maintain expensive equipment. How often does a school purchase
a kiln only to have it nearly melted by a careless or unknowledge-
able teacher! Again, because of the variety of kilns available, it
is desirable if the experiences can be varied. On that spectrum
are those methods of firing which do not call for expensive equip-
ment. When one commits a pot to the bonfire it doesn't take long
to learn the finesse of firing. Talk about the damper and draft all
you want but until a student builds a small brick kiln that

doesn't draw, draft is something those over eighteen years of age
avoid. Techniques aside for a moment, these opportunities
provide a way of doing pottery which makes it possible for the
poorest budget and therefore has much potential in schools,

There is one other aspect of teacher preparation which I would
mention for I think it is of utmost importance - namely, integrating
those aspects of ceramics which so naturally are a part of a child's
study in science, social studies and the expressive arts just to
mention a few. Can anyone interested in pottery visualize a more
exciting project for a group of children than their experimenting
with earthy raw materials - mixing them together and heating them
in 4 kiln or bonfire and later examining them when they've cooled?
Does that sound more stimulating for young or old than passing
pictures of rocks called quartz or any other name so familiar to

the potter around the room? Or what about finding a new interest
in history when a child discovers that some present day peoples
are still firing their pottery the way it was fired by the ancients 7?
And after that discovery why not go outdoors and try to fire your
pieces the same way? Every child gets the opportunity to write
stories and poems from the time he can write words. Maybe he
would enjoy putting the same idea into clay and quite possibly, if
given the opportunity to do just that, his idea may become clari-
fied and end a better piece of writing as well, This creative
experimenting is vital, Without it that marvellous imagination of
the pre-schooler is stifled by age ten. How I would enjoy seeing
clay being used in the classroom of and for itself, related to as
many aspects of life and the world around us as the most sensitive
teacher and students can discover,

Jean Marie Weakland

Art Education

12. Faculty of Education, U.B.C.