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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Hot Tub - Why I Love Student Choice in the Studio

This pot began toward the end of the spring after school session. A nice example of the clay skills this young artist developed over the course of her classes. Notice the scoring marks on the bottom slab, ready for attachment of a second side to complete the pot. Also, there is a coil of clay worked into the space between the two attached slabs, adding strength to the joint of the piece.
Here, she carefully adds the second side, supporting the inside and outside with her hands as she joins the fragile sides together. Behind her are cut off pieces from shaping the slab to be just the right size to complete the pot.
The completed and smoothed slab pot...or what I thought was a pot based on her original intention. The artist seemed a bit dissatisfied, saying she thougth that it was too deep to be a pot. As an observer, I felt a bit disappointed that she did not see and relish in the growth in her hand building skills that I was seeing.
I returned some time later to find this addition, also built with slabs - as well as another transformation. "It was too deep to be a pot so I added a ladder and now it's a hot tub." Watching this unfold was a wonderful experience of developing clay and sculpting skills along with the delight of imagination and creative problem solving.

Visit the Teaching for Artistic Behavior page to read more about Choice-based art making.

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