Clay Connections

: Clay from our ‘gully’

: Experimenting…

: My daughter found the clay here

: The gully

: Clay factory!

: A few pendants

: slicing & dicing

: Promising pendants

: Part of the #HandsOnMedia13 team (thanks for the pic, Kim!)

: A gift from Tim!

: Me & Tim 🙂

: A beautiful red glaze

: My gorgeous gift

: imperfections = perfection.

This past weekend, my daughter discovered some beautiful clay in a stream (my children call this area ‘the gully’) behind our house. The clay is surprisingly smooth, and is easy to harvest in shallow water since it is already divided into fist-sized chunks. I decided to find out if it was workable, and after a bit of experimenting, managed to make tiny slabs into small pendants. Hopefully the pendants, once fired, will make pretty necklaces that can be sold to raise money for Relay for Life (our team page is here: Nip-Rock Around the Clock)

Earlier this week, I was fortunate to participate in an event called #HandsOnMedia13 in Terrace Bay. Here, several teachers were able to present what they have learned about a variety of technological tools to administrators in our school board. By sharing our knowledge and celebrating 21st century skills, our board is quickly moving forward in an effort to address student needs and preferences. Well done, everyone!

On our way back from Terrace Bay, we stopped in at Rossport, where we visited Tim Alexander, who owns and operates Island Pottery. Tim’s pottery is made by skilled hands, and reflects years of dedication to his craft. After talking about a variety of firing techniques and clay bodies, Tim gave me a beautiful piece of pottery to take with me. How generous! (thank you, Tim!) My friends and I continued to survey a variety of forms ~ mugs, bowls, plates, saucers… Island Pottery’s inventory is a feast for the eyes. I finally settled on purchasing a lovely mug with an earthy-red glaze that I already enjoy using at home. On my next visit to Rossport, I can’t wait to bring some of my gully clay, to see what Tim can create with it.

Clay is such a beautiful way to symbolize learning. At first, it is such an unsuspecting material: grey, without form, without apparent promise. In the right conditions, it can be shaped and encouraged to become something beautiful, living up to expectations that seemed impossible in its former condition.