Earlier this term, a group of pupils from L4 - L5 were selected by art teachers to take part in a pottery workshop with visiting ceramic artist Heather Griffiths, which was funded by a grant from the Friends of Norwich School. Arin Linder (U4) and James Kidd (U4) tell us more...
"We were delighted to be selected to spent the day in the pottery room making clay boot planters with esteemed potter, Heather Griffiths.
The day started off with a short talk from Heather about her work, before she encouraged us to decorate our boots based on our Happy Place. However, before the decorating could start, we had to have a boot! To save time, Heather had prepared the basic shape of a rough pair of boots and she demonstrated how she had made them with a press mould. Using various tools, we neatened up the clay, trying to make them look realistic, before we got to work on refining and adding details. After break, we made the tongues to complete the basic modelling of a Doc Martin boots.
Then we had to think about the designs for our boots. The theme was your 'Happy Place'. Heather had brought in many different moulds and cutters and along with Mrs Slade's equipment, we had a lot of options! The design stage took a long time, as everyone wanted theirs to look perfect, so we continued after lunch. The last stage was to add a pop of colour to the clay, which elevated them to the next level. Everyone's work turned out very well and we were all grateful for Heather and Mrs Slade's time and expertise!
All in all, it was a brilliant day and incredibly gratifying. We would like to thank Heather, for coming in, Ms Slade for spending her day with us to help, and FONS for the sponsorship to make it happen."
Feedback from the pupils:
"It has been fun working with clay. I enjoyed the designing stage." Sahib Wahiwala (L5)
"I have enjoyed working with my hands it has been a unique experience." Hector Turner (L5)
"The sophisticated techniques and materials helped me to be more ambitious." Isaac Schaad (L4)
"I used the day to push my A Level project in a new direction." Daisy Martin (L6)
"I enjoyed hand-building and learning new techniques, it has been therapeutic." Bea Wilson (U6)
