Creative exploration is a must —whether online or in the classroom. To make it work, I have invested in two essential elements, engagement, and interaction. My collaboration with a professional videographer enabled us to bring the artist’s studio into the student’s home. Students experience the magic of a classical vase rising from the potter’s wheel, as we explore cultures, design, form and function, and the millennia of technical changes in the art of clay.
This is unlike any virtual program that students will have ever seen. I provide a vibrant mix of interactive activities and lecture. We explore the life of the studio artist, cultural arts history, potter’s wheel segments, video and exploratory visual media across cultures with interactive quizzes, and Q & A. Virtual Day in Clay brings students into the artist studio for a behind-the-curtain experience of the creative life. Students marvel as raw clay rises from the potter’s wheel into classic shapes, and into a work of art.
The process of design, color, glaze, and firing is embodied in the program. Exploring the creative process is key to understanding how each culture tells their own story through three-dimensional art. Students will explore Native American, African, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, European and Latin American cultures to follow the art of clay around the world. We cover civilizations across time and place— and the technology from which the art of clay emerged. Students experience the design process, engaging the artist as the vase emerges from wet clay— learning advanced techniques and the science behind glazing, painting, and firing. Exploring design and the creative process is key in understanding how each culture tells their unique story through 3D art. I teach in the same style of my college classes—educational, challenging, engaging, and entertaining.
Students experience an intimate view of the hands-on creative process as if they were standing in the artist studio and witnessing how an artist thinks. A wet lump of clay rises from the platen on a potter’s wheel, and is transformed into classic ceramic shapes and becomes a work of art. The intersection of art with culture is explored throughout. We discuss a wide variety of cultures— Native American, African, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Latin American – to understand how the art of clay and pottery been manifest around the globe, across diverse cultures and civilizations— and the technology from which the art of clay emerged
Through potter’s wheel video segments and a photo slideshow, students witness the interaction of patterns, symbols, imagery, and designs with disciplines including architecture, clothing, and functional houseware. They become part of the design process, engaging with the artist as the vase emerges while learning advanced techniques and the science behind glazing, painting, and firing. We will explore how these cultural characteristics have influenced their art throughout time. Exploring these designs and the creative process is key in understanding how each culture tells their unique story through three-dimensional art.
To maintain the smooth flow of the live presentation, there will be 2-3 designated times during the program in which students will be encouraged to ask any questions about i.e. pottery-making itself, technical aspects, design and my life as an artist. I encourage students to have a notebook in hand to write down any questions or comments that might arise during the program.
Access to a practicing artist, building on the Artist-in-Residence model.
Students gained the working vocabulary of a ceramic artist, based upon a unique interactive and educational learning experience.
An introduction to design, through pottery-making and its cultural impact to inspire their three-dimensional artwork for the rest of the year.
The ideas they explore through the program provide an opportunity for reflective writing exercises.
Day In Clay provides a hands-on art experience. Programs designed for your curriculum. Within minutes, participants are involved in the process of working with clay and learning about the relationship between art and society.
