the art of pottery 1986-2000

This piece was created during a Summer Art Camp offered at our school in Tobago. It was done by an eleven year old child. ( Lindsay Hall )

This is one of the pieces that I created.

This is another piece I created. It is a little pot, and the lid can be removed. I was experimenting in the amount of shrinkage that happens to clay when it dries, and in the kiln. I was happy that the lid fit, when it was done.

 While I taught at a primary school in Trinidad, I took the opportunity to learn the "art of pottery making". I was lucky to be taught the process from the very first step, by Bunty O'Connor, a well known artist in Trinidad.

I learned where to find clay in Trinidad, and in Tobago too. I dug the clay from the ground! The Trinidad and Tobago clay is so much more flexible than the prepared clay that came from England, that I preferred using it. It stayed moist and pliable, for a longer time, so was just right for little children who took some time to mold their clay into the object they wanted to make.

I learned how to sieve the clay, to remove the stones and impurities. I learned to dry it on large slabs which I made from plaster of paris. The plaster of paris absorbs the water from the wet clay, leaving it just the right consistency for use by the artist. I then would package this prepared clay for use by the students. Eventually I taught pottery classes to all of the children of the school. In Tobago I taught pottery as an extra-curricular subject, in one school where I taught. It became part of our Art curriculum, when I opened my own school in Tobago, in 1994.

I learned how to mix my own glazes. And I learned what stores in Trinidad sold the prepared glazes. I learned about kilns, and 'cones' and temperatures and sequences, to produce a finished piece of pottery.

Eventually I taught the students this process too. And they loved the fun and mess of sieving the clay, and of course, making their own art pieces. In the Trinidad school, we had our own kiln. In Tobago, we made use of a large kiln that was made available to our school, through the kindness of the Art teacher at a public high school.