Every year approximately 90 students at Marblehead High School join art programs led by Shirley Huller White, lead teacher of the school’s art department. Throughout these programs, all students will spend time sculpting in various mediums. These students are well beyond their days of Play Doh and Model Magic, not just in terms of their capabilities, but also in the equipment they use. In fact, just recently, the MHS PCO sponsored a professional-grade piece of equipment enriching students’ work even further.
For weeks, Huller White spoke to her students about the new piece of equipment heading their way. The machinery in question is a North Star slab roller, an alternative to rolling out slab by hand. Slab is a piece of clay rolled out to be cut and used to form the project. To make slab, artists roll out clay by hand, a laborious process that can take upwards of twenty minutes. When rolling out slab, Huller White has always emphasized the lessons that can be learned. “It is a valuable experience for students to understand the physicality of clay. They have a greater appreciation for the product they are making,” She says of the process. However, as the years have gone on, Huller White has considered what this appreciation could be costing them.
Every year, the art department has had to throw out potentially 10 – 20% of the clay they purchase, all because of time constraints. Over multiple weeks of air exposure, clay will dry out to the point when it is no longer usable. Additionally, mold will grow on the clay, and while some varieties can be good, others such as black mold pose health risks. Clay can potentially be recycled so that is usable once more, however this process is labor intensive and not suitable for Marblehead High School art facilities. Huller White chooses to dispose of clay that is no longer usable. With the slab roller, students will be able to share slabs of clay, allowing for all clay to be used before it dries out. In the past, when clay was rolled out by hand, students each had their own separate slab to insure that the process was performed evenly. The slab roller eliminates this problem, along with its many other benefits. For example, while only having had this equipment for a couple of weeks, Huller White has already noticed a positive difference in the waste from this project.
Beyond its effects on waste, Huller White stresses the relationship between quality of materials and quality of work. “My experience has been in my ten years of teaching that the better equipment and supplies, the higher quality the students’ work is,” she says emphatically. She expects to see the slab-roller contribute to students’ quality of work, and looks forward to the extra time they will devote to appreciating their constructions, as opposed to preparing the clay.
As many classes finish their pottery-based projects alongside the arrival of the new slab-roller, Marblehead High School looks forward to seeing how students utilize the new machinery. The art department also thanks the PCO for their generous sponsorship of this equipment. After all, while many districts struggle to receive funding for the arts, Huller White speaks on behalf of all Marblehead art teachers as she accepts this donation. “We are very fortunate and we are very grateful.”