Project: 3D Letters and shapes
The first day this week I challenged the group at SJYA with a task of creating 3D Letters by using rolled slabs and the scoring and slip method to connect the pieces. I first started the class by demonstrating the project and creating my own letters "C". During the process I explained to the group the importance of creating air within the shape and then putting a small air hole somewhere in the piece once it is done to avoid pieces breaking during the firing. They asked questions pertaining to the firing process and asked how I "baked" the clay and were very curious of the process. After creating my example i gave the each guy their own slab to begin to cut and build from. Some guys took initiative and jumped in without fear of failure while some needed guidance and help in starting the work. Conversations stemmed from life after their sentences and what their plans were. A lot of guys shared the ideas of returning to and finishing high school while some didn't know what they wanted to do. Throughout the building process some guys continued to excel and create very clean 3d objects. Some guys strayed from creating letters and went to creating squares and rectangles with words written on them. Once student in particular wanted to make a name tag and decided to stay 1 dimensional, which i ended up enjoying the end result. One student seemed to be making something then became unhappy with it only to squish it back down into a slab and continue to make more then flatten it back out again. One guy made a "snickers" bar and planned on trying to get a friend of his to take a bite of it without him knowing it was clay. He had a plan to create a outer wrapper for the bar made of clay to further disguise the clay. Though time ran out before he was able to make the wrapper that day. At the end of class i had all the guys in the group write down their favorite snack hoping they would return the next day to finish their work and claim their gift of food. Class ended and everyone was smiles a lighter as they left the room.
The second day i returned with the clay pieces almost completely dry and some fresh slabs with intent of new students being involved in the group. Not to my surprise some of the guys in the group were involved in some "bad" behavior the day before so i pretty much had new students with 3 returning. I showed the example again to the kew students and they ended up creating 1 dimensional art because time was limited due to a late start (faculty had to find someone to supervise the class). I also brought underglaze to allow the guys to paint there finished pieces. Only one of the guys from last class had a finished piece so he ended up painting his green. Though during the process since the clay was bone dry parts of his work broke apart, though they can be fixed once fired with super glue. The new guys were involved intently and created the whole time i was there. Since we were limited with time the clay pieces came out somewhat small, but due to the complexity of building in 3D, which seemed challenging to the most, i am overall content with the work and the guys feel the same Conversations today led to more of the future, and their ideas and plans once leaving SJYA. The majority expressed finishing high school. Since there was a lack of supervision the guys didn't really focus as much and were not the best listeners when told to chill and participate int he work. Though they were not disrespectful, just acted as young kids, which some are. The kids in the last class remembered the snack list and kept asking if i had brought any which i assured them i did, though it seemed as though they had mentioned it to a few people which induced the increase in class size (I will be more cautious of next time). At the end of class since some of the returning guys were not there, i handed out the snacks that were listed to the returning guys that i had promised. With 8 more guys in the room and 5 snack left, i wrote numbers down on a piece of paper and had them all choose number 1-8. They all were hooting and hollering in joy when I called out the numbers they had chosen and presented the honeybuns and Oreos to the winners. They left with a slight sugar buzz and smiles.
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