Claydoe - Transcript

[Gail Dickel, Christ the King School, Art Teacher] "Okay, the rest of you can come up and get your clay. Did I get enough clay? Actually I've got a couple more pieces. That's all right."

Art teacher Gail Dickel believes in the power of art, in the utter necessity for it in our lives. Especially for kids.

[Dickel] "All right, and you have a plan? Are you going to make a base?

"The students need to see art around them in the community and to recognize it. And we talked about not only the J. Doe project but other projects that were going on around the country. I thought it was important for us to talk about public sculpture and why it even exists. To me this is a new way of putting public sculpture out for the people and so those people who aren't at the museum are still having an opportunity to experience a form of art and learning to appreciate that."

Unlike the beginnings of the J. Doe Public Art Project statues, these blocks of clay are identical and featureless, ready to be molded by the visions of each individual artist.

[Dickel] "The main instruction was that their theme should be something that was meaningful to them. And if it happened to be something historical or something that dealt with the community, that was fine. As long as they selected something that they personally wanted to work on.

[Dickel] "Is that arm attached -- good now."

[Student] "I think so."

[Dickel] "Okay.

"The final result must have a recognizable human form. But other than that restriction, the students were free to create their own concept of a Doe."

[John Geisinger, Christ the King Student, eighth grade] "I'm going to do SlamDoe and he's going to be dunking the ball on a basketball hoop."

[Katie Huerter, Christ the King Student, eighth grade] "Mine's going to be WinDoe to the Future. And it's going to have a graduation hat and a veil and kids for like most people's future."

[Dickel] "For some students who maybe writing is not easy, this is a great way for them to express themselves.

"Oh, that looks wonderful. Look at the flag she's sitting on."

[Student] "That's pretty good."

[Quentin Van Arsel, Christ the King Student, seventh grade] "Talking, you have to be with someone to tell them. But with artwork you can tell someone without having to be with them. People from a hundred years can see and understand what you're saying.

[Madeleine Moore, Christ the King Student, sixth grade] "When you get to expressing through art, you're just telling a story by the way you draw and when you draw it usually just comes out as if you were saying it."

[Student] "My J. Doe's name is Rodeo Doe."

[Student] "My Doe is Doelanta Braves."

[Student] "The name of my Doe is Tae Kwan Doe."

[Student] "Doe in One."

[Student] "The name of my Doe is Tropical Doe."

[Student] "The name of my J. Doe is Doe-thy."

[Student] "UNDoe."

[Andi D'Agostino, Christ the King Student, sixth grade] "Mine's called Doen't Understand. And I did it just because it was a few days after the September Eleventh event and so, I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew it was a big deal because when I came home that day I saw my mom crying and stuff. And so I just -- I kind of needed to do something just to figure out what was going on."

[Dickel] "They didn't really talk to me about it, or ask permission, or say anything about it. They just did it. And for me it felt good because I was glad that they were able to do that. And I think it probably felt very good for them too because it was a way for them to deal with a difficult situation."