Visual Arts: Working with Clay

 

Noisy fun-Clay creations

 

In the afternoon workshop we explored the medium of clay which was ‘noisy but fun’. I was really stressed today and working with clay allowed me to concentrate on the moment and let go of my worries for a while. It was my first time working with clay and I was surprised at how much strength it took to pound the clay to squeeze out the air bubbles. Then I spread it out with a roller to the height of a finger as per the instructions. After tracing the design (of a heart shaped frame) out on the clay with a sharp tool, I cut out the unwanted parts of clay from the design. I thought of making a lotus flower initially but dropped the idea for fear of lack of time. We had to cover the 4 stages, slab (Pounding clay into a sheet having a height of a finger), incising (cutting out pieces of clay to make (in our case) a frame) , coiling and scoring(attaching a piece of clay to another) in transforming a lump of clay to a work of art. After making it and scratching my initials on to its back I left it on a rack to air dry along with those made by my mates (see above).

Once dry they are fired in kilns and later on painted with bright and colourful acrylic paints appealing to the young children.

In the lecture today Robyn, discussed the various forms for expressing Visual Arts, Drawings(includes collage-called drawing with scissors, painting, sculpture, printing, photography, fibre crafts(sewing, weaving, paper crafts(as paper is considered a fibre),ceramics, digital electronic media. She also discussed the subject matter for visual arts like people, living things, objects, spaces and places and events.

References

Gibson, R., & Ewing, R. (2011). Transforming the curriculum through the arts. Palgrave MacMillan: Melbourne.