Third-grader Lauren Porter sat poised with concentration over her clay creation: a man with a ferocious six pack of abs riding a skateboard. His name: “Buff Man.”

“I’m stabilizing his arm,” she said, pinching his bulging tricep. “You have to be gentle with him.”

Porter and other Silver Firs Elementary students on Friday, Oct. 17 made leaves of clay to be fired in a kiln and shaped other objects — among them, the Great Wall of China, a Chinese spitting cobra, a cow girl boot and a pizza with olives and anchovies.

The lesson probably wouldn’t have happened without the adult volunteers in the school’s Art Docent program. The docents come in about once a month to teach an art lesson, help students one-on-one and — crucially — clean up.

The demands of modern school mean that many teachers nowadays don’t have time to teach art.

“Time is the big one — teachers are constantly having to juggle (subjects),” said Silver Firs principal Kimberly Gilmore. To teach to the whole child, you need to address both the right and left brain, she said.

At lesson’s end Friday, there were hordes of sticky hands and items needing to be cleaned or put away: clay leaves, rollers, smudged paper.

The four parent volunteers in the room — Kim Berrian, Joyce Kathol, Leslie Sorenson and Julie Haugen — made quick work of it so students could wash their hands and move on to something else.

Art lessons also take a lot of time to prepare and assemble.

Berrian, the parent who runs the program, has been teaching art at the school as a docent for about four years.

On Friday, she taught students a lesson on clay, including its properties and where it comes from.

She taught them to roll the clay and imprint it with a leaf. After it’s fired in a kiln, students will get the chance to paint it.

While students worked, Berrian, the other parents and teacher Emily Hamner walked around, carefully inscribing students’ initials into clay leaves and giving feedback and help.

Student Carlee Richard called Berrian over to show her a series of flip flops she’d shaped in clay, each smaller than the rest.

“They’re all stacked! Kind of like nesting flip flops!” Berrian said. “The next one will have to be tiny.”

Richard set about making a tiny flip flop of clay.

Berrian enjoys knowing students by name and recognizing them in the halls.

“They’re so happy to see you,” she said. “They see you in the hallway and say, ‘Oh, are we doing art today?’”

There are students who usually can’t sit still, but when it’s time for art class, they’re focused — almost a different child, Berrian said.

Student Zachary Holly said he likes art days.

“Because you get to use your imagination to create whatever you would like,” he said.

Porter, the creator of Buff Man, likes them for a different reason.

“I can get messy,” she said.