Clay
Clay Ceramics
For a child who is interested in making things, working with clay over many years creates a patrimonio: a rich, interior world of know-how. It gives the child lucidity and an appreciation of depth.
It creates within him/her a matrix of experience of technical process and creative process. Finally, it creates in the child an understanding of aura: of the object as living thing, touched by the hand and by emotion. Capturing that signal of authenticity requires depth of experience. Drinking from a perfect, industrially made cup on a perfect, industrially made table, one becomes unaware of the body and of the space around one, the objects disappear into one seamlessness. Drinking from a slightly lopsided or quirky cup, on that same industrial table, one becomes aware of the space around one, of the table, of the cup, of one’s hands on the imperfect surface of the cup.
This gift is possible only if one has cultivated a sensibility. Young children seem to have this sensibility, but they lose it as it is replaced by other values. At City Country School we strive to help the child retain and develop this natural sensibility. Students have long, uninterrupted, studio time in which to explore the materials and express themselves through them. No commentary is offered on the work.
