Sewing in the Studio

  

We have two sewing machines in the studio. I am happy to show students how to thread them, how to sew a seam and make a corner – how to back stitch. I teach about sewing “right sides together” so that the seam is hidden inside. And that's about it. In the context of a busy art studio, I can't really teach sewing lessons (how to put in a zipper, how to set a sleeve) – this would take too much of my attention away from everyone else. 

This 8th grader taught herself to design & sew clothes. She doesn't follow written directions, but instead researches & cuts her own patterns.

"L" wore the dress she made yesterday to school today!

Students use the sewing machine to craft simple objects (pillows and their many “art-pillow” variations, for instance), and those with more advanced sewing skills use them for fashion design or other sewing projects, like quilt-making, perhaps. 

Day-Night Bear

By "L," grade 7, made as a gift to replicate a childhood toy belonging to her mother

Designing stuffed animals is a favorite choice. We've also used the sewing machine to bind books and to add texture to small drawings.

One from a series of Hogwarts Pillows

Sometimes a student learn to use the machine here in the studio, and then go home and dig out their family's old machine. Others have asked for a sewing machine for a special gift at Christmas or birthday time.

 In this day and age when more and more attention is diverted by screen-time, it is rewarding to observe students drawn to this traditional, versatile technology.

Appropriation

"M," grade 6, used this reference as inspiration for her soft sculpture

Artists "Appropriate" when they take someone's work and "make it their own." There are rules about this. In the working world of professional artists, the resulting artwork has to be significantly changed - "transformed," or copyright infringement can result. Just ask Jeff Koons...

http://tinyurl.com/paly9x4

Does the student artwork above meet this test?
Does the Koon's sculpture (above)?
(Hint: Koons was sued and lost)
There is considerable leeway in educational settings, however, and the rules are not the same for students as for professional artists who profit financially from their artwork. It has always been common practice for art students to copy works of art in order to learn. I have a lovely book of paintings Pablo Picasso made inspired by other artworks (Picasso's Variations on the Masters) - didn't he "copy"? Is it okay? Isn't it ironic that so many  school art projects copy Picasso's paintings and style and then teachers warn students that they shouldn't "copy" from sources the student selects?
Modern and contemporary artists routinely appropriate imagery from pop culture (Warhol, Liechtenstein).  Brabara Kruger won a lawsuit against brought her, even though she blatantly used another artist's original photograph in her work (below).  

http://tinyurl.com/kns3uff

Art class is the perfect place to ponder this issue, to debate what is fair use and what is not, what is "copying" (a term students know well!) and what is referencing. It is a complex issue, full of nuance, just exactly the kind of topic from which students (and their teachers) can learn the most.

 

Develop Craft - A Potter Emerges

6th grade 'S' has a lot of work to do. Before winter break, she made over a dozen functional pieces of pottery. Now comes the glazing.

 Most of the time, this potter prefers to use the potter's wheel, but when the wheel "closed" at the end of the last rotation of turns, she switched over to hand building and used the slab-slump method.

I can recognize 'S's work on the clay shelf - she has a distinctive shape, as do many potters. But by any measure, this is a lot of work from one short nine week quarter! And it looks like an awful lot of clay, for just one student. Some may wonder how the program can support this luxury. The answer is that not everyone is as devoted to ceramics as 'S' is. If they were, we would be clay-bankrupt. But not everyone loves clay this way. 

While 'S' delights in clay, another classmate is over at the digital art center, teaching a classmate how to import photos for a stop action animation. Another young artist spends days and days weaving a rainbow colored pouch, and another just completed the most recent in a series of soft sculpture creatures (which will be featured in my next post!). The point is, when learners choose their work, they often "fall in love" with a technique or material or idea and dwell there until their work is "done." 
Unfortunately for 'S,' I suspect the quarter, which ends next week, will be "done" before her love-affair with making pottery ends. 

"Can I come back during my free period?"

Students often ask to come to art during the last block of the school day, which for most, is a study hall. This is my "Planning Period," and while I could use the time in a quiet child-free studio, I almost always say "yes!"

Last block becomes a multi-age studio

Some artists return to the studio to finish up something they are working on during they regular art class. Some are here because their art class ended, and they miss it. Some are here because they would rather work with art materials than do their homework, while others have finished all their homework, and choose time in the studio over time in the library. 

A group of regulars - here nearly every day

Sometimes students come during last block to get a private lesson, on the sewing machine or potter's wheel, for instance. The understanding is: in order to come to art students need "a purpose and a pass." This assures that the sending teacher knows where their students are, and keeps the studio productive, if a little more relaxed (we often have music on last block).

Handmade paper from art class employed to "look old" for a Social Studies assignment

More and more, students appear to make "visuals" for their other classes. I can always tell when a big Social Studies unit is wrapping up, because the studio fills right up last block! When students elect to come to the studio for their own purposes, it demonstrates to me that they have a working knowledge of the materials and techniques I introduced earlier. Students can apply their knowledge from other subjects, and "show what they know" through art making. This is learner-implemented "Arts Integration." 

Clay bust made in support of 5th grade study of Greek Mythology - during free block

What has developed is a student-initiated art club of sorts. Or maybe it is more like an authentic community studio. In any case, it is a pleasure to sit at my keyboard and observe a quiet room of mixed aged students working on an assortment of projects they care about. 
To quote my friend & mentor Kathy Douglas, "this is the best (but not easiest) job in the world." Today it felt pretty easy though...

This Alligator worked out so well, 6th grade "Z" found he had to return to make another as a commission!