The Clay Teacher, me,Cindy Clarke lives in Coutts, Alberta, Canada with my husband Jim Willett. Here I talk about starting the next chapter in our lives, our move to Coutts. I talk about life as a potter, teacher and the video side of The Clay Teacher we will starting.....soon... . I talk about our business, family, friends and people we meet. post pictures of my work, and work that comes from the studio. If you have any questions, please ask and if you have any thoughts, please share.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Do Pay Attention!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
We Must be Blessed
We finished a week with St. Maria Goretti School. Now we have a basement full of Angels and baby Jesuses or is that Jesi? I am not sure if I can say that, but few people have in their possession as many little sons’ of God as we do. We did a bunch of Christmas projects with the Catholic school so we have 62 Nativity Scenes and 121 angels. The rest are snowmen and for reasons we are not sure of, we put the snowmen off by themselves in a back room to dry.
It was a fun week. For the most part we are the only three dimensional art experiences the children get and only an hour and half a year. I was there last year and everyone who was there last time remembered me this year. One girl even noticed that my hair was shorter than last year, but she was nice enough not to mention the additional grey. The workshops leave a huge impression on the students and they enjoy the clay so much.
We did little Nativity Plaques with the Kindergarten children this year. I didn’t talk at all about the Nativity Scene or what it stood for. The teacher gave a little lesson. I was not confident enough to teach a religion class in a Catholic school. Some of the little guys were not sure of the name of the project or just what it was about, but they had a general of idea of what we were making. I met one little boy in the hall the next day and he remembered me and making the Nativity, but again he forgot the name of the project. So he just asked me if I was back doing “the God thing” again. I didn’t have time to explain, so I just said…yes I am, smiled to myself and felt extremely powerful for only a brief moment.
We are making more Nativity Scenes on Monday, so there will be even more Jesi in the basement so with so many Angels and Jesi in the house how could we not be blessed?
I wrote in my blog last week that I was done all my orders…… well… that was short lived. The next day the orders started again. I could say no but I don’t want to. So I have more orders, I will probably always have an order waiting to be made….
The deadline for the Vasefinder competition was October 31, but I asked and Charlie gave me some more time. So the vase is drying and I will still be able to entre. Thank you Charlie!
Until next time.
Cindy
The Jury is Still Out.
I have been playing with the sculptures some more and working with different finishing techniques. This morning when I peeked in the kiln at 500 F I saw this lady and her “skin condition” and I thought she was a dud for sure. When the kiln had cooled to a frosty 400F I took her out and, like a cancer, it kinda grows on ya. At first she was a definite no….. but now…. I am not so sure……
I think the finish deserves some more play and experiementation.....but the jury is still out ...
Until next time.
Cindy
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Wrinkles
A bit of a busy week.
The Clay Teacher is back in full swing. We finished a wonderful and busy week. Jim has been coming with me to all the workshops and it is much easier for two people to do a job than one. The kids get so much more as well. It was a fun and full Friday. We did four workshops at a school that I had been to for the last 3 years. We worked with some kids with “learning challenges”. Those kids remembered me, my silly one liners, and most of the demo from the past. They may have some difficulties, but if they want to learn something they can. They just don’t want to learn the same old same old, and they don’t think the same way most do. One boy was in grade 6 and he works with his dad driving a bob cat. He may not grow up to be a rocket scientist, but he will be fine. I think the hardest thing for most children to learn, when they are working with clay, or anything else, is that they CAN do it. When I hear “I can’t” I tell them you can’t lift 600 pounds, but you can learn how to work with clay. There is a big difference between I don’t know how and I can’t. After they start working and what they are making starts to look like the project, their confidence soars, they do their best and the work is good. They are always sooooo pleased with what they have done. It is so cool to see their faces shine with pride!
I have finished all the pots for my clients … WOOO HOOO…..I like potting but I also like having no responsibility other than The Clay Teacher when we are booked solid. I have been working on a Pot Head for a competition on line called Vasefinder. I don’t have any fantasies of winning but it is fun to play. I want to add a few more wrinkles to his forehead and then he is done. When he is, I will put some pictures up.
It was Jim’s birthday yesterday and I am so mean, that while I was finishing up the pots in the basement, he had to make his own birthday dinner. He made some smouldering chili. We, John, our son, Kaileigh, our daughter that doesn’t live at home and her boyfriend Andrew had a birthday dinner for Jim. It was good. We had chilli, cheese bread sticks, beer and cake. It was a good day. We all get busy with life and sometimes let little things, like a family dinner, slide.
I am going to go downstairs and put some frown wrinkles on my Pot Head.
Until next time.
Cindy
The Clay Teacher