Part 2:
Class time came on Thursday and Jencyn was back in the studio. I was stoked. I should say that during this 3 hour class time, I have stacked classes. This means I have students working in the studio from Sculpture 1, Sculpture 2, Sculpture 3, Advanced Sculpture 1, Advanced Sculpture 2 and I have an MFA student as well. This translates into managed chaos for me. I’m constantly being pulled in 7 directions and I’m hearing students shout my last name hundreds of times. Sculptural processes often require me to be present and very observant to keep my students safe. I stay busy and I’m constantly moving during this time. I knew this would be a challenge for working individually with Jencyn but I also felt this was an important moment as a teacher.
Elena, Cathryn and Jenna helped get Jencyn properly dressed in some overalls, a welding jacket, gloves and a welding helmet. She looked like a badass sculpture student before we even got started. When I teach welding to a class, I do so in small groups and I can sense the apprehension in the students. They have heard the welder and seen the sparks and they tend to be very nervous. I spend a lot of time making them feel comfortable and safe. Jencyn showed no fear so I decided to just go for it. I quickly explained what was going to happen, welded a small spot for her to watch and handed her the welding gun. She hesitated only briefly and then pressed the trigger and sparks went flying. It was great.
Sometimes students weld for the first time and it’s honestly not that amazing. I will admit to being a little generous with the praise and compliments on occasion, but when I tell you this lady is a natural, you need to believe me. Her welds were immediately strong and looked great. She had the rhythm and pace. In another couple of minutes, she had welded two curved rods into a heart. Yes, I precut and bent the two pieces to make a heart. Judge if you wish, but she's a fellow Swiftie and it made her smile.
Jencyn’s recollection of this part was: “The next day I didn’t have class, and got an invitation to come back and do something fun. I was excited and also very nervous. I walked into the studio following Elena kinda like a scared puppy haha. I watched Elena and Cathryn do an impromptu haircut on Jenna, and felt like I was getting to experience a “go to work with your roommate” day. They got me suited up to weld, where I got to weld a heart together and learned how to put metal together from McAbee. I don’t curse, but I got the status of “BadA$$”, which made me feel cool.
Everyone in there was also very supportive of my side quest, which made me feel really special considering I had no idea what I was doing and was lowkey afraid I’d somehow be the one to accidentally, like, light the studio on fire or something.”
Back to my perspective…With this major accomplishment under her belt, Jencyn could have retired and had a fun story to tell. A lot of people would have been overwhelmed and wanted to quit while they were ahead. Anticipating this and not knowing how many days I could get her in the studio, I explained how impressed I was and that with this new knowledge she had about a process, she could now extrapolate that into making just about anything she wanted to make.
She didn’t seem eager to leave, so I suggested that she come up with some ideas of things she’d like to make and I would help her. She sat down and drew sketches in a sketchbook. Just so you’re visualizing this with me, we had a nursing major all decked out in sculpture studio clothing sitting in the studio drawing in a sketchbook. I think I may have felt an emotion.
A few minutes later we looked at her sketches and talked about which ones she was most interested in making. She chose a pair of heart sunglasses and within minutes she was drawing the shapes on a flat piece of steel. Another couple of minutes later, I was demonstrating the plasma torch for her. As the downpour of sparks danced across the floor towards her feet, she didn’t flinch. Instead, she took the torch in her hand and carefully cut out the shapes, being very careful to cut on the lines. It was great!
Cleaning up the edges of the steel is a longer and less fun process. It was here that I was able to step in and grind the steel because I knew the tedious process would be a deterrent. No sense in frustrating people for no good reason. Once those pieces were cut and cleaned, they were ready to weld together. This weld would be a slightly more complex weld, but Jencyn was up for the challenge. I described how I wanted her to move her hands and she followed my instructions to the letter. Welding on thin sheet is very tricky and it’s so easy to burn through. She had the right touch and got it on the first try.
There was a lot of praise and celebration. She had essentially completed two welding projects in one class period and had solidified her status as a certified badass. I was thrilled for her. I was also thrilled for me because my brain was already trying to assess the teaching systems at work during those two studio events. Why did this work? How did I convince a nursing major to learn to weld? Remember, this isn’t a clean, comfortable paint and pour situation. She got dirty and manipulated molten metal at 2000 degrees. This was hard.
Jencyn wrote: “After McAbee had to do some major work to get all the excess metal parts off, he let me weld everything together and I was very very very happy with the result. Like, I for real just sketched that out and made that???? I felt really special for being given the invitation to hang out in there and make things, and I hope to go back and do more if I’m able. (side note, I left the glasses in the studio with the intention of going back and throwing some color on them, because I am me and making them pink is speaking to my soul), and while I have been busy with the chaos of catching back up on labs and nursing work, I have full intention and plans to go back.”
Y’all. Not only did Jencyn volunteer to show up for a 3 hour sculpture session that involved the real possibility of getting burned, she loved it and has plans to come back. What???
Of course, this says something about the curiosity, character and positive attitude of Jencyn. But I think it also says something about the instructional tactics and the learning environment cultivated in the Sculpture Studio.
Maybe it’s time to step back and think a little about what was happening. Teachery stuff coming soon in Part 3.
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