At Pähklimäe School on Thursday, students made plaster casts of their hands using alginate from brown seaweed, plaster and water. The activity takes about half an hour, and finished casts can be taken home. It also helps develop spatial thinking.  

Artist Loora Kaubi described the experience as surprising. "You suddenly see yourself — it's like you have the chance to own your own hand, or, like, recreate it," she said. "Like cloning yourself."

She added that it encourages students to think in new ways.

Each student chooses what shape they want their cast to take. Fists are popular, but eighth-grader Aleksandr said he chose a hand with its palm facing upward, so the cast could later hold something.

"I think it's beautiful," he said, adding that he could keep it as a memory from class.

Another classmate, Katja, chose a cast in a thumbs-up gesture. "Because I like to 'like' things," she explained, referring to the emoji. "I use it a lot."

The art lessons, part of the Narva Art Residency (NART) program, are conducted in Estonian, adjusted as needed to each student's skill level.

Kaubi said the lessons also served as a sort of "language cafe," giving local kids — who don't always have many chances to actually speak Estonian — the opportunity to flex their language skills, while she got to practice her Russian.  

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