Students Perform Feats of Clay in CSUN, School District Program

It was time to get down and dirty Saturday as Cal State Northridge hosted its first “Clay Day.”

The event paired university students with more than 100 youths from nine middle and high schools in an Olympic-style competition in ceramic artistry.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials worked with the university’s art department to create the unique partnership, which is modeled after similar projects throughout the state.

“It’s such a joy watching everyone working with clay,” said Lynn Hickey, a visual arts specialist for LAUSD. “Looking at the big picture, we hope CSUN students become teachers in our district and the younger kids want to go to a college like this once they are out of high school.”

Excitement has been building over the last month among the middle and high school students, said Chris Turk, a CSUN faculty member who helped coordinate the project. Fifty university students visited high school art classes to show slides and give demonstrations of ceramic products.

But the young proteges were itching to get on a stool and start “throwing,” the act of creating a ceramic work on a potter’s wheel.

“This is not the type of medium that you just talk about,” said Joe Lewis, chairman of the university’s art department. “This is something you have to do.”

Eager to shape, cut and design their own pieces, students on Saturday worked their way through more than 3,000 pounds of clay donated by a Santa Ana crafts company.

Katie Williamson, an eighth-grader at John Muir Middle School in Burbank, made a dragon with help from two other students. They made the dragon’s tail long and winding while making indentations to resemble scales on the figure’s back.

“I read a lot of fantasy stories and that’s where we got the idea,” Katie said. “This is something I could see as a hobby for me.”

While some students were fast learners, others were just trying to get a handle on the art form.

Claudia Meda, 17, a senior at Wilson High School in Los Angeles, said she’s always been more interested in sports, but wants to experiment with ceramics.

“This is another learning experience for me,” she said. “It’s a different challenge that I can see with some time and work I may be better at.”

The competition tested students’ creativity and gave them a sense of teamwork. While the kids were working fast and furious, their mentors--the university students--were coaching them.

Some of the divisions were challenging, including one event in which the students were blindfolded while throwing their creations. Another competition paired two students, but each one was only allowed to use one of their hands.

Awards were given to each winner of the 15 divisions and some of the selected artwork will be fired in the university’s kilns this week.

Winners included: North Hollywood High School (most imaginative teapot); Reseda’s Cleveland High School (tallest vase); and Simi Valley’s Hillside Middle School (tallest hand-built sculpture).