Creating with Clay
Callie Di Nello 
- creating with clay, in a creative arts session, led to wonderful (unexpected) insights
Isn’t it so lovely to have some dedicated you-time, to play, to create …
Once a month, I am lucky enough to meet up with fellow APCCA practitioners in an online environment (yes, thank you, Zoom!). We have two hours of time dedicated to ourselves, and we always take time to create. After all, creative arts is what we do :)
Yesterday’s session called for some form of clay or dough: whether that was colourful plasticine and playdoh, true clay, homemade dough, or blue-tack. Some of us improvised with foil and tissue paper, which led me to thinking about creating a glorious mess of paper mache … ohhhhhhhh!
I had pulled out a fresh pack of DAS terracotta modelling clay and was keen to open the foil wrap get squidging. However, I stopped in my tracks as I snipped along with the scissors … ‘Dermatologically tested’, read the print at one end. Ah, I’d never thought of that - but yes, thinking about it, I can remember getting all itchy when working with some other forms of modelling clay, so that means no need for preventative gloves - for myself, or for people visiting my studio!
We had just 2 minutes to make a shape from our chosen form of material. Admittedly I lost half of that time, wrestling with the packet and trying to pull an amount of clay off the 1kg brick. Thankfully it was soft and malleable, but I wasted precious time which could have been spent kneading and warming up the clay. #lessonslearned
The end result was this … which resembled, to my mind, a goddess form. Or, looked at from another angle, perhaps a vulva. Yet the idea of the exercise wasn’t to look critically at the form we had created.
The purpose of the exercise was to reflect on working with our chosen material. Of what came up for us when we looked at our creation. What changed for us if we moved the form around? Or viewed it from another angle? Did we want to keep it? Change it? Smush it up and start over? And what insights arose from that?
Now, to be truthful, I didn’t actually reflect on my form in this way. I was having technical issues, so this morning I sat quietly and looked afresh at my shape.
In the early autumn sunshine, you could see where parts of the form had started to harden. The terracotta colour was paler in these areas. The fine cracks in the clay had started to widen as the clay contracted. I flipped my form over and was delighted by all the bumps and textures that naturally occurred in the terracotta clay. A bit like cellulite and stretch marks, I thought to myself. How cute!
As I laid the form next to me on the garden table, I noticed that as the dappled sunlight fell on the table, the damp clay had a little sparkle within it. I was fascinated by all it’s imperfections, which reminded me of human skin which loses elasticity over time and starts to crinkle with laughter lines and love lines.
Although I didn’t take part in the exercise as originally intended, I am so happy that I spent a little time with my goddess form today. Looking at it with fresh eyes, and admiring the changes of the clay as it dries, which - in this form - gives it even more life, more meaning.
As I type this up, I glance over again and notice that the U-shape - originally my way of using the pointy bit of the scissors to mark out relaxed arms and clasped hands - looks a little bit like a horseshoe. Or perhaps Hathor’s symbol, which is a head-dress made up of cow-horns holding the sun. Which also makes sense of my initial thoughts of the form being a goddess or vulva - Hathor, after all, is the Egyptian goddess of motherhood, sexuality, love and joy.
In the person-centred creative arts way, it is not for anyone to judge or interpret what my creations mean. It is for me to sit with them, to allow things to unfurl over time, and with the support of a fellow creative arts facilitator or counsellor, to work through what comes up for me. A truly insightful process, and fast!
So if you are curious about using creative arts to explore something in your life, or would just like to see for yourself what unfolds, I’d be delighted to work with you - it’s so easy to work online in this way, so why not give it a try?
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Categories: : creative arts