Folk art’s day, to put it simply: “We dug a hole.”
More to the point, we dug out a large hole in the field by the Gaga Pit, which is not something you see every day!
But let’s start at the beginning.
After the success of the past two days of macrame and baskets, we began our day with another weaving project — making rope hangers for bowls or potted plants. It took us a few minutes to get the hang of the top knot, but pretty soon everyone had their own hanger completed.
Then it was time to move our whole operation outside, and we didn’t come back in until the very end of the day. Yesterday we had collected firewood, and maintenance was really helpful in showing us a spot where we could dig an open pit for firing our clay works. They even left shovels and picks for us. Sarah’s “film crew” set up a camera so we could get a time-lapse of digging the hole and for our kiln to fire clay pots and bowls which we had shaped, dried, and decorated. We were hopeful that we could create some colorful patterns on the outside of our pieces.
While that was going on, we set up another fire to cook. A small team gathered around Viv to prep squash, onions, and potatoes, while others grilled a steak and hot dogs. Everybody had s’mores afterward, and we had plenty to share with visitors!
It was nice being outside, even though it was a little cold. The fire made everything nice, and we enjoyed making our own foods with fire we created, and the teamwork effort from all team members was great. After the fire died down, we removed our pottery from the fire for the big reveal. Some of the cups broke but most of them turned out pretty good.
Soon it was time to put out the fire and fill in the hole. The sod fit back in like Tetris pieces, and we left no trace of being there.
Once we returned back to the classroom, we had some down time where we weaved more macrame, washed the mud off our shoes, sketched, and wrote poetry.
PIT FIRING WOOOOOOO
we dug a hole
we set the hole on fire
we threw pots in the fire
we cooked food on the fire
we put out the fire
we covered the hole
we stomped on hole
Amiya Sant 2023 (“Folk Art and Living Simply”)