Clayliens
A Workshop Project for Small Earthlings!
Clayliens is a workshop project intended for primary age children, but it can be differentiated for older children to take part too. It gives children the opportunity to experiment with clay, but more importantly, to let their imaginations take flight. Each child will create a unique piece of ceramic art that represents their individual creativity and curiosity. Children will be shown some basic joining techniques, they'll learn about the process that clay undergoes to turn it into pottery, then they'll have the chance to realise their own ideas about what could be out there in the darkest depths of space! They'll have their work fired and professionally finished using a range of glazes to create a high-quality final outcome that will give them and their families inspiration and joy long after they leave school.
Meet the Clayliens
I love this project! I see it as a collaboration between the children and myself, because I take their work back to the studio and carefully work on each one through the firing and glazing process. It's been truly inspiring to see the scope of imagination that children have applied to this project. The Science Fiction theme allows them to explore the boundaries of their imagination without worrying whether what they are making is 'right' or 'realistic' or that their work 'looks like what its is supposed to look like.' It's such a joyful experience to examine each of the sculptures and get an idea of what that child's individual intentions were when they made it. I think it's important to think in this way so that I can do the absolute best job I can in glazing their work and celebrating the wild and wonderful creativity that the children brought to this workshop! This page is a growing archive of all of the Clayliens made so far!
These are the Clayliens of St. Johns, Poulton. They're a friendly band of super-intelligent lifeforms and they've travelled millions of light years in search of fun and adventure.
"Mike has been so generous with his skills and time. His enthusiastic approach enabled the children to create individual pieces of high quality. The children were engaged with a 'hand's on' approach to the task and quickly became very attached to their Clayliens! It was amazing to see the creativity of the children emerge and children of all ages could access the session. We are looking forward to having our 200 creatures 'invade' our school while on display. We also plan to use the models to inspire story writing and the development of characters in literacy."
Pauline Chisnall, Art Co-Ordinator
"The best day ever"
"I LOVE my alien, he's so cute and I made him have 3 eyes!"
Feedback from some of the children from St. John's, Poulton, who took part in the Clayliens workshop.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.