Clay - The Spirit of Matter - Orbach and Galkin, 1997
- nonaorbach
- Feb 25
- 10 min read
Updated: Apr 19
Medium Characteristics
Clay is a natural medium consisting mostly of fine-grained natural rock or minerals that mix easily with water and can thus be modeled and sculpted with little effort. It ranges from a fluid ointment to massive dry chunks, creating different textures depending on the compound and size of its grains. There are many shades of clay, from white to dark black, mainly resulting from its geographical origin.
Adding water and kneading the clay produces a homogeneous elastic material that can be readily formed. After drying, the clay loses some of its color, shrinks, and becomes brittle and fragile. Once the clay is fired in a kiln, its color changes again as it hardens. If care is taken, the final product should have a long life. Clay can be moistened and reused prior to being fired.
Therapeutic and Spiritual Significance
Clay offers many artistic and therapeutic possibilities. It is perhaps the most wide-ranging medium in the art therapy field, unlocking an entire world. The combination of clay, water, and human hands creates a birth-like transformation and a sacred beginning - an independent, flexible dialogue between matter and creator. When watching a potter at work, it is not always clear whether the clay leads the hands or the hands lead the clay. The art of kneading and modeling requires concentration, meditation, unification with nature, tranquility, and inner harmony. The artist's hands touching the clay offer him an encounter with different degrees of heat, textures, dryness, moisture, and stickiness. Clay has its own life and breath; as they delve into the soft clay, the creator's hands convey basic and primordial emotions and sensations.
The range of activities afforded by a chunk of clay mirrors the range of emotions that surface when working with it. It can be intensely and furiously mashed, monotonously and vigorously kneaded, deeply and painfully stabbed, gently and decoratively perforated. It can be rounded into soft, flowing forms, banged on forcefully, shaped and dismantled with curiosity and amusement, caressed and contemplatively smoothed with water. It can be added to endlessly or aggressively thrown and shattered.
Clay conveys various and even opposing emotions. Playfulness and anxiety, disgust and creativity, rejection and tenderness, amusement and anger, sexuality and destructiveness, joy and guilt, aggression and cradling, lack of control and organization - are only some examples. They may each appear separately or in any combination.
With its remarkable flexibility, clay has its own life and limits, which, if not respected, will prevent the sculpture from thriving. If the walls are not thick enough, it will not support height. A sculpture that is not properly joined will not withstand the firing process and crack. Clay has a deep and basic presence - a flexible and multifaceted personality - but it also has limits.
Kneading represents a direct dialogue between the person and the matter, and as such, images, symbols, and metaphors arise. The rhythmic organized activity helps the creator select a form. The soft primordial matter turns slowly into a figure, an image, a statement, an icon. A transition from nature to culture occurs - a transition from a state of chaotic matter to a meaningful substance full of associations and memories. Modeling is organization. The image and the techniques clarify what is important and what is not. The artist's hands, knowing what they need to do from some deep and obscure underground source, strive to achieve their goal through ongoing handling and pressure imposed upon the clay.
Molding a clay sculpture reflects the artist's internal dialogue on the one hand and his ability to control the medium on the other. This process also indicates his ability to flow with the matter and the surprises it brings through contemplation and winding paths. The wonder of creating is reflected in the final product.
After forming the image and observing it from all sides, a separate phase of remote viewing begins. The creator decides that the sculpture is complete, and it begins its independent life. It dries slowly, turns lighter in color, and shrinks slightly. The client looks at it again and again. He can still return this piece of matter to its original state by kneading it with water and starting all over, but once the sculpture is kilned, its form is final. This moment is the beginning of the sculpture’s final independent life. The creator cannot change it anymore; he can only watch it and accept it as it is. The sculptor has renounced its ownership.
Surfaces and Tools
Hands are an unmediated and natural tool when working with clay. Therefore, it is recommended that they be used as the main tool, especially with children and beginners. Skilled artists who are familiar with working with their hands may be offered other tools to expand their creative options:
Engraving tools: knives, toothpicks, forks, rough brushes, combs - a means of creating textures and ornaments.
Rolling pin: a wooden rolling pin for flattening clay surfaces.
Wooden sticks: 5-10 cm. long and 2 cm. thick for pounding, slicing, and compressing the clay.
Nylon thread: a thin 30 cm. nylon thread with two screws or wooden sticks attached to its edges for cutting chunks of clay.
Flat wooden boards: a surface to place the works while drying - 30X30 cm. is a convenient size. The works must dry slowly on a wooden board so that the wood can absorb the water on the bottom of the piece.
Rags and plastic bags: for wrapping unfinished works in a layer or two of plastic bags. This way, the piece will be kept moist, and the work can be continued days later. To ensure the work doesn’t dry out, put a wet sponge near the sculpture, inside the plastic bag, to keep the air moist. A sculpture that is well-wrapped can be worked on for months. The dryer it is outside, the more care must be taken to keep the clay damp.
Pottery turntable: a spinning stand that makes it easier to work on the sculpture and observe it from all sides.
Working with Clay
Working with clay standing up is preferable, allowing the entire body to participate and take responsibility. A stable posture with two feet on the ground provides a solid foundation physically, metaphorically, and spiritually. The table should be adjusted to the client's height - slightly above the navel - so that he can maximize the stomach muscles for optimal control of his arms and hands.
While working with clay, one hand supports the other in three variations:
Exploring the possibilities of different hand and finger movements. All types of manipulations should be tried with eyes open and then closed. Closed eyes enable depth perception, which is free of criticism and judgment. This is a sensuous sensory and tactile experience with little conscious content. Hands and matter respond to each other. Closing the eyes takes us back to childhood, to primary tactile sensations, inducing a sense of presence, intimacy and union between matter, spirit and body.
Kneading has a key role in working with clay. Kneading the clay releases air bubbles, which cause the vessel to crack in the kiln if remaining. Even if the work is not to be fired, it is still necessary to knead the clay to make it dense. Body rhythm and paced breathing produce a good chunk of clay that will be easy to work with, transforming a raw and amorphous matter into a sculpture.
To experiment with throwing the clay, place a large wooden board on the floor, mark a circle on it and throw a large lump of clay onto the marked area. The substance nearly loses its shape and is softened by smashing onto the board.This can be repeated over and over again, resulting in sensations of joy and relief. Violation of basic rules is granted legitimacy, releasing controlled wildness and sublimation of aggression, sometimes accompanied by vocal expression. These three variations contribute to the broad range of possibilities this medium presents, ranging from quietly molding a delicate bowl to boisterously throwing and pounding a lump of muddy clay.
There are two main approaches to working with clay:
Detracting: Place a large lump of clay (larger than the estimated sculpture) on a wooden board. Planning the image is crucial before beginning. Work with both hands simultaneously while continuously observing the sculpture from all angles. The hands slowly detract unnecessary parts and determine the basic composition. Next comes the stage of refinement and detail. The hands pull, pinch, push, add, pat, and gradually shape the chunk of clay into the desired shape. This is somewhat similar to sculpting hard materials (like stone), in which the primary assumption is that the image was always within the matter, and the detraction only reveals and exposes it.
Working in segments and attaching them: first, imagine the overall shape. Work slowly and steadily to produce separate segments, preparing a stock of shapes (coils, cubes, flat surfaces, etc.). Attach and design the shapes so that they follow the imaginary mapped-out design. This is a rhythmic and repetitive process. We observed children six years old and younger. At first, they worked on surfaces and treated the clay as a sheet of paper on which they carved or attached pieces. Next they tried to stand the work up and create upright characters and animals. For older children, we recommend building a human or animal figure by pinching a lump of clay. This conveys the perception of our body as a harmonious whole, rather than separate attached parts. Building from a block also teaches how to cope with 3D sculpting and standing the figure up on its legs, with all the emotional and therapeutic implications. It serves as a metaphor for erectness and growth.
A supporting surface - we observed that young or less experienced children found it difficult to stand their figures up without thickening their legs and lower body parts. We suggested attaching the figure to a “ground” surface, a base. For some children, this surface was a technical anchor; for others, it was a continuation of the work itself - complementing and extending the composition. o Attaching - this is a delicate craft. First, dilute clay with water until it becomes a cream (called "slip"). The clay should be soft, smooth and uniform. In order to attach two parts, use a knife or stick to make a small slit where the two parts will intersect. Then attach the parts by spreading a layer of slip on the area. If necessary, add a reinforcing thin coil of clay to the border where the parts are attached, blend it lightly, and smooth the area. Knowing how to attach pieces correctly is very important, and enables the construction of complex compositions, spaces and surprising works of balance and symmetry.
Working with slabs of clay – to create a large clay surface, cover a table with a plastic wrap. Then, arrange slices of clay equal in thickness so that they overlap. Roll the clay with a rolling pin until the surface is at least the thickness of an adult finger. To cut equal-sized slices of clay, form a cube and slice it vertically or horizontally with a nylon thread. You can also throw a lump of clay from up high onto a plastic-covered board on the floor, and then roll it out with a rolling pin.
Six years old - after a visit to the archeological museum - Yael Serlin, art teacher
Initial Encounters
Creating a fist-sized ball: transfer a chunk of clay from one hand to the other, squeezing it and forming a ball shape that fits comfortably in the space between the two hands. The goal is to create a symmetric ball that can be evenly pressed into a flat surface.
Each participant takes a chunk of clay the size of a fist and a half, kneads it into a ball and then experiments with everything the palm and fingers can do with the clay - knead, pinch, squeeze, pierce, tighten, smooth, push, nail, dig, pull, pet, heat. Experimenting with both open and closed eyes offers an added dimension.
To create a bowl, form a ball and while holding it in one hand, the other turns it into a bowl by using the thumb and fingers. The thumb marks the center and by pressing together with the fingers in a repeated rotating motion, the sides of the bowl are slowly formed into a container.
Another way to create a bowl is to set up a surface that will become the bottom of the container. Form coils and attach them one by one to the surface and to each other by blending them together. All the coils should be the same thickness. Attaching and blending them is accomplished by pushing some of the clay from the top down, filling the crack between the two. This must be done both on the inside and the outside of the vessel.
Constructing flat surfaces of clay. Place the bottom surface of the vessel on a wooden board covered with a plastic wrap. The clay must be at least the width of a finger. Prepare a little slip. Slit the parts that you want to stick together and then spread slip on them, attaching them by slightly pressing both sides. Fill in the spaces with thin clay coils. Repeat the process as you shape the vessel. If you want to add height to your structure it is necessary to wait a while till it dries somewhat and can bear more weight.
With one common topic, make three identical "clay sheets," engraving on the first, embossing on the second, and creating a 3D image on the third. o Try making four identical “clay sheets”. One will serve as the floor and the other three as walls. Create your own room.
To form a geometrical shaped cylinder, roll clay on the table to create a thick "snake", and then attach the two ends on the wooden board.
To form a geometrical-shaped cube, press and bang a round lump of clay. After every few bangs turn the chunk around and flatten a different side. This will create a cube. Sometimes, it is necessary to tweak the angles and corners to sharpen them slightly.
To form a geometrical-shaped square pyramid, first, prepare a cube. Tap lightly on all sides except the base, and then squeeze the top part together.
Making a simple animal - prepare a thick coil to form a cylinder 4-5 cm. in diameter and 15-20 cm. long. Bend one-third of the length of the cylinder upwards - this part will be used for the neck and head. Bend the other end of the cylinder down, to create the hind legs. Form front legs by pinching and adding clay to the chest and abdomen of the animal. Then, pinch out the tail and ears and separate the block's lower part into a pair of legs. At this point the animal is standing, but still lacks personality. This is the time to add detail.
Molding a basic human figure - form a cylinder about 4 cm. in diameter and 15 cm. long, put it on a wooden board and decide where the head and feet will be. Pinch out a head and neck from the cylinder and then extract the hands. You will need to add clay to make the shoulders and arms. Divide the lower part of the cylinder into two legs. The legs must be stable and large enough to hold the image.
Now, look at the figure from all angles and decide how to position it.
The text is based on The Spirit of Matter / A Database Handbook for Therapists, Artists, and Educators Nona Orbach and Lilach Galkin, 1997
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