Today I meet Hayden (7 years old) and Greyson (12 years old) 2 girls from Dallas, Texas interested in ceramics. Their dad Brent found me on santafecreativetourism.org and booked a two-hour lesson with me. I was a little apprehensive before hand and really tried to think ahead and be prepared as I have little experience teaching kids, most of my many, many, students have been adults.
Not to worry though, they were delightful and I made an effort to just make it fun without a lot of emphasis on making something. We spent the first hour handbuilding with molds and paper patterns and then made some pinch pots. Apparently Hayden is very interested in pinch pots and watches Youtube videos on how it is done! Therefore I had her teach me what she had learned. As she was now the teacher instead of the student, this loosen things up a bit and we were on a roll from there...
The highlight of the morning however I think for everyone was the hour+ we spent playing on the potter's wheels. First I demonstrated the beginning steps and then guided them through the process. I prepared several balls of clay ahead of time but not nearly enough, they just kept wanting to try again and again! Even after one ball of clay went flying through the air and hit the floor, they were undaunted! "One more, one more..." When Dad showed up at noon they were still at it and I had to pulled them away from the wheels to get them to begin cleaning up for the day. A nice ending to a kind of shy start.
We are booked for a second lesson in two weeks when I will show them how to glaze...That should be both challenging and fun! Here is what they made in a few short hours..
Good going girls! 2 potters in the making...
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