The Minnetonka Center for the Arts has always held its doors open in welcome to the large collections of talented individuals, both children and adults alike. It has long provided not only lesson plans and instructional courses, but a chance for creative expression as well.
On Oct. 28, Visual Art teacher Jayne Hudgins led 28 of her students on an expedition to explore the vast regions and unexplored sectors of their creativity, by taking an all day field trip to the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. For the duration of six hours, students were able to devote as much of their imagination into their pieces as possible.
Never before has Orono sent students to attend the all day sessions offered at the Minnetonka Center.
Hudgins said, “I am on the Minnetonka Art Center’s advisory panel, a volunteer panel comprised of a few selected art educators in the Twin Cities. The goal is to encourage the arts and offer more learning opportunities to students both in school and at the Center. I had heard of larger school districts having opportunities to spend the day creating art at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts and learn new things and I wanted my students to have the same opportunities.”
The all day field trip offered two art classes, Raku and painting. The students were split in half and attended the classes in two groups. “I selected primarily advanced students who had shown both above average interest and dedication to art. Also, I selected less advanced students that had the same qualities. There were many more that would qualify but I had to keep the group small due to the cost factor,” stated Hudgins.
Of the available classes offered, those chosen were contemporary painting and the Japanese pottery style known as Raku taught by instructors that frequent the Minnetonka Center. Raku is a type of pottery that is first formed by hand, then applied with a metallic glaze which is then heated. They are then taken out of the kiln and placed in a covered metal can with paper or other materials that trap carbon and produce different varieties of colors.
In preparation for the Raku class, students had to create a piece from clay at school and fire it before they could transport their piece with them to the Minnetonka Center.
“My experience was an eye opener!” exclaimed senior Amanda Brooks, “I loved it! Before I went to the Minnetonka Center, I had no idea what Raku even was. Now Raku is one my favorite styles of art!”
While the pottery students followed the Raku process, the painting students had to create designs on several thumbnails, or reduced-sized versions of their pictures to help generate ideas. After selecting one, they would transfer it to a large piece of tar paper, and paint it with the limitation of 3 different colors.
Students were challenged to incorporate texture into their pieces, and focus on shapes and abstract concepts. “From my time at the Minnetonka Center, I took away a head full of ideas,” said junior Diana Gumeniuc, “I learned a lot of new things that I know I will use to progress in the future.”
Not only did the students benefit from this excursion, but Hudgins did as well. Through the experience, Hudgins has decided to implement some of the techniques into her art curriculum.
“I’m already using the texture, non-objective concept in painting in my Painting class but might switch from wood to tar paper in order to work larger. Raku is something we can’t do due to lack of outdoor facilities for this type of firing. I will talk about the Raku method as an alternative to traditional glaze firing when we do the sawdust fired coil pots.”
Overall, the students collectively agreed that the time they could have devoted to academics was well spent exploring and strengthening their creativity at the Minnetonka Center.
“I had a well rounded experience at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts field trip by learning new techniques for both illustration and painting skills, getting to know the kids in our art program better, and gaining more ideas for my future artwork,” stated junior Piper Cashman.
Taylor Werdel is the Editorial & Opinions Editor for The Spartan Speaks