Category: Art Class

Drawing at The SPCA kitten tank brought out the best in the young learners. The learners sat down and observed and drew. The young felines strutted and posed and looked at home. This clinical atmosphere allowed the learners to stay calm and well mannered.

South African Prevention the Cruelty to Animals always offers help to hurt and deserted animals. The Animals get picked up and cleaned up in terms of getting shots and neutering them. Art class did build a sense of camaraderie as the group of 9 return back to the Ottery community center. The outing lasted 2 hours and learners got a glimpse of the good work that takes place in the center.

 

It was a bright sunny day as I headed out to Ottery for Art Class. Clay class was finishing group bowls they started last week. I arrived headed for the hall and queit a few people were there already playing board games. Volunteers and regulars it was a peaceful vibe as people weren’t saying to much but working together. I hung out with them and chatted to Lelani and then asked him if he had the key. He got the key and we headed up to the classroom and cleared it from another session.

I had just started preparing for my class when a group of young learners came in. I didn’t have the heart to send them away so asked them to choose a bowl that they had worked on last week. They wanted to make something fast and started painting the bowls instead of working and refining and smoothing the clay work. When they finished their work they were a bit careless as they hadn’t put in the time. They were young.

I started the session with learning a new board game. As I walked into the Community Hall there were a group of people that were starting to play, I knew some of them. I took initiative and joined in. It was good to learn a new game with friends. As I was playing an image of my Afrikaans friends in England playing Jenga popped into my minds eye. I had seen it on Instagram. I was happy to find my people again, people that like spending time like this. The rules were simple, and there was a score.

Next I headed up to the top class room to prepare. I had planned a group pinch pot class. The pot would transform into a group of people holding hands. I got up to class and it was looking clean and organized with sun coming through the windows. I waited in the classroom preparing and then at 2pm walked down. I stood in the sun a bit and then walked a round to warm up.

Shakira chatted to me in the sunshine, I introduced the art class, she came up and took a look. She said she must take her younger brother home and them she will come back. As we were chatting all the regular girls came in. We started on the pinch pot ,which they knew how to make. Then I went around explaining how to refine and smooth them. They always apply what I have said directly but they don’t have enough know how yet to use the joining and pinch pot methods I have shown them to produce something new.

I unlocked the classroom and Tamiln was there a my side eager to help. I had to communicate with her very clearly to explain what she needed to do but she did not always do thing that needed muscles like taking the chairs down from the table or carrying water up the stairs. I was happy to do it as it reminds me of my morning gym routine.

Tamlin helped by putting out the primary colours and painting water . I came in and demonstrated how to paint a flower from life. Many of the kids could not do that, they did not have the focus in looking, they just kept there heads down and drew a flower from memory. A group of kids gathered around and worked calmly.

Some helped clean up but were not very good at it. I would ask them to finish the job and then they would start cleaning something else! At a certain point they needed to complete something. They were making more mess than progress.

It was a still sunny winters day in Cape Town when I headed off to teach in Ottery. I planned a collage class, the brief was simple, name a quality you like about yourself and portray that in a collage of a person. I set the class room up as usual. Put out the glue, magazines and shiny paper off cuts I got from the art shop. Then I layed out ten pieces of card to make stations for learners to sit at. I noticed the scissors were missing. I went down stairs to investigate and was told they were in a room behind the stage. Said hi and retrieved them and went back up to make a sample of what the learners could do. I took a look at my watch and saw it was 2pm. Went down stairs to recruit. There were quite a few kids. I shouted art class regulars and I got a few. I headed up to start.

Ross Lee liked the papers and found a mermaid. I stood behind him to keep him positive and on the job. He filled the whole page with colours and then put the mermaid on top. Tamiln then did something similar. It is not always easy to get the learners to find their own voice and come up with new options. They had fun I got to spend time with them.

SPCA outing is confirmed for the 20^th June 2pm.

A group of learners came up to my car window and waved at me as I arrived at Ottery Centre. A wax resist class was planned. I had packed the paper and inks.  I sorted the crowd of learners in front of me by shouted, ” if you are regular stand here”.  I got a cheerful bunch of learners that wanted to continue with art class.

I lead the learners up to class and they sat. The focus was on keeping calm and staying together in the class. It felt calmer after we had sat together for a while. I handed out the paper and demonstrated how to use white crayon. Next I appointed a classroom monitor and went down the steps to get water for the ink work. I was relieved when I came back and things were calm. The water jars were handed out. There was red dried ink on one of the jars and it dyed the whole basin red. The yellow and blue we were working with would not look as pure. I went down to wash the jar and get clean water.

The class enjoyed the interaction of working together handing out materials and seeing every one get to an end point. Then we tidied up together, the girls were so friendly and full of energy we even mopped the floor.

Thursday again. Time to get grounded and prepare a practical class that will hold my learners. Wet painting has an interactive element that they respond to well as they use touch and movement to organise a space and then paint in a well organised manner. The painting is usually finished quiet fast. I Choose to use a story telling element to slow down the painting process and make it conscious. I spoke of a yellow field and a river of blue that ran through and rejoiced in the borders of green that sprang up on each side of the river.

I arrived earlier in the class with a bunch of dried leaves I had picked up. I used them with magazines to trace out leaves and make a big Autumn tree on the classroom wall. I got to spend more one on one time with Tamlin and Navanah as there were not as many people in the class. She had an idea of painting around the leaf so we did that together. It gets so chaotic when lots of learners come in. When I give one on one attension to Tamiln she does much better and then I leave her to continue with another learner and she loses interest. Getting her strong enough to continue, she is much better than last year.

In order to hold the class in a space where they can create I always start the class with a demonstration of a strong formal layout. In this case it was a portrait with a collage of images behind it of a space they would want to be in, a safe space. The learners then started to work with me as they new what was expected. I tried to hold back and not get to busy but just be with them and hold. Paging through magazines helped as they continued working. They were reassured I was their but did not need me to do anything. I checked on them and supported them. I still got alot of nagging asking me to do their work for them. The class room ended up being a mess of cut up magazines with many learners paging through magazines and chatting to each other with some god results.

 

Went in to the art class today with the recycled clay. Hoping to make better animals this week. The learners were there Jolly and attentive and things seemed calmer. I made a new arrangement with Tiarra and Ryan to get the learners out to the SPCA meeting. Learners made hens for Easter. I wanted them to stay calm and mindful in their making as I had just come back from my Women church meeting but as usual they had to much life and ended the class by liking their chickens so much they wanted to put colour on them.