Greek Vases

These incredible Greek Vase designs were created by the third and fourth grade classes. In art class, the students studied the vases and amphoras of Ancient Greece paying close attention to the subject matter and patterns of design at the time. The class also learned about sgraffito, which is a painting technique that involves scratching away the top layer of color to expose a different color below.

These artists created colorful under-paintings with oil pastels, and then covered their pieces with black tempera paint. Once the vases were dry, the 3rd graders enjoyed using paper clips, stylus pens, pencils, etc to scratch away their creative designs. 

The students started by folding a 9" x 18" piece of paper to draw their amphora shape. Once they cut out their symmetrical vessel, they traced their design on tagboard. They then chose either warm or cool colors to create a colorful underpainting.

Next came the paint! We found that it is important to put on a think layer of acrylic paint and to have it be smooth. Uneven surface areas were hard to control when scratching away designs later in the process.