Clay-relief Sculptures of Sarguja

 

Every year after harvest there is a big festival called Chherta where every house is repaired, whitewashed, and freshly decorated with clay reliefs...women try to outdo each other to make their houses the most attractive. These become incredibly vivid 3-D murals with characters half on/half off the wall, other materials like string and wire are added as well. Whitewashed backgrounds have radiating and/or swirled-line grooves that the women make using their fingers.

For individual project panels, children could create backgrounds using white paint on cardboard, swirling their fingers in smooth strokes to create a similarly textured canvas...(tempera or acrylic paint could be thickened with cornstarch or gel medium to hold the texture). In a subsequent class they could create characters using a theme like 'playing with friends' or 'climbing a tree.' Construction paper collage would work but shouldn't be glued down to the background all the way, as some 3-D effect best captures the real thing. True 3-D with paper mâché pulp or model magic would be great. Either way, found elements like string and wire should be incorporated.

This would make a great mural project as there can be multiple work areas, and everyone doesn't have to be standing at the mural at the same time. Real whitewash can be used, its lack of true opacity and its affordability, not to mention its authenticity, would be great. A collaborative mural wherein children from different classes and grades contribute their 3-D objects and they are attached to the wall by a teacher or by an older class would work nicely.

 

Click here for a video tour of the mural:

 

Maru potters of Rajasthan

The Maru potters did not believe, as some cultures did, that deities reside in stone but rather in clay because of the nature of its elements. They believe a pot is like a person in that there is a birth and a death (the inevitable break), and that a broken pot will eventually return to nature, as people do. Likewise, they believed that a good potter perspires when he kneads wet clay which means potter and clay permeate each other and become one. The clay becomes infused with the potter, the potter takes on elements from the clay as well. In some villages the potters are also priests, taking the respect for this profession and its proximity to the life and death cycle to another level entirely.

This is not an art lesson idea as much as an invitation to rethink how clay is presented. In every clay program children are taught to pound and work the clay in a rough manner in order to prevent air bubbles which could cause items to explode in the kiln. The kneading is billed as being necessary in order to prevent something bad from happening, not as something beneficial in its own right. I think it would be a great visual for clay-workers of any age to have when conditioning their own clay--imagining that the true goal is to become 'one with the clay' through the hard work of kneading and pounding. In fact, now that I know this reason for wanting sweat to mingle with clay, it seems like a wasted opportunity if a potter's only goal is such a mechanical one.

Here he is in action, mixing lots of sand into the clay, as well as mica. The clay is fired in a outdoor kiln at about 650*F.

 

Bandhani tie-dye

Tie-dye is a common technique with an almost magical element of surprise when the twisted, knotted piece is unravelled and the colors and patterns are revealed.

Bandhani (means 'to tie' and is the origin of the word bandana) fabrics are knotted with hundreds of little knots, sometimes at random, sometimes along a washable blue stencil. Traditionally the women tie the knots, and whisper secrets or share stories while they tie them. Later when the fabric has been dyed (by men) and unknotted, by simply tugging it open, the woman (often a bride) who wraps herself in it is essentially cloaking herself in women's experiences. The knots are made by pinching little bunches of fabric together and then wrapping thread around the bunch many times, some women can tie as many as 700 knots in a day. When Bandhani are sold, the knots are left in so the buyer can be sure she isn't purchasing a fake.

Introducing this technique as part of any tie-dye lesson or activity would enrich the experience of preparing the fabric to be dyed. These secret-bearing knots could be one option alongside more common twists and rubber bands. In fact, introducing the idea of attaching secrets or stories (by giving voice to them as you work) to any kind of tie-dye preparation be it regular strings or rubber bands, thereby infusing the end product with such importance, would be a wonderful and memorable practice. In keeping with the communal gift nature of the process though, an entire class could work together on a large piece of fabric, while reminiscing about childhood memories or experiences from that year in school. The resulting fabric could be given then, as a gift to a departing teacher, or other important figure from their shared experience.

Gujarat Birdhouses

 

In the Jain faith it is believed that ancestors come back as birds and other animals, so to create elaborate bird houses for living birds is an important part of caring for your departed loved ones. Making bird houses, either functional, 3-dimensional, or paintings or drawings of imagined birdhouses, with this particular energy as a motivation—that you are providing for your loved ones--would be a beautiful project for all ages but especially good for pre-adolescents because they usually need projects to have some immediate importance and/or function. There’s a classic ‘design your dream house’ project for this age group, but the case of ‘design a bird house for your ancestors’ has the added benefit of not being so obviously self-interested and could be a good way for children of this age group to combine their own interests with some amount of compassion and care for others.

Materials and project suggestions: Pre-adolescents are generally quite content making elaborate drawings using pencils or permanent markers. Permanent markers are preferred because it discourages erasing, and challenges children to jump right in and deal with accidental marks or errant lines. This would be a beautiful project with younger children and a variety of paint or maker colors. A collage, using colored paper, hand-painted paper, newspaper, cardboard, etc. would look great and encourage children to think about ‘building’ the bird house, and if 3-dimensional projects are possible, it would be great for children to work with cardboard squares, paper towel rolls, toothpicks, and white glue.