Collaborate in the Community
Community Arts Gallery
MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Program
The MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Program is funded by MetLife Foundation and administered by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.
Many of the participants in our Pimlico Road senior adult programs have been with Clayworks since the establishment of our first satellite in 2003. Throughout the years we have seen their work displayed in our gallery and have had the pleasure of watching them develop as ceramic artists. The Creative Aging Program grant was the perfect opportunity to offer an advanced senior adult program, in which the artists could push the boundaries of what they were already doing in their classes.
Trisha Kyner, a member artist here at Baltimore Clayworks with a strong background in narrative art and sculpture agreed to co-teach the classes along with Herb Massie, the seniors’ long time teacher. Through an extended 12 week class, the seniors worked on three projects exploring new surface techniques, clay bodies and firing methods.
High fire gas reduction and wood fire press mold bowls
A familiar method to most of the seniors, press molded bowls were used to explore new surface treatments and firing processes. For this project the participants created several pieces using a high fire clay body. The first surface technique they learned was a shellac resist decorating process. In this method, designs are carved or drawn onto the surface of the clay and shellac is then painted over the design when the clay is bone-dry clay. The shellac seals the clay, and the areas around the shellac can be eroded away with a damp sponge, leaving the desired area raised. After the work was bisqued, the seniors learned about high fire reduction glazes that would complement their decorative carving in a tutorial with Baltimore Clayworks resident artist Collette Smith.
The second firing technique and surface treatment explored was wood fire. The participants spent a day with Baltimore Clayworks’ wood kiln manager, Jim Dugan learning about the Norborigama wood kiln and firing process. They glazed and prepared a set of bowls and platters for the wood firing. Some class members also assisted in the loading and unloading of the kiln- a community event here at Clayworks.
Stacking Portrait Heads
The last project was a narrative portrait head project that gave both Trisha Kyner and Herb Massie the opportunity to share their specialty- human figuration. The heads were created out of solid clay and built around a dowel. Working in multiples allowed for significant development and growth from one piece to the next as the artist was able to immediately apply what they learned about the process to subsequent pieces. As the heads were created—with the ultimate goal of staking them together— the seniors were encouraged to think about the relationship of each head to the next and interesting themes began to emerge. Some of the sets of heads tell a story, others are a series of family portraits etc. After the heads were created, they were hollowed out and bisque fired. The senior participants then came to Clayworks to glaze and raku fire the heads.
