SMETHPORT – During a three-week stay at Smethport Area
Elementary School, artist-in-residence Dave Poulin, a Jamestown,
N.Y., sculptor, created a sculpture of a fifth grader, Emily
Dibble, who became the model after her essay was judged the best of
the entries.

The school received a grant from the Arts Council of Erie and
additional money from the Parent-Teacher Organization and the
district to host Poulin, according to Jovanna Porter, the
district’s enrichment teacher.

Poulin’s work may already be familiar to many Smethport
residents since he is the sculptor of the town’s sesquicentennial
bell which has been displayed in the courthouse lobby.

Poulin holds a bachelor’s degree in art education from Bethany
College in Kansas and an MFA in sculpturing from Alfred (N.Y.)
University. He is an assistant professor and chairman of the visual
and performing arts department at St. Bonaventure University in
Allegany, N.Y.

Over the three weeks, all students in grades K-6 were involved
in the project, but the fifth graders were the focus group.

Three weeks is the normal time Poulin spends in a school while
working on a project.

“When I show up the first day, all I know is that we’re going to
make a sculpture,” Poulin said. “I have no idea what we’re going to
create. Most of that comes from the kids.”

According to Poulin, “I take the students and teachers through
the creative process of how people use their imaginations, develop
ideas, and more importantly, act on those ideas to create real
tangible imagery.”

Based on a theme, the students spent the first week
brainstorming possible ideas for the sculpture, an almost life size
creation, which will ultimately become a bronze statue.

Poulin said, “We listed all our ideas and possibilities. Our
theme was talking about Smethport, its present and future and the
wonderful attractions Smethport and this region have to offer.”

The second day was devoted to how an artist is a storyteller.
Poulin said, “We have to think about the story we want to tell. The
students began to develop their own ideas. If they were the artist,
what would they create? What is the story they would tell about
this area? In that storytelling, we discussed how a sculpture does
not move and does not talk.

“How do you tell a story then by way of a sculpture that does
not move or talk?”

An entire unit was devoted to body language, facial expressions,
clothing and items that may be held in the hands, all of which help
tell a story.

During an acting day, the students acted the roles of what it
would be like to be a sculpture. “As they were acting and in the
pose, the students think of the pose – what is that moment in the
story that best tells the story?”

Based on that, the students studied writing. Since it was a
creative writing lesson, the students created their compositions
and were not at that time too concerned about the technical aspects
of the writing process. That would come later, Poulin said, “It’s
more about getting the students to understand in their imaginations
about putting themselves in the situations where they are actually
part of the story.

“And to imagine themselves in the story, they close their eyes
and visualize what is taking place – what is going on around them.
What are the sights? What are the sounds? What are the smells? I
had the students record of what they’re seeing in their minds. As
they describe all these details and what they see, it becomes a
story.

“As the story emerges, within that story is that moment they see
the sculpture as it would be, as they would describe it. But the
sculpture is just one split second of a whole story or event that
is happening.”

A work day followed the writing the first draft of the stories.
Poulin said, “We rolled up our sleeves, went back and re-read the
stories, teaming up and reading each other’s work. That was when we
concentrated on the technical aspects of writing such as sentences,
paragraphs and punctuation.”

Teachers joined Poulin in judging the students’ final copies and
based on how well the students described what they saw, one essay
was chosen and the writer, Emily Dibble, was chosen to be the model
for the sculpture.

In her story, Emily described a beautiful fall day with the sun
shining and she was sitting with legs crossed by a tree with an
open book in her lap. As she is reading, she notices a leaf falling
from the tree and landing on the book. Another leaf lands on her
shoe before a gust of wind starts blowing leaves all around her.
She smiles as she looks up from her book, and reaches up as if to
greet the leaves.

“Due to her description and the images in her writing, we
decided this was the sculpture we were going to make.”

After measuring Emily’s height, and the length of her arms and
legs and taking photos, it was time to build the armature, the
inside structure of copper pipe that would hold the sculpturing
clay together.

The sculpture was located in the school lobby where the students
could see the daily progress of the project. During the second and
third weeks, the classes came to the lobby where they began adding
clay to the armature under Poulin’s guidance.

Poulin will leave the clay sculpture in the school’s lobby until
Christmas so people can see it.

“While I have been here, the students and faculty have been
fantastic and supportive. They seemed genuinely excited about what
we were doing every day. They would stop and look at the
progress.”

When Poulin takes the sculpture back to his studio, other long
processes begin before the two employees who do the bronzing,
actually begin their work. The finished sculpture will weigh
approximately 350 pounds.

A dedication ceremony is planned next fall when the sculpture is
returned and placed permanently outside the school.