-holding container.

Project idea

Pupils design and make a simple woven bag. The nomadic people would also have madetheir own beads to decorate their bags.
Create a cardboard loom. With an A5 piece of strong card, make 1cm long incisions along 2opposite ends, about 1 cm apart. Tie wool to the incision in one corner, and thread it throughthe incision at the opposite end, and so on until you have a loom.
You are now ready to weave - tie your new piece of wool to the bottom corner and weave thewool in and out of the loom. When you reach the end, weave back the other way,making sure you go over the loom where you went under before and so on. If you wish to add a pattern, design this first on graph paper, in two different colours only, withbig, bold designs. You can tie your new coloured wool to the loom at any time and begin thepattern - using the graph paper as a rough guide. You can also weave in ribbons and othercoloured fabrics and threads to create a variety of textures.
When you have covered the whole piece of card with weaving (this can take some timedepending on the thickness of the wool), make sure any stray bits of wool are knotted. Youcan cut the thread of the loom on the back and knot each one to make sure the woven pieceis secure. Beads and buttons can be added to the tassels to decorate the ends.
When you have done two pieces of woven fabric, you can sew the two sides together tomake a bag. Plait several long pieces of wool together to create a strap.

4. Be a potter

Links to these objects in tour:

Water pot with strainer – 19th century, Tunisia
Greek water jar – 520-500 BC, Greece
Canopic jars – 1069-945 BC, Egypt

See also in Explore:

Pottery bowl and wire cover – 20th century, from Africa
Large pottery jar – Bronze Age, from Iran

Discussion points

Look at the three pots above. How do you think each was made? The water pot was made ona potter’s wheel – if you look closely you can see horizontal lines along it. The others weremade by simple coiling, an ancient technique used before the potter’s wheel had beeninvented.
Compare the decoration on each pot – how do you think these were done? At what stage oftheir production process was each pot decorated?

Project idea
Make and decorate a coiled clay pot

Sketch what pot shape you are going to make - do not make it too complicated.
Use quick dry or firing-clay if you have a kiln. Roll out long sausages of clay, approx 2 cmthick.
Coil this in a spiral shape to create a circular base, and then smooth it over.
Build up your remaining coils to create the sides of the pot, adding one coil at a time andsmoothing it, with a few drops of water if necessary, to create a uniformly smooth pot as yougo.
You can add patterns as you go - using stamps or clay tools, or paint or glaze it at the end,depending on the kind of clay you have.

5. Face it

Links to these objects in tour:

Coffin of Cleopatra – 2nd century AD, Egypt
Face urn – 2nd century AD, Roman Britain

See also in Explore:
Vase with faces – (200BC – AD 600) Nasca, from Peru
Bowl with a gorgon’s head – (625-600 BC) Greek, from Rhodes

Discussion points
Looking at the faces on the above objects:

Why would someone want to carry salt around?
What is their appearance like? Discuss their clothes/hairstyles etc.
Why have they been put onto these objects?
How do their expressions/appearances fit the purpose of the object?

Project ideas Design a plate with a face on it using a class ‘face bank’

Sit opposite a partner, watch how their face changes when they are happy, sad, angry,neutral etc. Try and do simple sketches showing each emotion. Can you think of morecomplicated emotions to attempt?
See if you can recreate some of these and your partner guess which one you are doing.
Choose one of these to depict on a paper plate. Use a variety of media – e.g. crayons, paints,pastels etc.
Create a class ‘face bank’ for the wall with a range of these plates covering as manyemotions as you can.
Explore the use of the human form as a container:
e.g.Empress pepper-pot
Reliquary of St Eustace

6. Telling a story

Examining the decoration on containers which have been used to tell a story or give a message.

Links to these objects in tour:
Water-jar with fountain-house scene - 520 - 500 BC, Greece
Water pot with strainer – 19th century, Tunisia

See also in Explore:
Cup showing stories of Theseus
Franks casket

Discussion points

Have a look at some Greek pots, starting with the fountain-house scene pot in the tour. Whatis this trying to tell us? How do other Greek pots tell longer stories? What do these pots havein common in their designs? Compare colours, decoration and the use of the human figure.
Now look at the Franks Casket. This uses both writing and pictures to tell a variety of storiesfrom different cultures, rather like a modern cartoon. Can you work out any of the stories?
How does the water pot from Tunisia convey a message in a different way? Can you find other containers in Explore which are decorated with writing?

Project idea
Modroc project: Design your own Greek pot
Retell a well-known ancient or modern story in the style of a Greek potter.