The Studio is Finished....YAY!!

When we moved to Coutts we rented the Art Room in the local school. This town is so small and the population has been decreasing, the school board shut down the school in 2010.

The town bought the school and a local group has been turning into an arts and rec building. They have a lovely little library and a music room. We have rented the Art Room for our pottery studio and the Science Room for our video. Here is a picture of the school and if you look closely on the roof, Jim is on his way down from repairing the vent fan for the kiln room.

The Art Room was empty and just begging to be a studio

However.... 

we need somewhere to unload all our crap.... errr... I should say quality items to be sorted. Most of this truck load, unfortunately, ended up in the middle of the studio floor.  

That was the middle of January. We have worked on the finishing the house and studio. We are waiting for backsplash for the bathrooms and the house is done. We have moved, sorted and organized the stuff in the studio and it is done and I am back to work. 

and teaching. 

Getting the kiln hooked up was a bit of challenge. We had to go from three phase wiring to single phase kiln, find a breaker that everyone said we would never find, but we got a refurbished out of California and then drill through eight inches of solid concrete to go from the kiln room to the panel in the maintenance room. 

Here is the mother of all drills Jim used to do it. Those are his size 13 feet.

We have gone from this

to this.

It feels great to have a studio again.It has almost been a year since I made pots. I have a few orders and I am enjoying teaching. I have already become Mrs. Clay to most of the kids in Coutts. It was funny, I met some boys when walking to work and we were talking. When we were done one little boy , " good bye Mrs. Fatty", the others were upset. " You can't say that, she is Mrs. Clay" they told him. He was only about four and hadn't learned not to tell the truth yet, but the boys like and respect Mrs. Clay. Even the kids in my summer program know my real name, but they call me Mrs. Clay. When Jim shows up, he is Mr. Clay. 

It has taken longer than we ever had thought it would to get to this point, so has the house, but we did it. Now on to the next phase, not single or three, just pots. I don't plan  to do a lot of production, we are after all "retired", but I want to do more art and playful pieces. After all, Rule Number One is Have Fun!

Until next time. 

AKA

Mrs. Clay