Expanding Creative Potential

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While instructing the majolica class at Open Hearts, I was aware of existing factors that might impede the students’ learning progress. The methods that I employed were those I thought to be most effective after researching the ceramic techniques and appropriate teaching methods for students with special needs. I tried to prepare by making myself familiar with the students’ disabilities that I would be confronted with at Open Hearts, as well as drawing on my past experiences in working with people with special needs. Some of my approaches were successful; and others had to be revised and executed from a different perspective.
The digital images I employed as visual aids provided a means of conceptualization for students who might not have been able to read the texts that accompanied my photographs. The images gave the students a visual basis for the project, on which they could build their understanding. For some students, images of majolica and its process were more concrete than my verbal explanations.
By comparing the template design to a pizza, the students were given a familiar concept that made the new ideas being presented more comprehensible. They were able to focus completely on creating designs because they recognized the fundamental idea. The level of ability varied greatly among the students, as did their comfort levels with the designing process. Students with higher functioning motor skills and comprehension utilized more elaborate, precise designs due to their openness to expand their comfort zones. For these students, the design templates promoted learning. Lower functioning students were more resistant to the structure of the template, which existed outside their comfort area or ability level. These students employed masses of vivid colors as their designs.
The wheel-throwing procedure caused an over-stimulation for some students, such as those with developmental delay. The combination of the spinning wheel, noise, ‘stickiness’ of the clay, and apprehension of unfamiliar learning practices hindered their progress. Students who experienced this over-stimulation more than likely have a fear of attempting new endeavors due to past failures, which results in a lack of confidence. This is also referred to as tactile defensiveness. Students with conditions that limited their motor skills, hand/eye coordination, and muscle strength also derived little success from working on the wheel.
In contrast to the over-stimulating wheel method, the hand-built coil and pinch pots offered a slower pace to students with limited focus levels. They were more confident in achieving success with the relaxed speed of forming objects by hand, and therefore did not exhibit inappropriate behaviors brought on by an overwhelming situation. Hand building enhanced students’ task focus by providing a multi-sensory method within their comfort level. This encouraged students to attempt unknown projects, thereby adding to their individual development.
The rate of success with transferring two-dimensional designs onto three-dimensional surfaces depended entirely on each student’s abstract thinking ability and skill level. Higher functioning students made the transference successfully, while others experienced extreme difficulty with the concept. Students who were limited in their ability to transfer abstractly probably would have responded more effectively to transposing a circular template onto a plate, or a cup-shaped template onto a cup. Then the jump from designing to application might not have seemed so foreign.
The students’ accuracy with the glazing process related directly to their physical and mental functioning capacity. People with conditions such as cerebral palsy and high I.Q.’s would experience as much difficulty with painting neatly and purposefully as those with less physical disability and a lower I.Q. The rate of success varied greatly among the students, according to their levels of functioning.
Our classes required lengthy periods of concentration and work. As a result, the completed ceramic pieces were affected by individual length of task focus. While their likeness to professional majolica is subjective, each student’s work is the product of laboring through modified steps of the majolica technical process. For my students, the outcome exists beyond the mastery of craftsmanship or the intricacy of painted details. The kiln brings forth expanded concentration, improved self-reliance, and broadened creative ability.