"Breaking Boundaries"

Painting by an eight-year-old - Thanks Dad for the photo!

As I've said before, this summer I was a childrens art teacher.  Parents would sign up their child for a week of camp at a time Monday thru Friday 9-4pm everyday.  Each week was a different theme, such as acrylic painting, ceramic sculpture and potter wheel, mosaic furniture, plaster mache animals, and others.  At the end of the program, the Village Center for the Arts host an art show of the work that was produced during the summer.  It's a fabulous event for the kids to come with their parents all dressed up and really feel like artists at their own show opening.  The opening was this past Saturday, September 10th and many, many people showed up and it was great to see all of my students again.

This took her most of the week to complete.

I'm very proud to have worked and continue to work at the Village Center for the Arts.  At times it's very trying and stressful but the end result of happy faces and beautiful art work is worth it.  I get to give children a taste of real art making and I push them to think outside of the boundaries to create something unique and meaningful to them.  More importantly, the student's walk away from the VCA with new knowledge that they will hopefully keep with them for years to come.  We, at the VCA, would rather student's work thru problems and difficulties than do something they are already comfortable in doing.  There would be no growth if people did not try new ways of doing things and learning something in the process. 

This coming summer will most likely be my last year working there.  It's sad to think about but I'm also ready to move on to a new community.  The VCA will figure out a way to continue as they always do and I will continue experimenting and producing work.  Hopefully one day I will get my Masters of Ceramics and have the lucky position of being a university ceramics professor.  I love learning and I really just want to keep on taking classes for the rest of my life and never leave.  I love the environment of being in my studio surrounded by other people who are just as passionate about their work and art making as I am.  We ceramics majors feed off of the energy of everyone else and it feels so comfortable here in the ceramics building. 

This was made by a nine-year-old.  His favorite thing to do with this is to stick his whole arm in the mouth of the turtle.

So as I say farewell to the Village Center for the Arts for the next nine months I embrace the mess of the clay, the heat of the kilns, the long hours of hard labor, and the dry skin that always accompanies this art making process.  - Until next time!