AMHERST — A Rolling Stones track, a ballad by America and at least one Carole King song help form the musical backdrop for a classroom where many students are manipulating clay with their hands.
As the mud is tossed against the tables and rolled, pinched and formed into objects, some that look like a mug, a mushroom or a plate, the Amherst Regional Middle School seventh and eighth graders are creating art.
“You’re only at the very beginning of the sculpture you’re doing,” teacher Rodney Madison states, observing that what they are making will eventually be 7 or 8 inches high.
Wearing a knit cap and an apron covered in paint, Madison, 61, impresses on the classes, again and again, what he wants them to do.
“I’m not looking for cats and dogs, I’m looking for shapes and forms,” Madison said. “Make some coils. Make any unusual shape you haven’t seen.”
Then, he implores them, “Get going, get your hands clay-dirty.”
For Madison, in his first year teaching at the school, it is a happy time to be back in the classroom after several years away to run art studios in Turners Falls and Millers Falls, where he faced the isolation of an artist and long hours to make his mostly abstract works.
“I am an abstract artist. I lean toward abstraction,” he said.
His tenure in Amherst was recently profiled in a weekly email to families, where eighth grader Salvador Eaton Sharon described Madison’s classroom as an active arts studio, with a student or two always working, often in multiple media, and with Madison continuing his creativity, having his completed works displayed alongside the student creations.
For students, Madison has become an important part of the middle school experience, as the school emerges from the pandemic and in-person learning is back, in part because the classes are one where students can express and unleash their artistic talent.
He has also emphasized social justice, having recently celebrated Black History Month by having students recreate the logos of the defunct Negro Leagues baseball teams, and in January making pen and ink drawings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
His style is appreciated by students who sometimes feel confined by a set curriculum.
“He wants us to express ourselves,” says eighth grader Alex Robb, 14, of Amherst, as she creates a colorized illustration of jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald for submission to the “Youth Activist Art Exhibit” that will be at Hawks & Reed in Greenfield. That display, on the afternoon of March 20, is being coordinated by Madison and middle school teacher Irene LaRoche.
“He wants to support everybody and he’s providing a lot of time to help others,” Robb said. “He really cares.”
Claire Lloyd, a 14-year-old eighth grader of Amherst, recalls getting assistance from Madison when her painting didn’t go as expected. “That’s part of art, making it look cool after many mistakes,” Lloyd said.
While there is some semblance of a free-for-all in his class as students form their clay, Madison is quick to get students back in line if they are disruptive or making inappropriate objects, halting and sternly advising them on how they should behave. He’s also not shy to share his opinions, informing one student wearing a New England Patriots football jersey that he isn’t a fan of the team.
That attitude is what the students expect.
“He’s real with people,” says eighth grader Alina Seeger, 14, of Leverett, who is making large portraits of queens from a deck of cards that will be displayed in a school office.
“It’s fun to do art, and he’s really nice about letting us do what we want,” Seeger said.
“He has a way to take an idea and turn that into art,” said eighth grader Hazel Neuburger, 14, of Amherst.
Madison said that many of his students are prepared for his lessons based on their time in elementary school, and they have the hunger and tools to do art. “Now is the time I want to help them share it with the universe,” Madison said.
Darlene Wilson, an interim clinical social worker who is in the Smith College master’s program, said Madison has a way of nurturing groups of students and getting them on board and acclimated back to school life this school year. That has been profound for the school, Wilson said.
“This is one of the classes where we are seeing students come in and get into the work,” Wilson said.
“Mr. Madison gives us really extraordinary things to do,” said seventh grader Chloe Carlisle, 12, of Leverett. “This is not a regular class.”
“It’s fun. It’s less about him telling you what to do,” said eighth grader Annika Larsen, 13, of Amherst, explaining that she has been able to work with everything from fabric and paint to markers.
“Nobody’s ever bored in this class,” said seventh grader Quynh Ly, 12, of Amherst.
“It’s great the freedom we get here,” added seventh grader Wayne Dowd, 12, of Shutesbury.
Eighth grader Sofia Dasilva-Askew, 13, of Springfield, said Madison’s benefit to the school goes beyond teaching. “He helps you out when you’re not in the best space,” she said.
Madison said he wants students to remember art is fun, as well, and they all can tap their voices inside and outside school.
As much as he hopes they have benefited from him, Madison said he knows he is getting a lot from his students.
“Working with kids has gotten me back into the groove,” Madison said, observing that students have forced him to play selections from singer Billie Eilish.
“They’ve opened my eyes, too,” Madison said. “There’s some songs I can get into.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
