Studio art program builds skills & confidence through hands-on learning

By Isabela Placencia

Rochester Christian University’s art program offers multiple studio art classes, primarily taught by Professor Kris Schaedig, designed to help students advance their art skills or pursue an art minor or concentration.

Professor Kris Schaedig Photo by Isabela Placencia

“I come to this thinking that anyone can learn these skills, and it’s my job to bring that out to people,” Schaedig said, when discussing her teaching philosophy regarding art. She brings this attitude to all her studio art classes: Fundamentals of Drawing and Composition, Painting I and 2, and Ceramics 1 and 2. 

In Painting 1, Schaedig teaches her students how to use colors effectively, including how to mix colors and create brushstrokes. Schaedig also prefers her students to work from still-life set-ups as "photographs are just not the same.” In relation to color, Schaedig assists students in matching their subjects’ colors to achieve accurate still-life portraits.

For fun, Schaedig also might throw in watercolor techniques.

A still-life set-up

Painting 2 is an advanced art class geared toward students who have completed Painting 1. What separates the two is that students must select a theme to use as a guide for completing four paintings throughout the semester. Students are challenged to develop and create a cohesive series of paintings to refine their technical skills.

In Ceramics 1, Schaedig instructs students how to manipulate clay to their advantage through multiple clay sculpting techniques: pinching, coiling and slab work. First, Schaedig teaches her students the basics, including reviewing tools and clay preparation techniques, such as wedging. In the pottery world, wedging refers to the process of hand-kneading clay to remove air bubbles. Failure to do so will result in a clay sculpture’s combustion in the kiln.

A kiln

Students also work with glaze, which is essentially paint for clay. Schaedig encourages students to experiment with glaze colors by mixing them or testing their appearance after firing in the kiln. Firing clay will turn it into a hard ceramic object. Two types of firing exist. A clay sculpture must be bisque-fired before it is glazed. Then, glaze firing gives the ceramic sculpture its final appearance. The turnout depends on the type of glaze used by the student

Similar to the painting classes, Ceramics 2 involves students building off what they learned in Ceramics 1 while using a theme as a guide. Since this is an advanced class, Schaedig expects her Ceramics 2 students to get comfortable with the pottery wheel, which is a

clay-sculpting machine with a spinning platform to help form vessels.

Schaedig believes all students — regardless of their major — can benefit from learning art. “You can learn something called transferable skills,” Schaedig said.

A pottery wheel

Art skills can foster problem solving because art inspires people to “look at things in a different way.” In addition to a newly found perspective, she said making art can invoke

persistence.

Despite RCU’s small size, Schaedig said her art space and location give the studio art programs more advantages than disadvantages. Schaedig teaches her studio art classes in the Gatehouse and Gallaher Center

Both of these locations are on the west side of campus, surrounded by the woods and Lake Norcentra. Schaedig said the nature-oriented locations “fuel the creativity.” She takes her drawing students outside to find materials, such as branches and leaves, to use as inspiration. Ceramic students might also look for rocks to add texture to their sculptures.

Another advantage of a small art program is that it allows Schaedig to follow students’ creative growth, since she is the only studio art professor. Plus, RCU’s small campus makes it easier to see familiar faces. 

“I like the cohesiveness that everybody has here,” she said. “I mean you walk across campus and you see like five people you know.” She said the cohesiveness translates well into the studio art program, in that her students learn from one another creatively through collaboration.

Most importantly, Schaedig said she wants her students to understand that art does not revolve around perfection; it’s OK when their art doesn’t turn out as planned. “If you look at any artist’s work who’s an important artist, you’re not seeing all the stuff they threw away. You see the best,” Schaedig said. She encourages students not to compare but to strive to do their best in their artistic endeavors.