Creating a Safe Place with Clay

Natural clay is a great material for children to use, as it is easy to manipulate and also very safe.  It is antibacterial and non-toxic, as well as soft and malleable, so cannot injure its molder.  Tools are not necessary, so hands can be used to shape the medium with more control.  Clay comes from the earth and is like mud, which many children find and play with in their back yards.

Similarly, artmaking is a naturally safe and healthy activity.  The role that art plays in creating a metaphor, and in articulating concepts that are often difficult to communicate through words, should never be underestimated.  Art is used to commemorate losses and victories, and to define real and imagined space.  Thus, artists create a safe place for ideas or experiences that are sometimes unsafe in their daily world.

  

The purpose of the open art studio is to provide a sense of safety and protection for young artists and their thoughts and feelings.  By creatively engaging within a non-judgmental atmosphere, they can gradually become emboldened, as both their personal self-esteem and confidence strengthen.  This artist seems to already feel safe within the studio.  He is comfortable enough to play with the tools and joke around a bit, as he continues to use them appropriately.

With the open studio functioning as his safe place, the artist is able to bring his imagined ideas to life.  He rolls the clay in his hands to make "a family of snakes", then forms it into balls and uses a press to create "spaghetti with meatballs".  The artist explains to his mother that the snakes are coming after his spaghetti dinner!

Feeling supported and encouraged by others, he knows that he can explore on his own and experiment with the materials, and is able to keep a light-hearted perspective.  Inviting his mother to work with him, the young artist is creating further safety for himself.  She serves as a protector in the artist's every day life, so acts as a model for his own personal security as well.  Feeling more certain and in control within the situation, the young artist is able to alter the events of his story and conquer the potential threat in his art.

Creating that feeling of safety in three-dimensional form, the artist reports that the snakes have changed their minds and are merely keeping the spaghetti warm, as they bring it to him.  As seen here, flexible materials, an open environment, and supportive peers allow a fulfilling experience to unfold for a child.  Offering a safe place for artists to work results in the opportunity for them to establish safe spaces of their own, through the act of art making and expressing themselves freely.