Ob La Di, Ob La Da

April 25,

Since March 3 ................Life goes on.

My son is sort of settled in Brisbane. He has everything but a job. John has learned very quickly that life costs more and things take longer than you could ever imagine. He needs a job fairly soon, he knows that, but he is a bit fussy. I’m not sure how much long he/we can afford to be fussy. My sister is back at home, coping and moving forward. She will be fine.

The Clay Teacher has been busy. We have been booked every day available since March and we are booked all but two days in May. June is still fairly open, but I am hoping to pick up a few more before the year is up. Jim has been joining me for the bigger jobs. If we have four workshops in a day or if the classes are large he comes along. It is so much easier with two and the school gets two teachers for the price of one. He is good with the kids and we have fun working together.

The last job he came out with me was to Hobbema. We had four workshops that day and had a blast. Working with clay was new to most of the students and they really enjoyed it. They liked watching the pot being thrown, most had not seen it but on T.V. I always throw a vase in my demo and give it (or one that looks just like it) to the teacher with the returned projects. I asked the class, “if your teacher has a vase and there are flowers in the spring …what could happen”? They didn’t say much, so I asked “what if you picked the flowers for your teacher”. One little girl answered “they would all die and if you leave them in the field we all can see them”. She was right and I had never thought of it that way. Kids have such a wonderful way of looking at things. I get many of “my” best ideas for workshops and projects from the students. The kids were surprised that we were married, I’m not sure why. They thought that we were just two teachers working together. One girl asked me if Jim was my real husband or my step husband….not to sure what that means. We all enjoyed the day and Jim and I are looking forward to working with more of the students next year.

Jim and I are planning a trip this summer. Last summer we took a family road trip to Virginia to visit Jim’s son Tory, my step son, and I am sure what that means… The last holiday before that was 2004 our road trip was to New Mexico and then put a toe into Mexico but walked over the boarder and left the van in the US. This summer the kids are old and have their own plans so we are going to go to New Orleans via Nashville just the two of us. Then back up through Memphis and St. Lewis. We like road trips. We can take a three week road trip for about the same or less money than spending a week in an all included hotel on a beach somewhere and see a whole lot of country. We were in New Orleans and up the coast a bit before Katrina hit and we are going to go back and see the coast and the city after. We are looking forward to it.

I am going to make some pots today. I have only made two pieces this year that are not connected to the Clay Teacher. I have some orders to get out and I need to be a potter for a while and not just The Clay Teacher so it all balances out.

Until the next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

Sons

The convention went well. It was fun, we looked good, made some good connections and got a number of bookings. The company that was trying to shut us down was not there. We thought they would be and it might be rather awkward. They were in the program, but they were a no show. So we looked even better. I doubt very much we hear from them again. We have some new ideas on how to make The Clay Teacher “bigger and better”. I am looking forward to getting that going. I will keep this up to date on how and what we are doing.

My nephew died this week. He has been sick for long time. His heart gave out, then his kidneys failed, his liver stopped and he got an infection in the bowl. He simply shut down. My sister is strong lady. She knew this was coming, but really didn’t want to. I admire her optimism and her courage. She kept a positive attitude for him, his children and of course for herself. She has had a hard go this life time. She lost two of her three sons and her husband. She is hurting and I wish I could do more to help. She has a number of people around her and there is nothing I can do. I will go and spend some time with her when things all settle down. My son John leaves for Australia tomorrow. I am sad to see him go, but not so much anymore. I will miss him. He should be gone for a year or more, but we will stay in contact and he can come home anytime he wants. He is young and starting his life with an adventure. Not quite the same situation that my sister is in.

Today my son and I are packing and getting him ready to go, nothing like leaving it to the last day, then we are all going out for German food. He was going to sell his old car and get it out of the garage before he left, but he didn’t get there yet. I think he might not. We will have to sell it. He has put off a few things a bit longer than I would have, but “things” always have a way of working out for him. He will have to learn to do it on his own now..… or not.

Until the next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

Show Time

Today we set up the Greater Edmonton Teachers’ Convention. I am excited about it. There are 15,000 to 20,000 people attending Thursday and Friday….Show Time…I teach a couple of workshops this afternoon then we go. We haven’t heard back from the other company since we told them we will not be stopping The Clay Teacher. As I have said before, a little competition is a good thing.

Jim got the painting the projects video on the website. I wasn’t feeling well the day we shot that video so I look like a grumpy old woman, but other than that, it’s good. I would like to reshoot it soon and replace the grumpy old woman with a more friendly me. It will be awhile before we get that done, but we have this done for the convention.

I will let you know how the convention goes.

Until next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

Every Other Day is Friday

The days go by so quickly, it feels like every other day is Friday and today is Friday again.

We went out to supper for Family Day but the Po Boys turned into mediocre Greek take-out but eat in. We were not the only ones that thought half price Po Boys was a good idea, and most of those people were smart enough to make a reservation. We had a choice of an hour wait or move on to Plan B. Plan B was wander down the street toward the car and see what we found. Not always the best plan when you are on Whyte Ave and don’t want to spend an arm and leg for dinner, but we did come across a little take out/eat in Greek place. It was okay but not the same atmosphere as the Cajun dinner. We will try again next Monday and I will make a reservation.

The company that wants us to shut down The Clay Teacher has finally replied and they are going to try to take it to the next step. It is unfortunate that they are taking this path but we will walk it with them. We have never shied away from…much of anything. I think of a bit of competition keeps us all on our toes.

Next week is the Greater Edmonton Teachers’ Conference. We are looking forward to that. As I have mentioned I do like “Show Time” If we had stayed in the wholesale pottery business we would be setting up the Alberta Gift Show this morning. We would be up and loading or have loaded the trailer with all the schtuff I mentioned before, booth, carpet, shelves, pots etc etc. and then the 12 hour set up time. I am looking forward to the Teachers’ Conference. We have some new projects, the updates to the web site will be online, we are meeting some people and all that and more with out the big booth, shelves and tots and tots of pots. It should be an interesting conference.

I played at bit this week in the studio. It was fun. I will see if I can get some pictures up this week end.

Until next time.

Cindy
The Clay Teacher

Family Day

When I first started The Clay Teacher I thought I would blog everyday and tell everyone about the kids. It’s really hard and as much as I enjoy the kids the stories start to sound repetitive. Not that I have told a lot of them. But I have worked with almost 2,000 children and the stories and the students do blend. So I thought I might make this a bit more personal and try to do more of a “what I did today” then only The Clay Teacher.

I live with my husband Jim, who is the other half of The Clay Teacher. He does everything but be in the classroom. He does that as well if the classes are large. He will help me in a few weeks. We are going out of town and working with about 200 students in 2 days. The first day is a heavy day. They have booked about 130 students, so Jim will come along and help. That’s a lot of clay and projects to carry, not to mention trying to talk to every student. When I go to a classroom I try to help or talk to every student and our first class is almost 50 students. I like it when Jim comes with me, we work well together. We have been working together since we met in 1999.

My/our Kaileigh lives with us. She is 20, going to NAIT and is in her first year of a two year computer course. She is studying web building, programming and whole lotta things I don’t understand. But her marks are good and she is enjoying it. So I don’t need to know. She has a boyfriend Andy or Andrew depending on, well I am not sure, so we just call him Andyrew. It seems to have stuck. He is a good kid and takes the teasing well. His options are limited, if he wants to spend time with the daughter, he has to put up with the parents.

My/our son John lives with us for a very short time. March 4 he is going to Brisbane Australia for an undetermined length of time. He is 18 and never lived on his own before. It might be a bit of a shocker for him. I told him to hurry up and move out while he still knows everything. If he hits a snag, he will be completely on his own. We can’t come over and fix it, or he can’t come home just for supper and visit like he could if he lived …... in the same hemisphere. He has found a good little car that is reliable and has a temporary place to land, a vacation condo at $700 a week. But that can’t last long and he will find a rental. He is a smart boy and will do fine. And I keep telling him and he agrees, if he really doesn’t like it, come home!

Today is Family Day, I plan to play a bit in my studio and then we are going out for supper. There is a nice little Cajun place on Whyte Ave and they have half price Po Boys on Monday nights, so we thought it would be fun and affordable to go out for Po Boys and sweet potatoe fries. I will have to walk the treadmill for sure today!

Another Month Bites the Dust

Another month has past since I blogged. If anyone reads these they know I am a very poor blogger. It’s hard to write often. Hard for me, I just get busy and wander off. Then a month goes by.

January we received the email from the other company telling us we had to shut down. We told her no, and we haven’t heard from them since. As I said, there a number of schools out there, more than enough to go around.

We went to our first Teachers’ Convention the first of this month. It was great. We had a wonderful time. Met the teachers from North Central Alberta, were well received and The Clay Teacher looked good. I like “show time”. The people, the promotion and of course the business all crammed into a couple of days is really fun. We will be at the Greater Edmonton Teachers’ Convention next week. I am excited about it. This type of trade show being smaller and only promotion are so much easier to do. One of the best things about these shows is the set up and the knock down. When we did pottery, either wholesale or retail, we would take hours to set up and then tear it all down. We would bring in carpets, lights, walls, shelves not to mention the tots and tots of pots and all the work to make them. We would get home hours after the show had ended. Most venders at the retail show would be home and finished supper and Jim and I would be still knocking down our booth. After the North Central Convention we were home with our three tots and a box, 90 minuets after it ended and it took that long because we had to wait to load the car and drive in Friday afternoon traffic. I doubt we ever do a show again where we have to do the booth, shelves, carpets and all that ever again. I’m too old for that schtuff.

I am really enjoying being The Clay Teacher. It is doing well and I have quit my job with the City teaching the adult classes, as of the end of March. I like teaching those as well, but it is nights and weekends. I work week days in the schools and I was trying to keep a few wholesale clients supplied with pottery and it got to be a bit much. So I have let my wholesale clients go and now with no night classes or the Sunday afternoon class, I am hoping to start playing in the clay again. We will keep the webpage for retail and I have promised a few people to do their wedding registries and we will continue to do those. Clients really like that. We make them their own webpage and their family can shop from all over the world. The wedding is often here in the city, so all the pottery doesn’t need to be shipped and if it is out of town, someone will be going and they can take it with them. It works well. There is one really fun retail show we would like to do this summer, but it doesn’t require a booth and all the other set up that goes with a regular retail show and it is a hoot to be there. Other than that, I am looking forward to playing in the clay again. It has been a busy couple of years.

Wow! That was a fast two months.

January 7^th 2010

2009 was a good year for the Clay Teacher. We set it up and we took off. It was a busy November and December. I met some great people, worked with some wonderful kids and had a blast. January has taken a bit of a turn. Not for the teaching end of The Clay Teacher, but the people I used to work for have just found out about the Clay Teacher, seven months later, and now they want us to shut it down because they are intimidated by a little bit of healthy competition. I have always thought a little competition keeps us all on our toes. I am only one clay teacher in the sea of hundreds of class rooms. We have different ways of teaching. We target different groups of people. The projects offered in the elementary schools mirrors the curriculum. They didn’t invent pinch pots, coil pots or masks. They didn’t invent sculpting little people out of clay. People have been working with clay since we have been people. One of the first things found made from clay was a woman and it was sculpted about 28,000 years ago.

I was an instructor and potter before I signed on with them during and now after. I have been a pottery teacher since I was eighteen years old. I started working with kids in the schools when my children were small. They are now 20 and 18. I would bring clay into the class, direct the kids on how to make the project, fire them and return them. I used to feel like the Pied Piper. I would always come at recess so I could set up. I drove this huge Dodge van back then and the kids knew my vehicle. As I got close to the school, they would see my van, know who I was and what I was bringing. Half the play ground of children would be running behind me laughing and screaming as I drove me into the parking lot. I was a teacher’s aide. I often would bring clay into my classes, show the kids how make little projects, take them home, fire them and return them. I have taught as a private contractor for over thirty years. First in Dawson Creek, BC, then in Edson AB, and here in the city, first in my studio a few years ago then for the City of Edmonton and then for my last employer.

Yesterday we received a letter telling us to stop The Clay Teacher, remove our website and email address. We said no. We have don’t want to fight with these people; we just want to do the job. There is plenty of work for all of us.

I will keep this up to date.