Dr Sally of ECE308 fame walked us through a clay adventure during our latest Workshop @ the Makerspace session, where we got to play and experiment with different types of clay and release our untapped potential as potters and artists through manipulating with it.
We were all either making a pose holding clay or had the sudden urge to collectively waterbend.
Before we got messy, Dr Sally showed us a video of a child going through clay therapy as we watched him slowly come out of his shell and manipulate with his clay block with confidence, ownership and identity. It was a powerful video. We saw the amount of meaning his teachers and caregivers found the clay experience to bring and how the boy expressed himself in a language that he may never have expressed himself in before, and he definitely took that opportunity without second asking. He spoke in paragraphs and stories through the clay, with the guidance of his clay therapist.
Climbing back down to classroom C3.16, Dr Sally challenged us to find meaning in our own clay experience as well and express ourselves in a language that many of us, like the boy, may not have spoken in before. We were guided through the stages of artistic expression (go revise your ECE308 study guide) and ventured on our own yellow brick road of expression.
Welcome to hot sunny Singapore, Sally!
Maybe it’s the ever-rushing deadlines of TMAs or the opportunity to unleash our imaginative minds in front of the gawking awe-inspired Dr Sirene, who may have never seen such a big talented group of students mess around in her classroom since she was locked into a Zoom screen by a wizard, but the participants of the workshop went to work. We pressed, pushed, pulled, rolled, threw, cut and chopped our clay. Balls, bowls, leaves, gasings, and even a housing estate were made. The creations made by the participants were endless.
Jodi unleashing her inner Bruce Lee. ECE499 must’ve been tough on you.
Renee and future HDB architect, Qian Ying with their creations
“My experience of attending the clay workshop enabled me to explore and learn about the medium. Namely, regarding its structure and its types such as dry and wet clay. Through my exploration with the clay, it enabled me to utilise different methods of moulding the clay in order to create the product that I have in mind such as rolling, pinching and flattening it. It also enabled me to rely on my imagination/visual representation in mind to direct my steps in forming the clay.” Right on Raihanah!
Speaking about how Raihanah tried to make epok-epok with clay, did you know that the clay we used had different properties as well? Like Raihanah mentioned, we got to play with a wetter, more sedimentary clay with a higher iron oxide content and a drier, smoother, more plasticine-consistency-like clay that has been processed more. We got to answering questions that naturally pop up in our heads like:
What is the texture of my clay?
What can I do with this clay?
What can I create with it?
What happens when I add water to it? What about a handful of water? Ok, what if I dipped it into a big container of water?
“During the workshop, I found myself exploring the textures of the clay for a prolonged period of time – longer than my peers! I had at first explored it as a lump of drier clay, before dipping the entire lump into water. I observed that a simple act as such could have such drastic changes to the entire lump of clay! From a rather hard lump of clay, it had instantly become a slimy, soft mixture of clay. I’m such a great constructivist!”
Joleen Chan (2023)
You’ll be glad to know that Dr Sally bought her clay from Overjoyed for $22. This is the part of the script where you say “Wahhhhh so cheap!” like Rushdah here.
Playing with clay on its own brings so much affordances, but what about using tools with it. Some of us brought our own tools or (sponsored by the ECEIG) used the abundance of materials in the makerspace that was on offer like recyclables, stationery and art materials to manipulate the clay with. We thought about the cause-and-effect different materials had on the clay. Have you thought of using string with clay before? What about leaves and pinecones?
Nicklas on cloud nine with his clay and fork, maybe cloud twelve actually.
Experimenting with how different materials having different effects on clay.
Look at what Faith has to say about it:
“This experience gave me the opportunity to understand the importance of being spontaneous and confident in manipulating with the clay materials. Like Joleen, I’m also such a great constructivist!”
Let’s do a quick mental exercise now: I’ll give you 10 seconds to think of 3 materials that you’ve never thought of pairing with clay that you think “Hmm…I’d like to know what happens when I combine it with clay.” Time starts now.
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…Ok time’s up!
I thought of aluminium foil, my water bottle and a banana leaf. What about you?
Now think of the kind of activities and opportunities of play that your three materials can bring when paired with clay. The possibilities are endless, but please keep it free from crime ya.
Look at all the clay and tools we used!
We also spoke about clay in the classroom and how children can best maximise their experiences with clay and freely explore with the material. So, do reflect on some of these questions with some accompaniment from Kia Kiat:
How much time do you think children need with clay? Dr Sally mentions no less than 30 minutes. What about you and why?
“Natural clay is an art medium that requires ample time and preparation to explore in the classroom. This is due to the many forms of natural clay which leads to endless discoveries (e.g., wet clay vs dry clay). Children will need plenty of hands-on exploration for them to understand the properties of natural clay, such as the amount of water for the right texture and malleability, and how their hands manipulate changes to natural clay. The use of tools will also require further exploration, as they do and observe how these tools affect the shape and form of the clay, such as a rolling pin making the clay stretched and flat, while cookie cutters make different shapes. Moving forward, time will also be needed for children to think and create their ideas of representation with the clay, and opportunities to go back to their previous works of clay so they can complete their self-ideated tasks and truly enjoy the process of creating art using clay.”
How do you then extend children’s clay experiences? Rather than throw children into the deep end asking them to create something on the spot during the first session, is it better to have it extend it into a project? Do you think it’s better when incorporated into the art curriculum for a term? Will you show them that pottery scene from Ghost? (I sure hope not)
How will you set up the environment to invite children to play with clay? Look at the hard work Dr Sirene and Dr Sally put in to set up the plastic around the tables.
“Preparation of the art sessions with clay also require meticulous planning to ensure that children safely manipulate clay and ensure the classroom’s safety through hygiene practices and cleanliness, such as covering tabletops with ceramic wrap, having a water bucket or cloth for immediate cleaning, and having appropriate spaces to store the clay sculptures. Teachers will also have to consider their own limits to messy explorations in their classrooms as well.”
What kind of questions will you ask children as they work? Would the stages of artistic expression be a good guide for you as a teacher?
What about the clean up process that Dr Sally stresses. Planning any art experience should always come in tandem with a clean up process. How will you guide children’s cleaning up experiences as well?
Let’s take a step back for a bit and look at clay pedagogically. What benefits do you think clay provides to children in terms of:
The conceptual understanding they gain (in the different domains as well)
Dispositions used
“I think children can benefit greatly from clay experiences. The process provides children with not only understanding artistic expression and methods - there are naturally integrated learning domains such as chemistry (where children understand the effects of changes in the clay’s structure and the reversibility of that change), sensory development (texture of clay at different levels of wetness), and gross and fine motor skills (as they manipulate the clay with their hands and fingers). Moreover, children get to develop their resilience, patience, persistence, focus and self-control as they experiment with clay in different ways. Wow, I’m also such a good constructivist”
Yes, it’s a lot to think about, but that’s also because of how wonderful a medium clay is and how much meaning children can derive from it. Don’t worry, I’ll allow a 12-hour grace period for you to submit your reflections.
Reflect on those questions as hard as Farhanah is focusing on her creation.
All in all, it was a fun, hands-on, exploratory and messy morning in the Makerspace and by the end of it, 34 different participants expressed themselves through clay in 34 different processes with 34 different stories. Everyone showed confidence, ownership and identity like the boy in the video did and we are very thankful that all of you were able to!
~
I’d also like to take this time to remind all of you of a familiar story, one written a long time ago, but still as true now as it was then. Of how every child has a hundred languages. Here’s a snippet of it:
The child has
A hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
But they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
Separate the head from the body.
- Loris Malaguzzi
On the day, we were honoured to be able to express some of the languages that children have, that they use to work, play, discover, dream, love and so on. Let's continue to be a part of a community of educators that continue to recognise, foster and advocate each of the child’s hundred languages and not be a part of those who steal it.
Till the next Workshop @ the Makerspace!
~ Ayub