More than just Clay: Sharing Friendship & Peace

Providing students with an active clay and sculpture program builds many opportunities for learning.  Clay is a unique art material that is highly responsive to touch and very forgiving.  In this sense, allowing for mistakes and playful art making gives students a sense of control, builds personal confidence and opens the mind to a greater sense of self-expression and imagination.

  

Applying sculpture skills, SKSS students shared a connection with our neighbouring elementary school (Lloyd George) by teaching clay techniques to Mme Girard’s grade 2 class.  We decided on a theme of Friendship & Peace. Just incase we could save the world, one grade two student at a time!  Students worked with clay slabs to cut their hand shape from both high school and elementary students to create a collaborative bowl.  To finish the designs, students added french or english words and symbols that represented our peace and friendship theme. 

Excited young artists chattered and worked hard over two sessions of classes creating common ground through their clay work and glazing.  Perhaps most importantly, SKSS students spoke about the valuable outcome of our collaboration, which was more than our colourful hand-bowls.  In fact, they expressed that teaching and working with young students reminded them of the importance of helping others and the significance of art making at any age. 

Clay Monsters: Collaborative Containers

     Highlighting South Kamloops Secondary student collaborations this spring begins with the fantastic clay work of artist, James de Rosso.  De Rosso shares his creative ceramic monsters while providing an inviting platform for teaching basic sculpture techniques, including forming, joining, blending, and texturing.  In addition, monster themed art making allows for unlimited and imaginative possibilities as inspiration for clay creations.  With this in mind, student artists from both Lloyd George Elementary and SKSS collaborated together to create unique Monster sculptures.  

     The outcome of our art making is a playful collection of student work mindful of the many techniques and problem solving skills that occur when hand-building with clay.  The success of our collaborative project is not only partaking and guiding art making activities, but perhaps most importantly, student collaboration provides an an opportunity in develop community.  Building a connection with our neighbouring elementary school provides a shared and common link between both elementary and secondary students.  However, as SKSS art students continue to engage in shared learning with Lloyd George Elementary art buddies what is most meaningful is the compassion and caring atmosphere students create in the artroom.

Thank you to Mme Stafford’s grade 3 class from Lloyd George.  You worked hard to create a fantastic group of clay monsters! 

Visit artist James de Rosso at :  www.monster8all.com

Maison de Lumiere: Kinder clay!

Sculpture & Ceramics students shared their slab building clay techniques this January by working with Mme Upshaw and Mme Linthorne’s Kindergarten class from our neighbouring elementary school, Lloyd George.  Students paired-up to create a ‘Maison de Lumiere’ focusing on aspects of texture and hand-building sculpture techniques.  As collaborative activities often witness, the artistic process becomes an opportunity in our school community to build a brief and meaningful relationship between the teenage artists and their newly acquainted Kindergarten friends.  SKSS art student Katherine R. reflects on her experience working with the Kindergarten students:

Kids are really creative and ready to try new things, which is why working with the kindergarten class was so cool.  It was really interesting to see how much their houses varied in size, colour, and in general how different they were.  They all were very excited and enthused about working with clay, since for many of them it was their first time.  They also got to paint their houses with ceramic glaze.  Many picked their favorite colour and layered it on the entire house!  For someone who loves kids this was such a cool opportunity to talk to them while teaching them something new.  It was privilege to give back to the community in such a unique way.

We would like to thank our Lloyd George Kindergarten friends, teachers Mme Upshaw and Mme Linthorne, and librarian Mme Cauchon, for such fantastic participation and sharing in our creative art-making collaboration.