April 23, 2011

Sustaining Creative Momentum

Well...I just got the kids’ grades...Amanda is setting the bar a bit high. Even though she is graduating and has a full ride scholarship to IIT’s Architecture program, she is still pulling A’s to keep her grade point above 3.8. Alex has been doing well, but her sister has unintentionally demoralized her. So, she is doing fine, but not killing her self.

However...I noticed a big C on Alex’s report card...in her best class...International Baccalaureate Art.

And I could not help but start to worry. I am of the opinion that you should not obsess about grades and nagging the kids over grades will just make them focus on that letter and lose site of the more important learning that they should be doing...but my first instinct was to make an issue of it...

I remember the last time I was about to give her fatherly advice... She ended up schooling me on creativity...(see related post: Creative Momentum).


After worrying about it all morning...I get a video Skype call on my iPhone...it’s Alex!...

I struggled not to bring up her grade...but I kept it quiet for the time being...good thing!

So, she proceeds to show me her master piece. The following pictures are a bit grainy, but check out her work!

Alex has been working on fusing different materials into her pieces...this time she came up with incorporating Mylar into sides of the bowl...

She had to fire the bowl separately and then insert the Mylar in afterward...

She blow torched the ends of the Mylar to get that gnarled curled effect. Risky, but I think it paid off...I like it!


Even more cool...she chose to fuse glass into the bottom of the bowl...the glass broke into a fantastic crystalline green...

Apparently, her teacher had to complete the report card while she gave Alex extra time to finish her big project. Alex has chosen ceramics for the class and it takes extra time to fire, but her teacher (Jill) had to put something into the system...then the system spit out a C on the card.

Alex got an A for this piece...and I am glad I didn’t jump on her for the C...