Traditional Made Contemporar y --
Making Sense of Clay Through Play
Mr. Dexter Sim Yu Min, Art Teacher
Westwood Secondary School
C
eramics or pottery is commonly
associated with elegant forms
of vessels and crockery. In my art
lessons, students learn about the
ambiguous qualities of clay and how
through shaping, the application of
various techniques and firing, it can
become a piece of permanence.
I spent my early childhood playing
with play-doh, which encourages
creativity and development of motor-
skills through manipulation of form,
mostly through trial and error. By
squishing, squeezing, rolling, pulling,
pushing, pinching, I moulded basic,
but odd looking shapes at first, then
progressed onto more complicated
objects like fruits and animals. There
were various knick-knacks that I
experimented with. I remember using
a toy machine, similar to that of an
extruder, watching in amazement as
long tubular coils of various shapes
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emerged at the forceful press of both
my hands. I would then use those
coils to build structures and objects.
Teaching Ceramics:
My childhood experiences with play-
doh shaped the way I teach ceramics
to my students -- by tapping on their
prior knowledge and skills. For some
of them, working with clay may be
a new experience, but they caught
on quickly and enjoyed the tactile
hands-on activities.
could push their boundaries of
imagination and expression. At the
same time, it will enable students to
appreciate the need for ensuring
the structural integrity needed when
creating artwork using clay. Through
their experiences, my students learnt
that clay is not merely a dull dusty
material but one that allows them to
exercise their creativity and one that
will help them to acquire the various
Studio Habits of Mind.
I believe that the learning of ceramics
needs to go beyond the traditional
acquisition of technical skills to allow
students to explore, experiment,
and to make sense of clay through
play. Teaching the fundamentals of
ceramics -- pinching, coiling, slab
work and throwing, will establish the
foundation upon which students
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