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  • From: "Steve Wright" <swright AT townofchapelhill.org>
  • To: <chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Chpac-staff] CHPAC in news
  • Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:46:19 -0500

Dear CHPAC,

 

Linked and reproduced below is an article from this weekend’s Chapel Hill News about the current Artists@Work residency.  A reception will be held tomorrow night (Tuesday) from 6:30 - 7:30 pm at the McDougle Library (700 Fayetteville Rd., Carrboro).  An electronic invitation will go out to our local email list today.

 

-Steve

 

 

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/11590.html

 

 

 

CHAPEL HILL -- Fourth-graders and a few fifth-graders at McDougle Elementary School have put themselves out there, so to speak, in a special art project on display in the school library.

Following the North Carolina tradition of face jugs, the students fashioned self-portraits out of clay.

Artist and art teacher David Gould worked with the students for eight weeks as an artist in residence, funded by the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission.

He brought in Debbie Englund, who makes face jugs, to help with the project.

The face jug tradition began more than a century ago, when potters began making containers with stylized faces; one theory holds that they originally put frightening features on the jugs that held spirits such as moonshine in order to keep children away from them.

The McDougle project, on the other hand, was designed specifically to be attractive and educational for kids. Gould and Englund incorporated the artwork into fourth-grade lessons on character education. Each student identified seven positive characteristics he or she has, or aspires to, and scratched them into the back of the jug around their name.

"We were trying to put good spirits in there, lasting, to empower them for the middle school years and beyond," Gould said.

The result is a collection of almost 100 unique creations lining the tallest bookshelves in the school library. The students designed their jugs in any shape they liked, from short bowls to tall vases. Gould threw the basic shapes on a potters wheel, and then, with some help from Englund, the students fashioned their faces as they saw fit. Some opted for delicate eyes and noses; others attached huge ears or lots of teeth.

Some gave their face jugs names. "Nose Toucher," for example, is a fun one where the tongue is sticking up so far it touches the nose. "Butterfly Lady" features beautiful wings where ears would be. One is called, for reasons best known to the artist, simply "Bob the Cow."

"The children were so interested and committed to their work and, I think, very proud of their work. It was just a great experience," said Janet Oldham, the school art teacher.

She said while the display is nice in the library, she loved the way the freshly glazed jugs looked when they were crowded on shelves in her kiln closet.

"When they were all stored back there, it was like being in a candy shop, all glistening," Oldham said. "It was gorgeous."

Even as the students are about to take their work home, they are quick to compliment what they've seen their classmates do. They remember things like the french moustache on one, an unusual hole running through the middle of another -- with teeth -- and the amazing expressions on yet another.

Victoria Smith, 8, made hers delicate and brown with curvy eyes. She's hoping her mother can put flowers in it.

"Something I learned is lots of people have the same qualities as me. And lots of people like to smile," she said.

Abby Stern, 9, covered the back of hers with green paint and large purple polka dots.

"It brought out creativity in some of my friends," Abby said.

May Burgard, 9, put characteristics on hers that she thought it would be good for people to have -- honesty, kindness, courage, strength, justice, heart.

Jose Arrioja thinks viewers would walk away from his knowing he is often silly, happy and excited.

"I wanted mine to look a little bit fantasy," he said. "I picked the colors differently -- my hair was green instead of black and my nose was really dark brown."

He doesn't plan to give his away as a present.

"When I take it home, I'll put it next to my bed, and I'll probably put stuff in it, stuff that's important to me," he said.

What sorts of things? Well, like the little shark he won at Myrtle beach for making 10 shots in a row with a basketball.

Max Blackburn, 10, creator of "Bob the Cow," said he liked the way the skin turned out brown like his. He managed to create an almost marbled affect by using speckles of blue and yellow paint on the eyes.

"I'd recommend that other art teachers do it for their classes and people do it at home," he said.

Contact Cheryl Sadgrove at 932-2005 or csadgrov AT nando.com.

The Chapel Hill News



  • [Chpac-staff] CHPAC in news, Steve Wright, 12/17/2007

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