Clay Artist Shows Youngsters How It’s Done
Last updated Saturday, November 22, 2008 5:50 PM CST in News
By Marie Martin
Texarkana Gazette
TEXARKANA -- Clay artist Peter Lippincott visited Union Elementary School first-graders last week to teach the fundamentals of building clay pots.
“We’ll be making two kinds of pots,” said Lippincott, who has spent the last two weeks teaching at several Texarkana School District campuses.
He gave each of the 15 students a handful of clay and asked them to roll it into a ball while asking them what it felt like.
Sticky, squishy, gooey, cold and soft were adjectives the students shouted out as they rolled. Kamiren Brown, 6, admired the ball of clay he was making.
“Look at mine. It looks good,” he said.
Lippincott holds a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Illinois and is certified in secondary science. He became interested in pottery and ceramics when he attended St. Louis Community College in Missouri. The Arkansas Arts Council reports that he is skilled at throwing clay on the potter wheel for beginning, intermediate and advanced students.
Lippincott is also proficient in glaze development and firing techniques including electric, gas and Raku pottery.
Students in Shannon Hollis’ class were engaged by Lippincott from the time he pinched the first lump of clay until they finished a pinch pot and a coil pot.
Lippincott told the students the coil pot should look like a blown-up swimming pool.
As he worked on his project, Justin Caffin, 7, answered, “Look, this is beautiful.”
The pots the students created will be taken to a kiln to be fired and returned to them in 10 days for painting.
“I will cook them at 1,800 degrees. You cook brownies at 350 degrees,” Lippincott said. “Your pots will last 5,000 years, just like the pottery American Indians make.”
Lippincott is from Fort Smith. Twelve years ago he established Mudpuppy Studios with his wife. He divides his time between production and teaching.
Distributed by The Associated Press.
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