Making Masks

I did my second Clay Teacher Friday. It went well. I did masks with some kids from Sanctuary http://www.ecsd.net/programs/alternative_education.html . The kids there have some behavior problems and are not a part of the regular school system. But kids are kids and they responded well to the clay. I learned one thing with these kids, set some boundaries. I like to give students the freedom to make any face, with the clay, they like. So saying that they have freedom, without specifying that freedom is limited to facial features was a mistake. Next time I will say they can make any kind of face they like, but have to keep their project in the confines of social acceptance. A boy put a symbol on his mask that could be very offensive to many people. He refused to take it off and things were starting to slide into a confrontation between him and the teachers. He was not working on the mask and it was affecting the energy and the rest of the students in the class. We were all having fun and working up until that point. I suggested that he could leave the symbol there, just cover it with a small piece of clay. That way he could get what he wanted and it wouldn’t offend anyone else. It seemed to work. I made a very thin pancake of clay, he covered the symbol, smoothed down the little piece of clay, and all was well. What he didn’t realize is that there is no way that clay can be removed, especially after I helped it along and made sure it was stuck. The cover up is there, and after it is fired, it is there in stone. If he tries to expose his bigotry, either real or just put on for the class, he will destroy his mask.

It was an interesting morning. The teacher said that they seldom settle and work for 90 minuets. But these kids did. They tried hard and did some nice work.

Until next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

First Day of School

Yesterday was my first job as the Clay Teacher. I was a bit nervous. I’m not really sure why. I went to talk to and do some throwing for two grade 10 classes. The first group was interested in what I was doing. . I had some samples that showed throwing a simple form, making it a cup, adding a handle making it a mug. Throwing and combining wheel thrown pieces and then using the wheel to build round slabs, the masks, and then I brought a little sculpture that had nothing to do with the wheel. There were a few students that were excited and anxious to try some of the techniques I had shown them. The next class was not as keen. It was a bit weird. I talked about the construction techniques of the examples that I brought, I threw a cylinder, vase, bowl and a plate. I went on and on for about a half and hour then stopped to ask if anyone had any questions. ….Blank stares and silence….. I asked if they had anything to add…. Blank stares and silence…..asked if anyone had plans of being artists….again…..nothing….mind you they were grade 10, all full of raging hormones and it was the last class on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend. So I didn’t take personally and I enjoyed it, the teaching and not the blank stares and silence. It was fun. I really enjoy being The Clay Teacher. There is no pressure. I just go in, talk about what I know, do what I like, be myself and then leave. I am not the one who is responsible for taking these kids and guiding them near, if not on the path of at least having a respect for art.I think half the kids in that class are only there because they think if you take art it is easy. There is nothing to read, no homework, what could be easier than being an artist? Those are the kids that are the most challenging and I am so glad not my responsibility. Mind you there is always one kid that stands out. There was a boy in the first class. He was very keen and working on a big bowl project that had him very excited. It would be fun to work with him and those like him, for more than one workshop, to help him from start to finish with his bowl.

Winter hit this last week. It came so fast that the leaves were still mostly green and on the trees.With the sudden nasty weather they all froze and fell off. This year we won’t get the pretty colours of the transition from fall into winter. It’s like someone flicked the switch, off with fall on with winter. We are driving to Grande Prairie to visit family for the long weekend. The weather is not that bad that we would consider not going. We are looking forward it.

Pot pic this time has nothing to do with pots. Here are pics of the weather outside our door.

We are the way to Grande Prairie AB for the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. Family food and fun, who could ask for more.

Until the next time.

Cindy

Put on a happy face.

Arts on the Avenue Kaleido Festival http://artsontheave.org/festivals/kaleido-festival-2009/went well. The weather was not all that great. The first day we had to shut it down early or get blown away, Sunday the weather was still very windy so the venue was changed to inside. It was well attended and we look forward to next year. Bigger and better!

I do my first Clay Teacher job today. I am going to Victoria School http://www.victoria-school.ca/ to talk to the high school kids about being a potter, making pottery and whatever they want to talk about or watch. It will be fun. I wish someone could have come and talked to me at that age. All the potters I met growing up were hobby potters and they have a different outlook on pottery. I have been both a hobby potter and a trying to make a living potter, they are not the same. If some old fart potter had come and told me to run and become anything but a potter when I was 17, I wouldn’t have listened and I am sure they won’t either. So I tell the good side, show them some techniques and talk about skill, craft and art. The rest, they will have to take their life time to figure it out. That’s what it is, a lifetime/lifestyle choice. Being a full time potter has its commitments. It’s difficult to get started and can take a few years. The money is often not all that great. The work is hard. You have to find your place among all the other potters and stand out to a point where your pots will sell and sell enough to support yourself and perhaps a family. There is a skill level obtained when you make thousands and thousands of pots. You need to be a skilled potter to be an artist, but how skilled? You have to have control over your clay. However while production potters are pumping out the pots, hobby potters have the time to play with the one of kinds. It has been the oldest discussion since there has been a hobby and professional potter, who is the real potter. Is craft art or is it only that, a craft. You are what you think you are. If you think you are an artist, you are. If you think you are a craftsman, you are.As long as you have the skill to control your clay and the understanding and control of the process and you can make the clay do what you want it to do and not just take what you get, it really doesn’t matter what you or anyone else labels you, craftsman or artist. There is some very bad pottery out there that is seen as art and some wonderful work that is overlooked or just seen as craft. If what you make makes you happy, then you are doing it right. Keeping in mind, what makes you happy and feel good about your work will and should always be changing.Tomorrows work is always your best work.

Next Friday I work at a place called Sanctuary.http://www.ecsd.net/programs/alternative_education.html#sanctuary With these kids I will take a completely different approach. They have some behavior problems. Life has not been all that kind to them. We will talk about masks. We all wear them, so we will make some, talk about feelings and what feelings look like. It should be a good time for both me and the kids. I am looking forward to it.

Here are a few of the masks and suns I have been working on. They are fun to make and after winter hit last night with freezing temperatures and blowing snow a warm smile is be appreciated.

Until the next time.

Cindy.

Mug Shots

September 23, 2009

My class at ACT starts tonight. I always enjoy them. It will fun to get out for a bit. I have been missing teaching. I am looking forward to when I start working with the kids. When I am working with the little ones I am the grown up that comes into the class, interrupts the normal day, and tells them to play in the mud. I do meet some children that really don’t want to get dirty. Sometimes it is a cultural thing and some kids are just cleaner than I ever have been or will be. I still find it hard to understand kids that don’t want to play in the mud. Lucky for me there on only a few of them.

I got up with my kids this morning. I am not sure if 18 and 20 can be called kids anymore, but I am thinking that my getting up with them won’t last long. John has to be at work at 7:00AM on Wednesdays, so if I get up with him at 5:45, work the day and then my night class; it will be a long day. Also at 18 and 20, if they can’t get themselves up, fed and out the door, it is time they learned how.

We are getting involved with Arts on the Avenue http://artsontheave.org/ We live just two blocks from 118^th Avenue we are 40 blocks south of all the events, but we have been in the neighborhood for a long time. They have asked us before but we have always been too busy, or that has been the excuse. This weekend we will go see what it is all about. It will be good to meet the other artists, promote the studio and the Clay Teacher. It should be a good time. Art, music, food what more could you want, oh yeah... drink.

Every few months I make 50 mugs for a corporate client. I am writing this at 8:00 and they are sitting in the kiln at about 600 F. They have to be delivered today. It will be a bit of a push, but we will have them out and sanded by noon, we many not have any fingerprints left, but the kiln will be unloaded.

We got the kiln unloaded, the mugs delivered and kept our fingerprints. That will eliminate that life of crime I had in mind but here are some mugs shots.