Harry Potter themed clay workshop with Knavesmire Primary School
Yesterday I had the privilege of working with two year four classes at Knavesmire Primary School. The sessions were organised through Live Arts Now, a City of York Council initiative that links primary schools to a variety of artists in the area. The workshop that I’d put in this year’s brochure was one of my fave’s - clay sculpture.
Before the session I’d chatted to the teachers to find out what their classes were working on and I could not have been more delighted, they were currently working on the Harry Potter series! From that we agreed on the theme of ‘Magical Creatures from Harry Potter.’
I can honestly say that making the example set of clay beasties to take with me is one of the most fun bits of workshop prep I’ve ever done! These were the characters that I took with me.
The workshops took place yesterday (19th October) and I think a fab time was had by all. The students were so keen and engaged. We started by listing all the magical beasties we could think of and the class helped me stick printed images of various creatures around the classroom as inspiration. I went over various clay sculpting techniques, showing them different methods of working the clay. Then the fun bit. They were let loose on the clay itself.
What a talented bunch! The students created absolutely fantastic sculptures and models. They took on board the techniques that I’d been showing them really well. By the end of the two workshops we had leggy spiders, elegant mermaids, cute owls, a hairy werewolf, three headed dogs, gawping trolls and a swarm of slithering basilisks. And to top it off the students then proceeded to help me tidy up the class room and all left with smiles and thank yous. What a fun workshop!
A big thanks to Knavesmire year 4 and all their wonderful and helpful teachers and TAs!
