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SZ kids embrace pottery
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Li Dan
OVER a dozen children were frantically kneading clay when I walked into the pottery workshop of the Luohu District Juvenile Activities Centre last weekend. Located on the first floor of the centre, this 150-sq-metre workshop is decorated with all kinds of pottery vases and sculptures. The room was designed using steel and glass to let in more light, while plants thrive in the sunny atmosphere.
Surrounding an oval desk, the kids carefully shaped the clay into a long string that they continued to curl into a vase. "This is a very ancient way of making pottery," explained Mr Fang, a tutor with the workshop. "We also have electric pottery wheels," the recent sculpture graduate, "the key is to train their patience as beginners in making pottery."
"In China, pottery is described by artists as the crystalization of earth, fire and inspiration," he said, "it develops children's imagination when they try to turn an idea into an actual work of art."
Interestingly, the colourful glaze used to add detailed decoration to the pottery is uniformly grey before the colours are brought out in the fire. "It's just miraculous," the young man sighed, "and you need to envision the whole work in your mind and wait to see what comes out from the fire."
Still in their holidays, several parents joined their kids in the class and were obviously interested themselves. "My boy began to learn painting at the age of three," a mother told us proudly, "and now he is fascinated by pottery." "I reckon this job is great fun for him," she continued. "It reminds me of the old days when we were kids and played with the earth in a small village."
A fourth-grader from Shuiku Primary School looked up and volunteered to show us his work. "I like playing here," he said with a smile, "because mother won't scold me even I get my hands and clothes dirty."
Costing some 300,000 yuan, the workshop boasts more than 50 sets of pottery making tools, a drying machine, and a kiln. "Pottery art has been widely adopted to cultivate aesthetic interests in students abroad," says Mr Zheng, vice director of the juvenile activities centre. It seems eminently logical for China, which is so famous for its pottery, to do likewise.
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