Clay Cafe is a pop-up ceramics-painting workshop in the public high school’s art room that happens twice a year in November and April. It is hosted by art teachers who are volunteering their time to raise money for the A-OK program.
You go in, choose a blank bowl, plate, tea kettle, piggy bank, or whatever jumps out at you, and go at it with colored glazes until the time is up. We like to stay as long as possible to soak up the experience. The teachers then take your glazed pieces, fire them in a kiln, and bring them back for you 10 days later to the art room for pick-up.
The purpose of the A-OK program is to bring “local artists into the elementary school for 20 weeks. Every child (K-5) has a once-a-week art experience, working in a variety of visual arts,” says the A-OK webpage. “The opportunity for students to work with real artists, tap into their imaginations, and create works of their own can be transformative in the lives of our children.”
We love Clay Cafe because we’re not only helping to support art classes in schools, we’re also getting a 3-hour art studio experience and ending up with a finished, fired, functional artpiece for only $10-15 each. You can’t beat that price for an art class here on the island.
The teachers at Clay Cafe even made it possible for me to have another Clay Cafe the next day for the kids in my 2nd and 3rd grade youth group at the Community Church. What a ball!
Keep your eyes out for flyers advertising the next one in the spring.
Here are some other photos of a previous Clay Cafe we did.
