A group of about 10 youngsters were seated at high tables in the ceramics room of the Riverside Arts Center. They gave instructor Heather Hug their full attention as she showed them the clay “critters” she had made.
“These are some of my favorites,” Hug said as she placed five figures on the table in front of her pupils. “So what do we have here?” asked Hug as she directed her pupils’ attention to an assortment of somewhat abstract figures that resembled animals.
The youngsters examined the figures, thought for a moment and then offered their interpretations: moose, dinosaur, dog, turtle and sea slug.
“Very good,” said Hug. “And how would you describe the legs on this dinosaur?” she asked as she placed the short, pudgy figure in the palm of her hand.
“Like a fat, round rectangle,” a girl said.
“They look like tree trunks,” one boy noted.
Hug told the children to look at the figures as combinations of basic shapes–a circle, square and triangle, for example.
“We use shapes to make sculpture,” said Hug, who holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a concentration in ceramics and sculpture. “I’m going to give each of you 10 pieces of clay, and I want you to make 10 different shapes.”
The children, who range in age from 7 through 9, began their assignment, often conferring with each other about the contours of a shape. Meanwhile, Hug put a handful of items on each table. They included a chicken bone, brush, tree bark, meat tenderizer and garlic press.
“These are for creating texture,” she said. “After you make your shapes, give them some texture by pressing these into the clay. Try as many different textures as you want. You never know what’s going to work.”
The exercise is designed to inspire students to think about shapes and their possible combinations, Hug said. “I really enjoy working with kids. I enjoy their creativity and willingness to try something new.”
Hug has been teaching at the center for three years. She teaches jewelry and porcelain to adults, and print making and multimedia painting to children. She is currently teaching a ceramics class to 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds.
It’s important to introduce children to art “as early as possible,” Hug said, because “art has many applications in life. There are many benefits.”
Those benefits include developing problem-solving skills and encouraging adaptation, she said. Hug sometimes asks her pupils to choose a couple of unrelated objects, such as can lids, faucet parts and tableware, from her collection and then create art.
“The idea is to look at these unrelated objects and make sense out of them,” she said.
An example, she noted, is a hollow stick. Is it part of a larger design? Is it the basis of a design? Are you going to add other pieces? Are you going to use clay? “If you use clay, you’ve got a problem because the stick can’t go in the kiln. How are you going to solve that problem?” she asked.
The answers are limited only by the creator’s imagination and creativity, Hug said. “You’ve got to `see’ something that doesn’t exist. That’s abstract thinking. Abstract thinking stimulates creativity and problem-solving skills,” she said.
Most children and adults don’t engage in enough abstract thinking, she said. “You don’t nurture abstract thinking by sitting in front of a TV or video screen. Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of people do. They’re being spoon-fed all the information they may or may not need.”
On the other hand, art encourages original thinking, Hug said. “In ceramics, I encourage the kids to go beyond what I’ve done in a demonstration. I want them to take the information and turn it into something new.”
“I love playing with clay, ” said Grace Heraty, 8. “I like the way it feels–it feels good. I like to make things with it.”
“Heather is a good teacher. She shows you how to make things,” said Kyle McKain, 7, as he used a coil to add texture to a shape.
“This (ceramics) allows a freedom that other forms, such as drawing, don’t allow,” Hug said. “With ceramics you start with something–a piece of clay that takes up space. If you poke it with your finger or press texture into it, you’ve created something.”
John Coughlin, center manager, said Hug “is an engaging and inspiring teacher. She brings out and affirms individual creativity.”
She also “instills a respect for individual artistic vision, which instills self-esteem and the importance of self-expression,” he said.
Hug holds art workshops for pediatric cancer patients at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. The program, which introduces youngsters to sculpture, painting and other art forms, was started in 1996 by the late Jennifer Allen, who was an art teacher at the center and a patient at Loyola.
“Jennifer died of cancer in 1997,” said Hug, who is a cancer survivor. “She wanted to bring art to kids with cancer. We keep it going in her memory.”
Hug, who is single and lives on Chicago’s North Side, was born in Hammond, Ind. When she was 3 months old, her family moved to Lowell, Ind., where she grew up and graduated from high school in 1989. The following fall she enrolled at the University of Evansville and in 1993 earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramics and sculpture from the school.
After graduation, Hug worked for a photographer for about eight months before moving to Chicago in spring 1994. Since then she has worked as a freelance artist, conducting art workshops at places such as the Field Museum of Natural History, the Hyde Park Art Center and the Hyde Park Jewish Community Center.
She also teaches art at the Perspectives Charter School in Chicago, under an Illinois Arts Council Residency Grant. One of her projects at the school is to help students create a large metal sculpture bearing the school’s name to be installed on the school grounds. The sculpture is made of discarded objects, such as broken scissors, car parts and tin can lids, collected by the students.
The Riverside Arts Center, 32 E. Quincy Rd., was opened in December 1993 by a group of local professional artists. In addition to exhibiting the works of emerging professional artists, the center offers a range of ceramic, drawing and painting classes from beginning to professional levels for children and adults.
Hug believes that in teaching children, “at this age, it’s important to keep art fun. The kids come in here, and they’re hyped-up and excited because they enjoy what they’re doing.
“They really appreciate the experience. They give me the feeling that I’m accomplishing something here.”
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For more information about the Riverside Arts Center, call 708-442-6400.
