By Jessica Carr
The Helen DeVitt Jones Clay Studio at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts brings a unique ceramic arts presence to the Lubbock community every Thursday night with its Taste of Clay class.
Taste of Clay is a free and open event to anyone who is interested in learning about ceramic art. The studio has an experienced and knowledgeable staff that teaches different ceramic techniques to any newcomers to the class.
“We started Taste of Clay as a place where people could come in and get their hands dirty, play in the mud and get experience with clay,” Roger Holmes, studio manager, said.
Taste of Clay has been the most popular class the clay studio offers, Holmes said. With its popularity, the class has established a group of regulars who attend every week.
Shana Williams and her grandmother Gay Cline are two of the regulars, and they have attended Taste of Clay for about two years.
“We come every week,” Williams said. “It is kind of our girl’s night out, now.”
Besides the regulars, many of the attendees at Taste of Clay are people looking for something different to do in Lubbock who happened to stumble upon the event.
For those who are interested in the Taste of Clay class, it is held every Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Helen DeVitt Jones Clay Studio at LHUCA.
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- On Feb. 16, the Helen DeVitt Jones Clay Studio at LHUCA hosted Taste of Clay, which is held every Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. The tables in the studio belong to the Texas Tech’s architecture department since it uses the studio every semester for a ceramics architecture class.
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- Gay Cline (left) and her granddaughter Shana Williams (right) come every week as part of their girl’s night out. Cline is working on engraving a slab piece, and Williams is working on making a replica of the green plate pictured in the bottom left corner.
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- Studio assistant Andrew Carrizales demonstrates a technique called “throwing” using a pottery wheel.
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- When sodium silicate is applied to clay and dried, it leaves a cracked textured appearance on the pottery.
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- Marilee Bybee, volunteer and “Taste of Clay” instructor, shows newcomers around the studio. The ceramic bowl she is holding was made with a cookie cutter to give it a unique design and texture, Bybee said.
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- Andrew Carrizales, studio assistant, takes a break from class while leaning on one of the studio chairs.
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- Lisa Gregg, studio artist, works on her “throwing” technique on the pottery wheel while blowing bubbles with her chewing gum. Taste of Clay does not focus on using the pottery wheel, but studio artists come in and use the space during the open studio hours.
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- Kaiya Perryman has attended Taste of Clay for about a year now. She used the rolling pin to flatten the clay before cutting out patterns for her plate.
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- Kaiya Perryman uses a needle tool to make the clay pieces look like leaves. She is placing them on a ceramic plate that she had made in a previous class.
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- Kaiya Perryman finished her ceramic bowl in less than two hours. The ceramic bowl will have to dry for 24 hours before it can be glazed and fired in the kiln.
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