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| directory of teaching artists: SUE ROOKE |
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I graduated with a B.S. in Art Education from Southern Connecticut State University. When I went to university I was introduced to clay for the first time and I knew immediately that this was it: clay was then the most captivating medium to me, and it remains so to this day. Every session in the studio offers a challenge, to either explore the technical process itself, or to translate my ideas into a workable sculpture that "says something." I can relax into the process and bring the faces from my past and present to life, although with my own particular love of distortion and sense of humor.
Beautifully illustrated children's books, visits to art museums in NYC, art books, nature books, museums full of huge dinosaur bones and many other animals, and trips to zoos during my childhood were experiences that still influence my work. Everything that surrounds me fascinates and teases to be drawn or painted. Today, I still mentally tuck away what surrounds me into my reservoir of ideas to be made at some future time. It is with pleasure that I share what I have learned about clay with children and adults, and I have done so for many years. Describe a transformative process that has occurred in your own practice as an artist or in a past residency as a teaching artist. In a current residency for Very Special Arts www.vsarts.org, I am working with a small group of 10 children in an after-school class of 11 sessions. As a transition from the school day I bring a healthy snack as many of these children are hungry and some are unable to afford snacks. I find this enables the children to concentrate better. I am the only adult present and due to the nature of the after-school class the children need a few minutes to calm down before tackling their clay projects. The freedom of an art class can be overwhelming and can quickly become chaotic, especially since most of the time every minute of the school day is planned by one authority or another. Snack time allows us to talk about art, show pictures or discuss current projects that the children are excited to begin working on. One of my major goals with these children is to mesh creativity and self-discipline. It takes discipline to work on an art project from start to finish and this is inner-discipline, it is not from an outside authority. I encourage the children to challenge themselves. Many of these children have trouble in their other classes and at home so I decided to work on the chaos of snack time and work time, as well as clean-up, with the use of drama! This was an amazing concept presented by Eric Booth (see Arts Powered Schools) calling for engaging the students first and the lesson/information second! I asked for 3 “actors,” 2 would be eating at the table of a “five star restaurant” and one would play the part of a waiter. The rest of the class was the audience. In Act I the “actors” were to demonstrate the worst possible table manners they could imagine which would make me never invite them out again. In Act II they showed us their very best manners. Everyone got the point that too much chaos ruins our ability to work and have fun! Snack time, work time and clean-up have all been dramatized and are now less chaotic (art is somewhat chaotic and that’s ok). The children are using better manners, showing more respect and applying inner discipline in their work habits. I am so happy to have this technique to use; it has transformed me as well as the children and entirely turned around the difficult aspects of our class.. When have you been able to recognize learning taking place? Chance, a child from a former class, attended a school fair at which I was demonstrating clay work and asked if he could make something. Of course, I said yes. He took a ball of clay, held it for a moment, and said, “Hmm, the first thing I need to do is come up with an idea. That’s hard. Ok, I’m going to make a dragon. Now, what do I have to do to make the body? Oh, I know (aha moment), perhaps a pinch pot.” He then proceeded to make a wonderful little dragon and for the texture on the wings used a small bit of clay, which he pressed with his foot to capture the texture of his shoe, a neat thing we often use. I am always pointing out textures to the children and soon they see them everywhere. Chance found his idea in something he loved and is interested in -dragons. He envisioned it and then began to figure out, step-by-step, how to make the parts and put them together properly. The school principal still has this very nice little piece in her office as Chance gave it to her. What excites your imagination and in turn how does your work excite imagination for your audience? I am excited about the personal life history and beauty of the older, wiser and well-used face, body and hands and how these convey emotional messages. Secondly, I am intrigued with putting an animal with the figure to add mystery. This is the focus of my sculpture. I excite my students by showing them my work as well as masks from other cultures, talking about the historical purposes and meaning of masks and finally helping them envision and construct a mask or piece that resonates to their own interests. What characteristics mark a successful collaboration for you? Mainly I want to see deeply personal and varied work at the end of the collaboration. I encourage the schools or residency setting to recognize the artist as an educated guide, embrace process over product and respect each child’s individual work! How do you foster creativity, both in your own work and as a teaching artist? I foster creativity in my own work by sticking to my personal passion which is sculpting the human face in all its variableness. It never ceases to amaze me what the face can say. I encourage all my students to make what they love because they usually know a lot about what they love. Knowledge about subject matter helps with visualizing how to make the parts for the piece and also what one wants to say with the work! I also work with themes to give myself, and the students, a way to focus on a particular mood, a set of characters, background, color, texture and whatever else is needed for a truly creative work of art. Three key understandings in this discipline are:
The core concept of communication will have an outcome where a student who has a question, for example in the early grades the question might be, what do people want to know about a particular animal, which he then answers with his sculpture. He chooses an animal (the 2nd core understanding) because of its importance to him. He then decides how to construct it and how much information to give his audience and, of course, himself. Would he choose to make a habitat and would it be realistic or perhaps humorous and how would he go about it? And, finally, how do color, shape and line add to the piece? The third core concept of self-discipline is taking the concept of what to make, seeing it made in his mind’s eye in a second or so and then pushing the piece to completion, which for my students may take from 1 to 3 sessions. It takes self-discipline to push through the difficult aspects of the work to finish it and flexibility to change the concept, if needed, or to work with a “happy accident” meaning something appears in the clay along the way, which then may be the better piece to make, encouraging flexibility and creative solutions. Three Idaho Humanities Content Standards that correlate
with the core concepts identified above:
Green, bisque, glazed, to fire, to wedge, hollow, solid, pinch, coil, slab, to fire, glazes, underglazes, slips, scoring, 3-dimensional and more List subject areas outside of the fine arts that relate to potential residency work – i.e. possible connections to the curriculum might include: History, Science, Literature, Math References:
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ICA Artists by Disciplines Music Ken Harris Dance Kay Braden Wendy de la Harpe Joy Esplin LiAnne Hunt Norma Pintar Rachel Swenson Theater/Storytelling Teresa Clark Joy Steiner Language Arts Malia Collins Judy Sobeloff Visual Arts Deana Attebery Tom Bennick Judith Brand Lizette Fife Terrie Kralik Jeanne Leffingwell Benjamin Love Sue Rooke Helen Grainger Wilson Linda Wolfe Video/Media Arts Peppershock Media |
 Phone: 208/334-2119 or 800/278-3863 Fax: 208/334-2488 Mailing address: P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720-0008 Street address: 2410 North Old Penitentiary Rd., Boise, ID 83712 |