Students during a relief carving lesson.
The last few days have been fun as a teacher. The students have had lessons from local experts for throwing on the wheel, hand building, relief carving, and small hand building. They have also had lessons in Chinese history, shrinkage rates in math, how to interview their local experts in humanities, and the composition of different clay in science.
Using all of this new knowledge, students are starting to think about their possible projects – experimenting with the clay in a variety of ways.
One student is working on the wheel to try to create the perfect cereal bowl. Today, I took another to see how plates were jiggered – made with a mold – so she could decide how to proceed with her project. Others are still sketching out their ideas in their process journals.
Isabel’s experiment with hand molding – what character on this face!
Jack and Bruce trying their hand at fine hand molding with the flower and insect man.
Students watch during the hand building session.
But, the best part has been to watch the excitement on their faces and in their conversations. What if they tried this technique? Look at Mr. Maddock’s slip mold – what if I tried something like that too? The possibilities are endless.
Today part of their blog reflection was to share the questions they asked the local experts. Several students mentioned that most of these people had been doing their craft for many, many years – and that is why they made it look so easy. It was a bit of a relief for the students to know that although it might not be perfect the first time, if they stick with it they can get better.
Jasmine and her flower
The PDMS Artist in Residence program is not about coming out with a finished final product. It is about learning, innovating, trying new things; and these students are jumping in feet first.
Air Jingdezhen 