SELF-GUIDED MINDFULNESS WITH CLAY
Our Present Time - July 23, 2020
This project, Our Present Time, was developed from recognizing my own need to rest and re-center during this time of uncertainty. I thought others might have similar needs. By providing a structure for engaging with the present moment, even if virtually, we can take time for some respite.
I recommend working with about a pound of clay or playdough (recipe here). Feel free to add water to your clay if you want to keep it from drying out and cracking, but also consider embracing the tendencies of the material, even if they seem like imperfections.
The exercises below are from the July 23, 2020 virtual session, which was our sixth and final meeting.
Set aside about 30 minutes for this set of exercises. As you get started remember that the goal is to be good to yourself and take a moment of rest.
Guided Meditation (6 min)
A Practice to Softly Focus Our Awareness (Mindful.org)
Often we use the sensation of the breath as an anchor in meditation. However, focusing on the sounds around you can also be a comforting way to ground yourself. This brief guided meditation lets us focus our attention on the sounds around us, finding bright moments of awareness even when we get distracted.
Find a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes or soften your gaze.
Clay Warm Up (10 min)
A SPHERE
Set a timer with a gentle sounding alarm for five minutes, then put it aside (don't watch the time).
Begin by working your clay into a sphere. Roll it between your hands, noticing its temperature.
Slow down. As the clay rolls over your palms and fingers notice how the form changes with your touch. Also, consider the sensation of feeling the clay against your skin. How would you describe this?
Try to make this sphere as round and smooth as possible. Use your fingers to smooth out any lumps and folds in the clay.
Take note of the roundness of this sphere in front of you, and acknowledge your accomplishment in making it.
SMALL SPHERES
Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch off a small amount of clay from your sphere.
Slowly roll this small amount of clay between your hands. Begin to form a small sphere.
Notice how this smaller amount of clay reacts to your touch. Notice how it feels as it rolls across your fingers and palms.
How does it feel different from the larger sphere of clay?
Take a few more seconds to finish this sphere, and then gently set it down.
Pull off another small amount of clay and make another small sphere.
Again, note the feeling of your palms and fingers as you repeat this process.
Take your time, continuing to pull off small bits of clay, and making many small spheres before the timer goes off.
Notice how the shape and texture of the large sphere is changing as you remove bits of clay.
Notice the similarities and differences of the small spheres as they begin to accumulate.
When the timer goes off, finish the sphere you are working on and set it down. If there’s anything left of what was the large sphere, work it into a sphere too.
Now you have a variety of spheres.
Count them.
Take another moment to consider how they relate and differ.
Acknowledge the effort you put into making all these spheres.
SLABS
Select the roundest sphere and hold it in your hands. Again, acknowledge the work that you put into making this perfectly round sphere. Gently roll it around in your hands for a moment, feeling its weight.
Slowly press your palms together, flattening this sphere. Use your palms and fingers to press it into a thin slab.
Try to make this slab as thin as possible.
Notice the texture of the clay, is it smooth or cracking?
Notice the shape of the slab, and its edges.
Try to make the thickness as even as possible.
When you are satisfied with this slab, gently set it down.
Next, select the largest of your small spheres and make another slab, pressing it between your palms and fingers.
Notice how the clay feels as you press it flat.
How easily does it give to your touch?
Select the smallest of your small spheres and make another slab noticing how the clay feels as you press it.
Take a moment and notice the characteristics of your three slabs. What do they have in common?
COILS
Select the largest of your remaining small spheres. Roll it in your hands, pressing it, elongating its form. Continue rolling, making this sphere into a coil. Use whatever technique works for you. Perhaps you roll, pinch or squeeze the clay to form the coil.
How thin can you make it? How long?
Notice the feeling of the clay changing shape in your hands or between your fingers.
How is your body involved in supporting the growing length of this coil?
It’s okay if it breaks. Bring the pieces back together, or work each separately.
When you feel satisfied with the form of this coil, gently set it down.
Select another one of your small spheres to transform into a coil noticing its properties as they change with your touch.
Take a moment and notice the length and width of your coils. Is the surface texture the same?
Clay Exercise: Call & Response (15 min)
Set a timer with a gentle sounding alarm for 15 minutes and put it aside (don't watch the time).
Using all the elements you just made—the slabs, coils, and spheres—create two sculptures using only your hands.
Consider these two sculptures to be in some sort of relation to each other; they can be the same or different, but they must have some relationship between them. Think about “call and response.” In music, “call and response” may be simply repeating a phrase, or it may be responding to that initial phrase with a particular style or flair. How might your sculptures talk to each other?
As you work, also think about giving or dedicating one or both of these sculptures to someone else.
Allow yourself to experiment and let go of any judgement or preconceived ideas about how to work with the clay.
These sculptures can take any form. There is no wrong way.
Perhaps you begin by making even more slabs and coils.
Perhaps you combine all the small elements back together into larger pieces of clay.
Pay attention to how the material wants to come together. Focus on looking at the shapes that appear as you build. Respond to these shapes.
Notice how the texture of the clay may be changing? Is it smooth, beginning to crack in places? How does the texture add to the form?
How do you pay attention to all the emerging details of the form without overworking it?
Here is something to listen to as you work. The video features some “call and response” played on the ghatam—a clay pot with a narrow mouth, and one of the most ancient percussion instruments of India.
When the timer goes off or whenever you are finished with your sculptures, document them from different perspectives, consider the setting and the lighting.
Acknowledge all of the good work you’ve done today.
You are invited to submit your sculptures to the Our Present Time exhibition at the Artshack Gallery.