East Central College held an Art Demo day on November 14, where students were welcome to the college to follow around an instructor. This instructor led the groups of students through the college art department, where the students were shown new and different ways of making art.
When arriving at the college I was informed that I would have to meet in the theater where a speaker would explain the schedule of the day. There were plenty of people in the theater, but not all of them were there for Art Demo day. Some of the people in the room were there for Humanities Fest, which was going on at the same time as Art Demo day.
The day started off with everyone meeting in the theater. The first speaker was a poet who travels the world and writes many different poems. Her name was Jeanette Powers. She read a few poems before the art students were allowed to leave. Many of her poems were about when she was younger and about things she had seen in places she has been. The rest of the people to speak were the staff of the college who encouraged students in the theater to attend ECC.
After the poet and the admission director spoke, the art students were advised to leave the theater and meet in the hall. After meeting in the hall, the students were twice broken down into groups. I went with the group to ceramics.
Once in the ceramics room, the teacher proceeded to show us how to transfer glaze to a ceramic cup before firing it. She laid down a piece of newspaper the size of the cup and proceeded to draw out a design. When she had her design all mapped out, the glaze had to dry. Once the glaze was dry enough, she applied slip. Slip is a mixture of clay and water so that it would bind pieces of clay together better. She then wrapped the paper around the cup and rubbed the slip and glaze off. When the paper was peeled away, it revealed the design she had drawn out before.
Afterwards we were sent to printmaking. In that class, the teacher taught us how to print. He showed us different material that is used to carve on to create a design that is then covered in ink and pressed down on a sheet of paper. He allowed some students to try out his press machine that is used to push the stamp onto the paper better than using your own hands. At the end of the printmaking class, the teacher handed out a print that he had made of his own for each student to take.
When the tour of the art department was done, we were all ushered into a room where we were served lunch, and a course description of the year was told. When Art Demo day was done and over with, all the students were allowed to leave and head back to their schools. The day was full of interesting things and very informative people.