Meeting at PLANT NOMA

Last Saturday I went to PLANT NOMA for the first time to meet with the rest of the Edlab's project team and learn about working with clay. The meeting time was at 11:30 in the morning. After struggling to find the address, I finally made it there. No longer after my arrival, we were encouraged by our project tutor, Elle, to explore our surroundings.

My first impression of the inside of PLANT NOMA is that the place evokes a sensation of freedom: its wide rooms, rich illumination, and working area are clearly designed to make the visitors and artists feel comfortable and explore their creativity.

Interior of PLANT NOMA. Film projection space on the left and photography exhibition by MMU students on the right.

One of the regular workers at PLANT NOMA, Charlie, explained the different spaces available at PLANT, such as a wood workshop, space for film projections and exhibitions. Our group went to the clay workshop area, in which several pieces made of clay and cermatics were exhibited.

Charlie began the session sharing his work with the group. This, like the language of clay project, was related to meaning and communicating a message through the art of making things. Charlie's project was a response to the injunction act of Manchester Metropolitan University which prevented homeless people from establishing themselves in nearby zones. Charlie also spoke about his work with young people and delivery of workshops.

After this, he proceeded to explain in detail what is like to work with clay. One of the key concepts of this talk was the difference between clay and ceramic. In the workshop area, we were able to see many pieces, mostly pottery made with clay and ceramic. At first sight, the difference between the materials is obvious; clay is rough and grey, whereas ceramic looks more refined and smooth. However, as Charlie explained, the key difference between the two materials is the "firing" process. Through heat, what is known in this context as firing, clay becomes ceramic. This was something I wasn't aware of and found extremely interesting as, despite having worked with clay during middle school, I had no knowledge of the terminology of clay work.

Clay and ceramics work area.

Other relevant terms were the methods and techniques employed to create clay figures. During the workshop, we focused on some of the main methods: slab, coil and wedging. The coil method involves making vases, bowls and other forms in a variety of sizes and shapes. Each person in our group was given a piece of clay. I found the texture of clay very appealing; something I wasn't expecting due to the fact that, last time I worked with clay, the texture of the material was unpleasant. The clay I worked with on that occasion had a different colour: a light brown. It was also very damp, rough and contained tiny pieces of other elements (similar to lumps). I had assumed the clay in this workshop would be similar, however, as I would found out later, clay is made out of a mix of rocks, liquids, and other matter, therefore the composition varies. Unlike me, however, other classmates found the texture unpleasant and 'cringy.'

As part of the coil method, we all started doing small bowls. Then, we started adding coils on top of it to increase the bowls' sizes. We were advised to turn pieces of clay into sausage shapes, using our fingers to make them thin and large. The coils were placed on top of the mouth of our bowls. In order to attach the two pieces of clay together, we used the "cross-hatching" method. This effectively made the two parts glue together easily.

Cross - hatching helps the different pieces of clay to glue together by making the lines shown in the picture.

I kept adding coils to my own bowl and found the process entertaining but also slow since the material wasn't easy to work with and didn't mold as I wanted. For me, this was challenging and somewhat frustrating since I'm used to a different kind of art, — drawing and painting with acrylic — which is something much more immediate; it also replicates the forms in my head almost as I imagine them. With clay, I struggled to gain control over what I was doing and, consequenlty, it was difficult to form the figure I had envisioned. Working with clay, as we were told, is something that requires a significant investment of time since a piece could take a week to be done with.

Another factor I found difficult to deal with was that the type of clay we used tended to dry quickly. This, and my inexperience, caused cracks in my bowl.

We were also told that drying times are important, for instance, the slab method can make clay leather- hard. Nevertheless and alternative we had to make the clay more workable was to use water, but, as I was advised by Elle, this could alter the structure of the piece and make it weak.

After we finished our pieces, we started to employ the slab method. In order to do this, we were given pieces of clay again. This time, however, we had to make the clay completely flat using a rolling pin. Using a pointed tool we trimmed the slab of clay to the desired sizes. Elle set tasks to make a figure using two walls. I wanted to make something functional, so I decided to build a small box where I could keep tiny objects. However, it was complicated to attach the four walls of the box together. As a result, the box collapsed completely before I could finish it.

The slab method required to make the clay as flat as possible.

Trying to make a box.

After a twenty minutes break, we continued to learn more ways to work with clay. Charlie demonstrated how "wedging" works. Wedging makes possible to get rid of air bubbles and makes the clay more workable. Both hands are used to roll down the clay while cupping it. Several of us had a go at wedging, and, as we did so, the clay took strange shapes, among them one similar to a monkey's face. Charlie said the hands were not the only parts of the body involved in this technique but also the waist so the forearms wouldn't feel numb afterward.

Coral shaped figure made doing the wedging method and using a tool similar to the ones shown at the bottom of the picture.

Finally, we learnt the extrusion method. This was the process of shaping clay by forcing it through a die. Extrusion is similar to what 3D printing does. The clay was introduced into a machine, and with force, it was expulsed in a particular shape. In this case, the shape was the letter "A". The result created beautiful, fine lines in the clay. We created our own figures with the final result.

Clay after extrusion method. Beautiful line patterns can be observed in this picture.

I cut the piece of clay shown in the previous picture to make a new form; a flower.

After this, we had a talk together and Elle helped us to identify the most important aspects of Charlie's clay workshop as well as some interesting ideas we that could help us when thinking about our own, future projects.

I found this workshop very enlightening as it helped me to clear many doubts I had regarding working with clay and trying to deliver a workshop. In terms of working with clay, I learnt a variety of terms and concepts which I would like to share with the pupils in my workshop. I also learnt that working with clay, like all things, involves a process in which time, patience and dedication are important to conceive the final results, or, the desired form. Above all, something that stayed with me after this session is the fact that, as Elle said, clay has its own memory. For instance, if we make slabs and turn the clay into a completely flat form and then, we want to make it curve, the clay will try to return to its initial form. The process of working towards the desired form demands an understanding of the material and some kind of communication between the maker and the matter. Clay is not passive and this reminded me of Ingold's essay: 'The Texitility of Making', mentioned in one of my older posts.

On the other hand, in terms of teaching and delivering my own workshop, I believe the idea of using clay as a teaching tool and not teaching how to use clay is essential to my future project. Despite my new knowledge about key clay terminology and familiarity with the material, I'm still no expert and I feel that using clay as a teaching tool can be a way to find common ground with the pupils, who will likely not be very familiarised with the material. It's also important to make the sessions fun and not merely give instructions. In this workshops, we were told about cross-hatching, coil and slab method but this didn't feel like an endless list of instruction but a guidance. We were given room to be creative and make what we wanted to do with clay.

Working with children and young students is important to articulate the instructions but not overdoing it, as it can be boring for them and prevent the session from being interactive and allowing the language to flow naturally. It's is also important to find a way to make clay fun. As said by one of my classmates, working with clay might be not appealing for people who are not interested in arts or making an object. It is then my goal to create a workshop that turns clay into something interesting and fun while also a tool to communicate with each other.