SMJA students attend workshop at Brunei Museum
By Huraizah Ahmad

Khalid bin Othman demonstrates the techniques of moulding clay

Students trying their hands at making clay ceramic

A majority of the ceramic artefacts found in Brunei originate from China and every piece has its own historical value where archaeologists will play the role of determining the year and origin of the artefacts. These were told to 20 students of SMJA who attended the workshop on Techniques of Ceramic Making at the Discover Hall of Brunei Museum in Kota Batu yesterday.

The students were accompanied by three teachers from the Arts Department, Cikgu Ampuan Mohamad bin Ampuan Haji Nawi, Cikgu Zakaria bin Omar and Cikgu Hj Abdul Ghani bin Mohamad.

They will be attending the workshop every Monday for four weeks as part of a new scheme organised by SMJA in cooperation with the Museum Department. This will be the first step towards enhancing the skill of the Art students in preparation for the course work for O' Level Arts & Crafts Exam (Paper 6), said Cikgu Zakaria.

During the four weeks, the students will be able to learn the history of ceramics in Brunei as well as observe and join in the practical work of making ceramics from clay.

On the first day the students were given an introduction on the history of ceramics in Brunei, followed by basic introductions on the techniques of ceramic making. Two lecturers were invited from the Education Institution of Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and Arts Education Department of Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Awang Baharuddin bin Haji Mohd Arus and Khalid bin Othman.

Ceramics are usually baked in an 800 to 1,500 degrees centigrade environment. There are different techniques of making ceramics such as kick wheel techniques, rotary techniques, pinching techniques, slab techniques and coiling techniques. Some of these techniques will be taught to the students during the workshop sessions.

Other than that the students will also be taught on the materials used such as clays, different types of clay tools used for decorating the end products as well as the last process of glazing the product using glass and oxide.

Such cooperation between the school and the Museum Department aims to expose and educate students to more practical works in order to enhance the skill of students in arts and crafts subjects.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin