Alisa and Claus Clausen on tue 31 aug 99
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Please share any ideas and projects about teaching pottery to 8-10 year
olds. If you know of any books or publications that would be helpful please
list them also. Thanks. Susan
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Hi Susan,
I have taught considerably many childrens' groups at our community ceramic
studio where I hold a weekly workshop. This summer for example, my =
colleague
and I had a group of 60 children over 3 days. Their ages were from 5 to 15.=
I
am looking at the word pottery in your message. If you mean throwing pots, =
this
message is not much help. Although we do not use wheels for children under =
12,
our workshops
for children are 4 hours of constant motion and motivation=21
I find in general the 8 to 10 year old group all had some hands on with clay=
at
school from about 5 years. However, most of this age group are a bit self
conscious already, and where not immediately
spontaneous or directed as to what they wanted to make at first. A lot of
giggling.
They started working with rolling pins, stamps, coils and all sorts of =
wooden
tools. The majority of the children become very quickly spontaneous and =
focused
and all produced lots of bowls, vases and figures.
As we watched the children work on their individual projects, we showed them
coiling, pinching, slabs, slump and hump molds, if that seemed like a good
solution to the ideas they were presenting.
There is a background philosophy we keep to in our workshop with the =
children.
Let the children be children, meaning, let them make what they want form =
their
own little heads,
without going too high up in technical do's and dont's-
I ask them to keep in mind the following
wedge the clay
carve out as much clay as practical from the bottom of their figures (do not
usually have more than
2 weeks drying time)
very easy on the water
lift and rotate their slabs while making them
do not make anything bigger than the kiln
spend time on the project
We give technical help with basics, but try not to fill them up with too =
much so
that they get sidetracked
from their sponteneity.
One child could not really find out what to do, and was driven to sobs =
because
she was surrounded by a
table of dilegent busy bees. I did two things. I cut her clay into 4 =
smaller
portions and we took a
walk around the building. We talked about what she liked and what she saw
around her. We went
back to the studio and within a short time, she became herself just as =
engaged
and productive as
all the others. The lesson I learned from this, is that a new material is
sometimes intimidating.
A smaller portion that one can really work in the hand makes it much more
inviting than an
unweildy portion.
The older children tended to make more carefully finished projects and spent
about 1 hour maximum
on the project. They were allowed to glaze their projects. The younger
children's projects which are
more losely formed, are only bisqued. We talk glazes only with the children
who's projects will
eventually come into the glaze kiln.
We also notice that if one child makes for example a slump mold bowl, nearly=
all
watching will
also want to try. Have enough materials available so that they can all work
side by side, using
like tools. The ideas seem to quickly diffuse if the children have to wait =
a
turn to use a stamp,
etc.
It is very exciting to work with the children. Clean up usually takes =
longer
than the workshop (that
is not the exciting part.) The kids liked very much to work on cavalets =
(turn
tables?) and the easy
combination of concentration and interaction among them as they work is =
amazing.
We finally caution them that there is always the possibility that in drying =
or
firing the project
may crack or break. But we try to attempt to help with the technical =
matters
enough that the
piece can come into the kiln and survive the firing. 99 procent survives.
We have also had more classes come with a theme that they want to build clay
projects on.
We are having a kindergarten and first grade come in two weeks to work on
figures that
relate to the theme they are studying in school now - trolls in folklore.
Praise, praise, praise, slipping in a reminder or hint for better technical
success.
With children, we run the studio for them just as seriously
as for the adults. Same rules as a basic class room - respect yourself, =
respect
your classmate.
No touching others' works, no throwing clay, encourage the use of fantasy =
only
limited by
technicalities of the material and equipment.
A final but not at all least important part of the workshops are the adults =
in
the childrens' lives.
It is so important the projects are picked up with the child and parent on a
designated
day or evening. This really reinforces the child's sense of achievment and
gives a
tremendous boost in the child's self esteem, no matter how healthy it may
already be.
Encourage the parents as much as the children in recognizing the child's
accomplishments.
Sorry I have no books to reccommend. I am myself ceramic BFAer and =
substitute
in a Rudold Steiner nursery. I have my studio home, plus work at the =
community
one. I get my ideas from the children themselves, sometimes with just a =
minimal
of
prodding. These things combined give our children classes direction and I
really enjoy them.
Hope you will also.
Alisa in Denmark.
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