Last year Mark and I participated in the Fund raiser Seagrove Potters for Peace
We, along with many of our fellow potters, made and sold mugs or drinking vessels.
We donated 100 % of the sales to the Central Asia Institute.
We received a call about a month later.
The pottery teacher at Greensboro Day, a private school in Greensboro NC, called us and said they were impressed with the sharing and giving that had come from the potters
They like to bring in an art project for their students every year and tie the project to a way to give back in their community.
They feel it is important to teach their students to give back.
This fit in so well with what we felt last year that we decided we had to be apart of it.
As I wrote yesterday, the first day was Demo of pot throwing, a talk about who we are, what we do and about the Seagrove area, but we also tied in how the community supports others.
We talked about and showed pictures of our fire and how we were helped.
And then how we in turn helped with our pottery which we made and donated to the Seagove Potters for Peace.
The project the school chose was that every middle school student would made a mug.
The mugs would then be auction off and the money used for something the students would like to support.
We spent day 2, today, helping make more mugs with some classes while showing the others how to put on handles.
It was fast and furious, yet, fun.
We really have enjoyed the school, the staff and the students.
This school has such a great relationship with its students and it showed everywhere.
We had lunch with several of the teachers, some we knew and others we did not, but now we do.
It has been a great way to spend some time in January.
There really is nothing like the optimise of children to brighten a day.
And most of all we were impressed with how they are teaching these middle school students the importance of giving back.
I have some more information for you on the show Clay and Blogs:Telling a Story.
It will be later this week before I pull all the information together, but I have more names added to the list.
I should have this tied up by the end of this week.
It has been so exciting to bring this together.
Like I try to tell people, I am just a potter, not a professional, but with the buzz going out and the excitement I have hopes for a great show.
Cheers,
M
12 comments:
Sounds like y'all had a blast, and what a great school to teach such a valuable lesson!
Kudos for working with middle school age students ;)
How many middle school kids?? Wow. My hat is off to you two. Way to go.
I used to pass by that school everyday on the way home, when we lived in G'boro. They do great things! Looks like you are creating a bunch of production potters from the number of pots in that photo!
there IS a lot of BUZZ behind this show alright!
there's a nice bunch of mugs... what an extremely important message for these kids to learn.
What a great way to teach about clay and giving back!
how wonderful for students to hear about pottery directly from you and Mark since you're both working in the art every day and then making mugs to give back.
I love the idea of teaching kids the importance of community and giving back - they never had guest visitors like you when I was in school. Times sure have changed, but definitely for the better, in educating our children!
I am so impressed with your whole presentation to the kids - starting with your personal story about how you were supported and moving to how you helped support others.
They made a lot of auctionable items. Will you go back for the glazing process?
What a gift to give to those students and the community. You guys are awesome.
Thanks all- it was a good thing.
The students were great! Makes you feel full of hope.
I'm always inspired by the students when I volunteer at our Montessori School.
This is a great project, thanks for writing about it.
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