February 2021

GCA Newsletter

GCA Meeting

The next meeting of Grand Clay Arts will be Thursday, February 18 at 9AM via Zoom. Link will be provided via email blast or check the home page on our website.

Message from the President

Bruce Lucas

2020 Bob Mohr Award

The 2020 Bob Mohr Award recipients were determined in a three-way runoff. Over 100 members voted resulting in a tie.

Well deserved congratulations to

Studio News

January and February studio life has reached a comfortable balance between members maximizing reserved work time and scheduled GCA classes. The current number of 2021 GCA members also seem to comfortably support our well-balanced club activity schedule, Also, financially, the club came through January 2021 in good shape. Our treasurer, Debbie Meyer, will review the numbers with members during the upcoming General Meeting February 18.

Sharing an experience from earlier this week, I stopped in the studio Wednesday, about 8AM. Our GCA volunteer cleaning crew was busy at work. One of the crew members was on hands and knees cleaning dried clay from the wall and floor in front of a stand-up potters wheel. It was an embarrassing situation. Why was she cleaning up our mess? The question we need to ask ourselves is: do we check the wall in front of the wheel or, for that matter, the machine next to us for errant flying clay. Let's join together in upping our awareness level by taking the last fifteen minutes of our work sessions to thoroughly clean our area: potters wheel or hand-building tables. Please include the area around our immediate work station to make sure it's in great shape. Please take this request to heart. GCA cleaning crews are very special folks deserving our full support and cooperation by all of us thoroughly cleaning our work stations after every individual session.

New Kiln Room Addition

You may have noticed architects around the studio this past week. To bring you up to date, CAM is in the beginning steps of relocating the GCA kiln room to the opposite side of the studio. This deals with our health and safety request from 2019. The kiln room relocation project is in the second phase of a three phase Grand Clay Arts endeavor.

Phase 1 - Update studio to HEPA air purification system (completed)
Phase 2 - Relocate kiln room (in progress)
Phase 3 - Bump out studio front (2023)

The proposed new kiln room will be roughly twice the size of the current kiln location. A timeline has yet to be determined for Phase 2. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later!

GCA Club Officers

In January, fellow members accepted the following club positions:

Membership Director . . . Pat Conlen
Safety Officer . . . Jacquie Wodach
Sunshine Officer . . . Cathy Rick

Thank you and congratulations, your service to the club is greatly appreciated!

Grand Lifestyles Magazine - February Full-page Ad

In this month's Grand Lifestyles Magazine, please note a full-page Grand Clay Arts ad on page 30. The ad is a reprint of our 2020 Image Ad presentation photographed by the Grand Photo Club. Due to the omission of a Grand Photo Club credit in the original ad, CAM reprinted the Image Ad at no cost to Grand Clay Arts with the appropriate Grand Photo Club credit. Thank you, CAM!

Name Tags

The following members name tags are available for pick up in the studio lobby:

IT Corner

Karen LeMar, IT Director, Board Member

Check-in (CAM card swipe) Process

There are two new features in the check-in process:

New members who do not have enough service hours will display in BLUE. These members have full access to the studio while they are in the process of building up their service hours. New members will have the "new member" status for 90 days after the date they join.
Part-time members need at least six service hours to be in good standing. The system will reflect this by displaying GREEN for these members.

Part-time members are those who reside in Sun City Grand 90 days or less. If you are a part-time member by this definition, you may indicate this by logging into the website, then click on "Change Contact/Profile Info" in the upper right of the screen. Scroll down to the check box called "Reside in SCG 90 days or less" and click in the little box.

Website Security

You have recently heard of scams where club members appear to be contacted by board members and asked for money. As our homepage is accessible to the public, we have taken steps to remove names, phone numbers, and personal email addresses.

Most noticeable of these changes are:

Class and Event Calendars are removed from the home page. (Calendars are fully accessible once you have logged in.)
Instructor names and contact information has been removed from the Class Catalog. (This info is still available from the calendar entries, once you have logged in.)

Website Outages

We did have an outage this month for about 12 hours (overnight). If you experience any problems when accessing the website, please contact me. Sometimes we know about issues and sometimes we don't. We will make every effort to correct the issue in a timely manner.

I hope this is helpful; email me with questions (webmaster@grandclayarts.com).

Membership

Pat Conlen, Membership Director

We have completed processing the 2020 annual dues payments and now we currently have approximately 200 members. We've probably lost some members due to COVID concerns and hopefully some will return next year. We now have cubbies available, so if you are in need of a cubby, go to the grandclayarts.com home page and about half way down the page click on "Request a Cubby." If you have any questions regarding membership, please contact Pat Conlen at membership@grandclayarts.com. Also we have updated the list of current members and placed a copy in the binder behind the monitor's desk.

Clay Arts Gallery

Karen LeMar

Our gallery is looking great with many new pieces available on the website and on display in the studio! As you read in a recent eBlast, we will be rotating pieces so that the gallery is fresh and appealing for our clientele.

On the first of each month, pieces that have been posted for more than a month will be removed. Artists are encouraged to submit new pieces, and items may be brought back after 30 days.

Let us know of any questions and thank you for your engagement in the gallery! (Direct your questions to gallerymanager@grandclayarts.com.)

Saggar Firing

Diane Niehof, Board Member, Instructor

Saggar firing is one of the alternative firing methods offered by our club. It's a wild and crazy-fun process where the artists wrap up their clay work in aluminum foil (the saggar) after coating it with chemicals and adding some organic materials of their choice. Those may include horsehair, leaves, lemon slices, peanut butter and lots more.

After firing in our new outdoor kiln, the saggars (containers) are opened revealing colors and textures caused by fuming inside the foil. Pieces are finished with a spray coating or with several coats of wax. It must be noted that these items are for decorative use only and will not hold water. Join us for the fun of alternative firing.

Safety

Jacquie Wodach, Safety Officer

There have been several incidents within the club in the last 30 days where members have hit their heads and shoulders while trying to get materials in and out of their own cubbies. This is a safety issue.

With our modified layout during COVID, we are more constrained on space and need the aisles to be clear. We also want to set the right example for the new members coming into the club. If anyone has a supply container protruding outside of their space, please comply with club guidelines and exchange it for one that fits within the 13 inches high by 15 inches wide and 13 inches deep containment space. There are many options available at craft or hardware stores.

Thank you for helping make our club a safer place!

Message from the Glaze Room

The Glaze Team

The glaze team has been busy. We are now measuring the consistency of each glaze with a hydrometer. By doing this, we are able to keep the glazes at appropriate thickness levels providing better glaze results. If you find a glaze that seems too thick or too thin, please leave a note on the white board. The glaze team is paying attention to notes left by all of you and we will deal with all reported issues as quickly as possible.

Please note that if you want to work in the glaze room, you must sign up on the sheet that is attached to the white board on the door. We have noticed that this rule is not being followed. Time allotment for each person using the glaze room is 30 minutes.

Please remember to wipe down the stir sticks and the sides of the buckets after use, as well as any spills including drops on the floor.

Many thanks to those who are conscientiously cleaning up after using the glaze room.

Sunshine Announcements

Cathy Rick, Sunshine Officer

Please help the club recognize members and family facing medical issues by forwarding their contact information to our Sunshine Officer. A card signed by club members will be sent immediately. Please forward contact information by going to the Grand Clay Arts website home page. You will find a Sunshine link in the lower right hand corner. Simply enter the name and hit send. Cathy Rick will do the rest!

Upcoming Classes and Events

Lynne Shanrock, Education Committee, Instructor

Class Name	Date	Time	Instructor
Hand Building-Carving	2/15, 17, 22, 24	6:00 – 9:00 PM	Brian Marx Full
Betwix & Between	2/16, 18, 23, 25	6:00 – 9:00 PM	Brian Marx Full
Underglaze This! Mixer	2/18/21	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Mary King Full
Raku	2/21/21	8:00 – 11:00 AM	Diane Niehof Full
Whimsical Village	2/24, 3/3	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Pat O’Brien Full
Saggar Firing	2/27 Prep 2/28 Fire	3:00 – 5:00 PM Prep 8:00 – 11:00 AM Fire	Diane Niehof
Basic Clay	3/2, 9, 16	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Pat O’Brien Full
Beginning Wheel	3/2, 4, 9, 11	6:00 – 9:00 PM	Brian Marx Full
Doc is In #7 Mixer	3/10	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Diane Niehof Full
Wow of Glazing Pt. 1	3/10	6:00 – 9:00 PM	Brian Marx Full
Wow of Glazing Pt. 2	3/13	6:00 – 9:00 PM	Brian Marx Full
Owl Luminary	3/11	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Bonnie Green Full
Underglaze This! Mixer	3/15	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Mary King
Hand Building-Carving	3/16, 18, 23, 25	6:00 – 9:00 PM	Brian Marx Full
Doc is In #8 Mixer	3/17	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Diane Niehof
Stampin’ Impressions Mixer	3/19	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Pat O’Brien
Desert Landscape	3/22	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Pat O’Brien
Hanging Pinch Pot Mixer	3/29	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Anita Britton
Underglaze This! Mixer	3/30	3:00 – 6:00 PM	Mary King

Check our website for the most up-to-date information. Classes are filling up quickly. If you are interested in one of our classes, sign up NOW or wait list with the instructor if the class is full.

GCA Newsletter - February 2021