Monday, 23 April 2012
Today, Owen and I participated in a class held by Northern Clay Center. The class was an hour long and took place at Owen’s elementary school right after the regular schoolday finished.
A few weeks ago, Owen brought home several papers informing parents about various activities taking place at his school this spring. Most of them I discarded, either because they were too expensive or weren’t something Owen would be interested in. I kept a few papers, though. One advertized a running club. Owen has frequently expressed his desire to run in races, so I thought he’d like to join this club (I also liked that it was free). Alas, Owen – like his parents – isn’t much of a morning person and he declined the opportunity to run around the schoolyard at 8:30 in the morning. Can’t say I blame him.
He did, however, think the clay workshop was to his liking.
So I met him after school today, and we went into the appropriate classroom. The instructor showed the kids every step (which might have been a bit much for them) and then let them get to work making clay birds. Several parents and I walked around and assisted the kids in their work. Primarily, this consisted of giving them more clay when they ran out, reminding them of one of the twenty or so steps, opening the paint jars, poking a hole in the bottom of the sculpture (so it doesn’t explode in the oven) and writing the kid’s name on the bottom. One girl made a particularly small bird and when she asked me to write her name on the bottom, I thought, “Oh great, this girl’s name is probably Elizabeth or Jessica or something really long that’s gonna be impossible to etch on the bottom of such a small creation.” I’m happy to report her name is only three letters long. Yay, me!
Owen, and a few other kids, finished early and were able to make a second bird. We loaded the birds onto trays on a large cart, and the instructor told us she’d be taking them to her workshop to fire them and that they’d be ready in a few weeks.