The Clay Studio: Claymobile in the News!

Claymobile in the News!

Harmony Thompson and Yvonne Lung wheeled their cart past the metal detector and down the long hallway, onto the elevator, and into the art room. When Dorothy Johnson saw the supplies they unloaded - bottles of paint, glitter, colorful feathers, brushes, glue, scissors, and dozens of pieces of hardened polished ceramic - she lit up. The Claymobile had come to Strawberry Mansion High School.

When Dalina Hayes saw her finished work for the first time, she was delighted. "I didn't think it would come out like this," Hayes said, showing art teacher Marilyn Dix a mask she had sculpted and painted brown and black.

Hayes, a junior, had to change her schedule and get special permission to attend the Claymobile classes. It was worth it she said. "It's fun, its different," said Hayes. "I've never done anything like this before, and I would like to keep doing it."

Dix sees the Claymobile as a gift. When Thompson and Lung arrive, students are excited to come to class.

"It's wonderful," said Dix. "I don't know enough about clay to do this myself. What an opportunity."

-- "Helping to mold students' interest in art", by Kristen Graham, Philadelphia Inquirer,Wed., Dec. 26, 2007
Working in clay 'is especially good' for the elderly. "Just an hour and a half of your time to create this beautiful item," Jonathan Dickstein told seven York House women, holding up a ceramic berry bowl. And when you get it back it will last forever."

Flip it up in the air the way they do a pizza." said one of the women as Dickstein demonstrated how to roll a slab of clay into a circle. Then each woman rolled her own, using a paper circle as a template.

"Use your whole arm - both hands," Dickstein told the women, who were rolling clay into coils. Then the coils were turned into spirals and used to decorate the bowls-in-the-making At first, the women followed the examples, Dicstein showed them. But soon, each bowl took on an individual look.

For seniors, this gives them a change to socialize and work thier muscles and minds in a way out of the ordinary fo rthem. It promotes dexterity and hand-eye coordination. -- "Claymobile brings ceramics workshops to senior facilities", by Dick Saunders, Milestones,Oct. 2007
"We've all heard of famous artists such as Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Picasso, but in my humble opinion the real artistic talent lies in the creative hands of our students at Hope Partnership for Education Middle School. For the past six weeks, our First and Second Year students have been fortunate to participate in a ceramics art class provided by the Claymobile. Quite simply put, it's an art studio on wheels that brings clay classes to schools, community-based organizations, and social service shelters in the Greater Philadelphia area. The Claymobile provides everything needed for a class, including the instructors.

As I had the opportunity to sit in on one of the clay classes, I was not only amazed at the students' creativity and energy, but their wealth of knowledge about clay and the entire process. I was introduced to works such as bisqueware, underglaze, and greenware - terms I had never heard of before. It was so inspiring to see the children so interested in their work. Their first project was to make flower pots, then replicas of their homes. I walked around the classroom admiring their pieces and how much detail was put into their work.
-- "Art Studio on Wheels Rolls into Hope", by Sonia Ftomyn, Hope Partnership for Education, Spring/ Summer 2006
The Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation has selected The Clay Studio as the 2005 recipient of the George Bartol Arts Education Award. The George Bartol Arts Education Award was established in 2001 to recognize outstanding arts education programs by a non-profit cultural organization. Each year, a grant of $5,000 will be made in memory of George Bartol, founder of the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, who believed that the key to a thriving arts community was an investment in arts education for its children. This award is made possible by a gift from the founder's wife, Mary Bartol.

In honoring Mr. Bartol, the award is given to an organization that provides sustained, meaningful exposure and participation in the arts; that demonstrates an active engagement in the lives of its students and community; and that maintains high artistic standards for its faculty and students.

No applications will be accepted for this award. Instead, as part of its annual grant distribution process, the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation will designate one grantee to receive an additional award of $5,000. Funds are to be used to support its arts education programs.

"This award is made to the Clay Studio in recognition of its Claymobile program, a mobile ceramic arts program reaching underserved communities in Philadelphia," said Beth Feldman Brandt, Executive Director of the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, "This is a national model for how to work with schools and community- based organizations to bring the best in arts education to children's everyday lives."
-- 2005 Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, 2005 George Bartol Arts Education Award
For six weeks, middle grade students at Temple's Partnership schools have been exploring new worlds of art through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the support of three community minded Philadelphia arts groups

The Clay Studio, Strings for Schools and Philadelphia Young Playwrights are collaboration on Exploring our Cultures and Ourselves, a multimedia introduction to the arts for fifth through eight graders. The grants, totaling $435,000 will continue for three years at four Partnership elementary schools: Dunbar, Duckrey, Ferguson and Meade.

"They've loved it and really look forward to this every week", said Catherine Memmolo, a teacher at Dunbar. "It's given them an opportunity to express themselves creatively. It's exposure to something new and makes them more developed people."
-- Knight Foundation grant puts arts within reach middle schoolers, by Harriet Goodheart, May 26, 2005, Temple Times
The mothers and children made clay pumpkins with hollowed out centers for a candle on this autumn evening. Animated and talking excitedly with each other, they cut, rolled, carved and sculpted slabs of brown clay into their own personal Halloween statements. Some pumpkins grinned, one stuck out a tongue, and another batted eyelashes.

Every Wednesday, the Family Arts Project begins at 5 p.m. with dinner for participating mothers and children at Drueding Center/ Project Rainbow. At 5:30 half of the families join an artist from The Clay Studio, and the rest go with Strings For Schools. The families switch projects midway through the program so they get to participate in both the music and clay workshops.

"The children become completely engaged when they are involved in the clay," observes workshop facilitator Leslie Hempling
-- The Art of Healing at Drueding Center/ Project Rainbow, Redeemer Relations, October 13 & 20, 2005
"Clay isn't just for kids. The Claymobile makes basic ceramic art education accessible to underserved, inner-city and low-income people of all ages in Philadelphia. Operated by The Clay Studio with Endowment support, the traveling ceramics class in a van goes to a variety of locations including community and cultural centers, after-school programs, homeless shelters, elder-care facilities, summer camps and schools. The classes are not conducted in the van, but in spaces provided by the hosts. The Claymobile contains all the equipment and materials necessary for a class and is also outfitted to transport the finished pieces back to The Clay Studio for firing."
-- "Claymobile Brings Creative Outlet to Underserved", September 2000
A Legacy of Leadership, National Endowment for the Arts Publication:
"Certainly one of the most interesting programs at The Clay Studio is the Claymobile. This is a program in which schools, retirement homes, community centers, and other organizations which have neither the funds nor the facilities to foster an art program are visited by The Clay Studio's Van…I attended two sites – both elementary schools in under privileged neighborhoods. The kids were very interested in the work and within weeks, you could see the advancement and potential of the students. This is an excellent program run by The Clay Studio and should be continued well into the future."
-- "Senior Project at The Clay Studio", Art Matters, July 1999
Written by High School Senior, Christopher Gallagher, a summer intern at The Clay Studio
Studying art in general and sculpting in particular helps them learn new ways to think and problem-solve. Skills that don't just carryover to standard coursework, but also to life outside of school. "When you give a child a piece of clay and tell them to make something out of it, they're taking a risk," said teacher Rosalind Kaufman, while a roomful of her students buzzed around with their often amorphous-looking works of art"

"Art is so important to an overall education," said the Clay Studio's Amy Sarner Williams. "It teaches different sorts of problem solving skills that can be overlooked in other kinds of learning – creativity, complex thinking, putting parts together, focusing attention, spatial relationships – as well as expressing their own individuality."

…for children like Phillip Pearce…it means a lot. "I really like it," he said as he brushed glaze on his work. "It's like, 3-D so it's interesting." Interesting is also a good word for Phillip's piece. "It's a totem pole, like the Native Americans had. On the bottom there's a turtle – that means I'm strong; in the middle there's a bird – that means I can soar, and on top there's a rat – that's, like my dark side." And when you put it all together? "It says, 'Phillip Pearce is a strong, smart, sort of devilish little boy.'"
-- "Claymobile helping to shape ways that students learn" Richard Jones, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 1998
"Kids love clay: they can mush it, smoosh it, squeeze it, even eat it. But many inner-city kids don't get the opportunity to take clay art classes. That's where the Clay Studio comes in. Four years ago, they started the Claymobile program. Each summer, college interns, ceramists and high school teaching assistants load up the Claymobile with tools and clay and visit area community centers, teen detention centers, schools, summer camps and social service shelters that cannot afford clay classes. The program, which has grown considerably since its inception, is funded by churches, local charities, and partially by the host sites."
--"Six Pick" Jennifer Darr, Philadelphia City Paper, Aug. 6, 1998
"There's a truck roaming the streets of Philadelphia that leaves kids smiling in its wake – and it's not Mister Softee. It's the Clay Studio's Claymobile. The Claymobile doesn't need Rocket Pops or a tinkly theme song to entice kids. The 3-year-old traveling arts education program does it with clay: children can't wait to get their hands on the cold, damp earth and squeeze it between their little fingers, turning it into wacky masks or pint-sized tributes to their favorite pets. (Of course, there are some kids who still prefer to eat the stuff, but it won't hurt them – as one coordinator pointed out to me, "It's just dirt.")" Full text here.
-- "Clay on Wheels" - Jennifer Darr, Philadelphia City Paper, July 31, 1997
"This free-wheeling studio was the brainchild of Kathryn Narrow, who has been on the staff at The Clay Studio since 1989; she was a resident artist there for 12 years. A former instructor for children's courses a Philadelphia's University of the Arts; she saw an opportunity for reaching children from The Clay Studio as well. The only drawback was that while the Old City area of Philadelphia has become a Mecca for artists and galleries, it isn't exactly teeming with families and children. This is when Narrow first envisioned the Claymobile. "Since they can't come to us, we should go to them," she said to her colleagues. In a spontaneous response to the question of how this could be done, Narrow said, almost jokingly, "A Claymobile." The idea was a hit, and the Clay Studio purchased its Claymobile van in the summer of 1994."
"One of the best aspects of the program for AnnMarie Draycott [a Claymobile instructor] is that 'all the teachers with the program are working artists, so it gives the kids access to people who do this for a living,' she remarks. 'I think the arts are being forgotten in our culture, and kids don't otherwise have any exposure or access to the arts - I know I didn't.'"
-- "A Clay Studio on Wheels" Noelle Backer, The Crafts Report, March 1997