Here at SSFS we try hard to reduce, recycle, and reuse... And certainly in the art barn, we art teachers are no strangers to hoarding and reusing the most bizarre of left-over objects. I've always said, give me multiples of anything, and I can find a cool transformation or project for it.
So, it comes as no surprise that a big component of the art barn program consists of recycled…dinosaurs. Maybe. Or maybe not really, but still a good guess.
No one actually knows when or why ancient man first looked at a mushy river bank of mud and decided that the gooey mess would make a good container for food. Hmmmm…yummy! What possibly possessed him? Was it a small divot, sun baked and hard, filled with the morning dew, that lit the proverbial lightbulb? Was it a small child, having run up to show his mother the wonderful shape he had squished while playing in the mud, who then tripped and dropped his mushy treasure in the fire? Only to dig it out of the embers the next morning and discover, to his dismay, that it was hard as rock? Was it a bolt of lightning hardening a spot of earth along the shore? No one can know, except that it happened sometime between 29,000 - 26,000 years ago, near what is now the Czech Republic.
From that time long ago to today, this wonderful pliable material has helped to tell the history of man. From the translucent and delicate porcelain Tang Dynasty tea cups, to pithari, the larger-than-man coiled pots of the Minoan people, to the stunning Venus figurines of early cave dwellers; from cooking and storage vessels to tablets recording significant events, magnificent statues, simple surfaces on which to write, foolish and charming knick-knacks – clay has always told a story. How did a community have red clay sherds, when, for miles around, it was surrounded by only grey clay sources? How did they heat the clay when there was no discernible source of fuel? How did they move large pieces of unimaginable weight? How did they so successfully build without a wheel (first used between 6,000-4,000 C.E.), fire accurately without thermostats (to over 1500 degrees!) and make perfectly circular vessels using just their hands and no tools? How did they decorate their pots with no art stores from which to buy camel- or fox-hair brushes? How did they create consistent glaze formulas with chemicals they didn't understand, without accurate scales, measuring tools, blenders, or sieves? Truly, a record of man's growth.
Mud, earth, dirt, grime, loam, silt, ground, soil, compost, muck... So many synonyms...and yet none truly suffice. Plastic, pliable, bendable, transformable, wonderful clay! And red, grey, white, black, green, brown, and tan are just a few of the natural colors created by the rocks from which it was born.
Where does this transformational material come from? Not far. It is found in nearly every corner of our planet, and certainly in a location near you (especially since Maryland used to be under water). Metamorphosed deep in the earth over the millennia, under the immense pressure of oceans, rivers, and seas, the dirt, weathered rocks, soil, and compost (yes, the fallen trees, dead fish, and likely even the wayward dinosaur, trapped in a river bank's slippery mud) slowly changed, morphed, converted, mutated, and transformed to become pliable, elastic, and most importantly, capable of becoming fused or sintered when heated. This phenomenal characteristic allowed ancient man, way before the age of Tupperware, to create long-lasting pots that could hold water, wine, oil, fruit, and grains! The earliest known utilitarian vessel is from 20,000 C.E., and was found in a cave in China. Ahh, the pleasure of refreshing water: because as they discovered, when stored in a clay pot, liquids stay amazingly cool even on the hottest day!
Slowly, as man found a bit more leisure time in his challenging struggle to survive, the art of ceramics developed from practical, to beautifully practical, to beautiful and possibly useless, other than the beauty it portrayed and the creativity it allowed.
Here at SSFS, our students, parents, visitors, and friends have perfected the art of transforming composted and recycled dinosaurs (among the many other components of clay) into useful, fun, whimsical, and colorful bowls, not for their own use, but for a unique NEW reason...to help others! Some bowls are extra-large, some super-tiny, some leaky, some bent, and some formed into rather unique (and possibly less than useful) shapes. But all of them hold something (if not always soup). On some of them (mainly those made by the youngest of us), the glaze has been glopped on in thick, colorful rivers. Others have been painstakingly glazed with contrasting hues, delicate designs, flowers, animals, leaves, and delightful abstract patterns. Others have been carefully and time-consuming-ly carved in a technique called scrafitto, or built like a mosaic using composite pieces, or skillfully shaped into an animal. Others have been draped, pulled, torn, bent, or formed into wonderful art, but all of them have been molded by a kindred desire…to help others.
Please come join us as we enjoy the age-old art of ceramics, celebrate the generosity that is so evident in the hundreds of beautiful bowls made by our community, feast on the delicious "Stone Soup" made from a little bit of this and a little bit of that (also contributed by members of the community), and enjoy the power of Letting Your Lives Speak as we help others who are hungry. See photos from our 2023 Empty Bowl Dinner, come help create bowls in the Art Barn, and stay tuned for the date of our next dinner!