Excerpts from a visual diary I kept while teaching a sculpture scheme to a group of 15 fourth year students.
Week 1 Friday January 11th
‘…I quickly started the class, introducing two students who hadn’t been at the first class to the subject briefly and putting them working as a team together. I then put on some music to lighten the mood. We got straight into making with the students exploring the materials available, testing their uses and choosing what they required.
It was great to see them working away, solving how to attach buildings to bases and how to cut out doors etc.’
Week 2 Wednesday January 16th
‘Making issues begin to arise for the students, how to construct a cone shaped roof for the hut…The first attempt by the students came out as an ellipse. I am going to suggest to them that they tie a piece of string to a pencil and using this as a compass they could draw a semi-circle or a circle large enough to roof the hut..’
Week 3 Friday January 25th
‘Today I was working on getting the students to paint their models white in preparation for painting on the coloured details. The white paint is coming out quite transparent so I hope it will dry up ok, it may need another coat on Monday.
____and ____missed a bit of time but if they get to finish it I think they will have an impressive model at the end of it. They have worked neatly and well on the cardboard stage and have just now got onto the papier mache stage…’