A Fun Story from a Few Months Back

Last Wednesday we were invited to the Polyventure End of the Year Party. Polyventure is a course offered at EIT to people with disabilities. As a part of the party the polyventure students modeled the fleece vests that they had made that term. Each of the students walked down the imaginary catwalk in their own way—some swung their arms around in delight, others hid their faces in embarrassment and one grinned widely as he struck a John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever, disco pose. It is oh so sobering to see these folks and admire their energy and originality.

Friday we had a full day I spent the day teaching some little first graders how to make pinch pots. That evening we went to a nice exhibition of wood fire ceramic by Bruce and Elsa Martin. He and his wife visited Japan on many occasions. Through these visits the befriended a Japanese potter with knowledge in building wood kilns. Eventually the Martin’s invited this potter over to help them build an anagama kiln on their property. The Martins fired the kiln together for many years. The kiln is no longer being fired because Elsa passed away so Bruce could not do the firings alone. I enjoyed seeing wood fired pieces again some were especially nice with the beautiful ranges of blues, greens, oranges, grays and reds that you can get from a successful firing.

After seeing the exhibition Glenn and I went down to Otani to a little old ladies house. Her name was Colleen and she was selling some ceramic beads that she had made in the 70’s. When we arrived at your house she was all a glow buzzing around and pulling out boxes of this and that. I think she was working on cleaning out her studio. As I looked through all the boxes she had pulled out to show me she told me, “I am working now on painting.” I inquired what type of painting. This question of course got her buzzing once again digging through boxes trying to find some of her recent paintings. All the while she keeps telling me that I while have to keep in touch with her because she may have another weak moment and get rid of some of her other art supplies. To make here paintings she melted colored wax (similar to color crayon wax) onto a small iron and moved the iron over the paper. She tells me she calls these paintings, Trick the Eye Paintings, because you can look at them in all different directions and they look different. She grins.
Glenn and I left her house with our hands full of boxes. As we walked to the car she asked, “Do you like to cook?” Before even answering Colleen was runing back in the house. She returned with a basket full of old cookbooks saying, “Here you go take these as well, they are all healthy cooking. We like organic foods here.” With a smile we were off we both figured our car would have been full if we stayed much longer.

We then stopped for dinner at the Paper Mulberry a funky little café in the middle of nowhere. The exterior is painted gumball blue with yellow trim. Inside there is an eclectic display of artwork hanging on the walls and filling the shelves. That night they were starting an open jam session. This turned out to be an interesting musical experience; a group of little kids pounded away on conga drums and keyboards and guests hooping and howlering as they celebrate a friend’s birthday all the while three guitarists strum away singing top ten songs. An evening to remember…