QUEEN CHARLOTTE COLLEGE, PICTON, NEW ZEALAND

In 2005, at the unveiling and blessing of 'Lady from the Sea' ( installed at Waikawa Bay School, Picton) I met Miss Jacqueline Spencer, the art teacher at the local high school.
As we talked, I expressed an interest to work with high school students. Jacqueline being interested began inquiring as to how an interaction might evolve.
Returning to the USA, we kept up communication via email.

This communication cemented a commitment to have me teach a sculpture class to Jacqueline's students during and after the 2006 Picton international Stone Symposium.
The project began under the umbrella of teaching NCEA sculpture 2.2. to a class of high school students who had not done any sculpture previously. I began to alter the national syllabus from exclusively academic,to include a practical portion, namely to allow time and steer the teaching towards the making of a large outdoor sculpture to be installed on campus.

The goal of making a large outdoor sculpture to be installed on campus was presented to the class.
The students generated a theme for the project which helped to focus their studies and aided in creating personal meaning to the work they were doing.

Project theme

'A personal experience that I dreaded which turned into happiness.'

With the lesson plan set and the academic paper work completed, we were ready to transform the 2 - dimensional work generated by each student into 3-dimensions.
Lessons in stone carving began allowing for the practical work to cement all that was researched in the academic portion.

The carving experience took each student into a learning space that was very new and different from their usual school learning style.
Through the doing of carving their consciousness is focused in the moment and because each student was using personal information as their inspiration they were reliant upon themselves, boosting self confidence and self pride.
Under the umbrella of the theme and through the collaboration of the project they could glean support and comforts from the collective while at the same time keeping a greater truth of character.

My task on the practical side was to teach the carving skills, keep safety in mind and combine the students work into a display that is both pleasing to the eye in addition to illustrating their skills learnt.