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The ALPHA and DEAL Programs… Begun March 2003
This residency was held at The Center for Women and Families on Walnut St. in Allentown. The participants were on juvenile probation, and are completing this program to prepare for their GED. We needed to make a work of art for public display at the Allentown library, but the students also needed to be able to keep their work. Each student made a component of the finished piece.
I chose to have the students work with tiles. Each student was assigned a sense to illustrate (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, or feet). They had to manufacture four tiles with the same feature. The students began by drawing ideas, then they sculpted the tiles, under-glazed them, glazed them, mounted and framed them. Prior to mounting, the students were given the option to trade tiles. After mounting, the group decided how to position the individual panels for display—trying to make it look cohesive.
Most of these students had never worked with clay before. I chose this particular project for multiple reasons: ~Tiles are a basic and easier way to work with clay for those who have had no experience. ~A relatively 2-dimensional work of art would be much more conducive to installation. ~The students had all committed some offense against other people; the project was intended to help them look at the differences and similarities of people. ~The “trading” process at the end was meant to help them with negotiating skills.
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