Where does inspiration come from?

5/12/2020

This is part of an ongoing series about how Eaglebrook teachers and students are adapting to a new Distance Learning model.

Ms. Jaye Pope’s ceramics classes recently analyzed the question "where does inspiration come from.” Her classes watched Austin Kleon's TED Talk "Steal Like An Artist." Ms. Pope then asked her students to create thumbnail sketches of patterns from around their homes. From those drawings, they were to select a favorite, enlarge it enough to wrap around a favorite cup shape, and send Ms. Pope photos of their work so she could bring their ideas to life.

Ms. Pope produced about 85 cups from her 26 students’ ideas. Each student had their "favorite" cup recreated in clay. From their thumbnails, she selected patterns that she liked and put that on the cup shape they selected. The student’s original cup shape was important because in some cases it was truly a cup shape they loved. In other cases, it was what they had available; a can from a soda, a takeout cup with a domed cover, and one student submitted it on his iPhone (he wrapped the pattern around the iPhone and sent a photo).

“This has been a pretty epic process for me,” said Ms. Pope. She goes on to say, “I've sketched out the original cups and the "stolen" ideas on a large drawing pad for reference, I've documented the process on the video of throwing, trimming, detailing the mixing of the glazes, glazing, and firing.”

Look for more in the Distance Learning series next week.

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