Grand Clay Arts Meeting
The next general membership meeting of Grand Clay Arts will be held January 20, 2022, at 9:00 AM. We welcome participants in person in the Chaparral Center Hopi Room. There will not be a Zoom option this month. We look forward to seeing you there!
Message from the President
Bruce Lucas Masks
Very welcomed in the Clay Arts studio...January 2022.
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It's great to welcome home our seasonal members for another terrific clay arts season. The club benefits tremendously from the energy shared by the expanded artist roster. We all look forward to an exciting time over the next several months sharing ideas and concepts in broadening our personal and collective artistic expressions!
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The Village Center patio, located directly in front of the Clay Arts studio windows, is open! The redesigned and expanded plaza offers increased opportunity for resident socialization. New seating and tables highlight the area. To top it off, attractive lighting has been installed throughout the area. Community reaction? The new Village Center patio was fully occupied Friday from mid-morning through late afternoon.
 Clay Arts studio is maximizing the Village Center patio location. The new gallery window display now faces the Village Center plaza. The club's construction team invested countless hours designing and building the display shadowboxes featured in the window. The objective of the gallery window is to offer Village Center visitors an increased opportunity to view the club's creations while enjoying the area's expanded patio and promenade walkways. For evening viewing, the gallery window features tasteful shadowbox lighting. The result is a wonderful presentation of our members' creations taking advantage of the increased Village Center activity. Thank you to the construction team!
Gallery Window Construction Team
Diane Niehof - Design
John Rushton - Carpentry (missing from photos)
Bob Singer - Light Installation
Sherri Singer - Paint Crew
Janet Wear - Paint Crew
Joanne Berube - Paint Crew (missing from photos)
Thank You!
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Village Center grand opening features five days of activities from Tuesday, February 1, through Saturday, February 5. The community's first Artisan Fusion Art Walk is scheduled as the February 5th highlight event. The seven Artisan Fusion clubs will be featured in the Village Center from 9 AM to 1 PM. Entertainment, food and beverages are also planned. Along with the art walk, the Market at Grand will run simultaneously. February 5th promises to be a fun day with lots of resident activity.
The Clay Arts Club plans to take full advantage of the day by expanding our normal monthly first Saturday artist roster from 7 to 12 members presenting pottery on the Village Center patio. Also, the studio lobby and entrance area will offer opportunities to present pottery as well. The participation sign-up sheets will be available in the studio lobby beginning on Sunday, January 23, at 8 AM. Participation is open to all members with the exception of artists participating in the December Market at Grand event. Details will be covered during the upcoming January 20 General Membership meeting.
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Bob Mohr Award Nominations
Cyndi Swintek It's time to offer your nominations for the 2021 Bob Mohr Award. This award is presented on an annual basis to recognize a member who has exhibited outstanding efforts for the betterment of the club and its members.
Nominations should be based on the following:
- Assisting fellow members in clay arts projects
- Contributing to organizational and studio betterment
- Consider seasonal and full-time members equally
Please include your reasons for submitting your nominee. All areas weigh equally when considering nominees. Board members are not eligible.
All nominations must be received no later than January 28 to be forwarded to the Board. The recipient of the award will be announced at the February general membership meeting.
Please send your nominations to Cyndi Swintek.
Membership Renewal
Karen LeMar Thank you to all our membership for being a part of Grand Clay Arts over the past year! The majority of us have renewed membership for 2022. For those who have not renewed, please note that your account is past due as of 1/15. You will not be able to participate in the club after that date. If you would still like to renew, you must do so no later than 1/31. You may pay dues online using your PayPal account or credit card or take payment to the club and use the Membership Fees envelope. We hope you will continue your membership and enjoy all the benefits it provides!
IT Corner
Karen LeMar Newly issued CAM cards have various formats. CAM is working to get all IDs and cards consistent but it will take time. The key for checking in at the studio is that the number on the card must match what is in the GCA database.
If you have gotten a new card with a different ID, update your profile:
- Log in to the website (grandclayarts.com)
- Click on "Change Contact/Profile Info" on upper right of the screen
- Change "Member ID (CAM #)"
Please allow 24 hours for the database to update.
The new card scanner is installed! There are now three ways to check in:
- QR code scan: For cards that have a QR code
- Magnetic strip card reader: For cards that do not have a QR code
- Keyboard: To type in the CAM ID
If the ID does not register, make a note of the member and contact membership@grandclayarts.com.
For late-breaking news, check the "GCA News Feed" from the homepage.
Grand Clay Arts Facebook group is 50 strong now. It's great to see the styles and creativity our members bring to life!
New Window Display
Diane Niehof Progress on our new display area is going forward. The focus will be on showing our clay work to the groups of people that will be gathering outside the back of our club in the newly remodeled Village Center. The cubes formerly used as cubbies have been altered and painted and will soon be filled with clay art. Our display/sales area will about double.
With that in mind, please look at your collections, photograph about 5 reasonably sized items and submit to the gallery, then bring items into the club. You will be notified when your item is to be removed. Please do so promptly. Storage space is always an issue, so place new, tagged items on the shelf behind the monitor's desk. When that is full, put new work on the bottom shelf of the front display area.
The date for the new window display will be approximately January 20, 2022.
Thanks to the awesome remodel crew John Rushton, Bob Singer, Sherry Singer, Janet Wear and Joanne Berube! Masterful job!
The Gallery
Karen LeMar In January, we resume the Gallery rotation of pieces. On the first of the month, pieces that were posted two months prior to the current month will be rotated off the online Gallery. Artists are requested to remove those items from the studio. (An email will be sent identifying the pieces to be removed.)
To support our new display windows, we are adding a checkbox to the "Record In-studio Gallery Sales" form. This is to track where the buyer spotted the piece they buy and to gauge the effectiveness of the display window.
Hints and Tips
Diane Niehof When using the newly stocked B3 Brown Clay, consider the following:
- Amaco Velvet Underglaze works well and color will be pretty solid when 3 coats are applied.
- EA Stroke transparent UG shows lots of brown stain coming up through the colors.
- Amaco Satin Matte Clear will turn the black clay a leather-brown color.
- We currently have no test of B3 Brown with HF9 clear over it, but remor has it that the black clay color will also change to brown under clear glaze.
- One possible solution to avoid the clay going brown would be to wax a small area inside the rim to save the black color, then put HF9 on the remainder inside your bowl or container.
- Reminder: All unglazed areas of work and all waxed areas will be matte black after Cone 5 firing.
Artist of the Month
Walt Fuller, GCA Artist of the Month!
It is with great pride that GCA honors Walt Fuller, January 2022 Artist of the Month. Walt has a storied 20 year plus history with the club. He led our organization as president and vice-president, guiding the club through multi-years of steady growth and creativity. In past years, Walt has served as a potter's wheel and glaze class instructor. Also, we are reminded as the club begins the process of selecting the 2021 Bob Mohr award winner, Walt was instrumental in establishing the award.
For sure Walt's club achievements are impressive and appreciated. Perhaps Walt's greatest contribution is an ongoing willingness to generously share his clay art knowledge with fellow members. His guidance is offered in great spirit and friendship!
Thank you, Walt Fuller!
Did You Know?
Grand Clay Arts made the decision to relax some club operating practices in view of the pandemic. Now that we are getting back to a more normal operation, we want to remind our members of the policy guidelines.
- Only members in good standing can take full advantage of the benefits of the club. That includes purchasing supplies, firing, glazing, taking classes, and selling items in the Gallery.
- When you register for a class, the class fee is immediately payable. If you aren't paying online when you register, please submit your payment in the studio within three days.
- Less than minimum enrollment in a class may result in cancellation.
- All members are required to monitor at least once during the calendar year even though the majority of their service hours are accrued performing other duties.
- When on accredited duty, monitors will focus on manning the lobby area, greeting visitors, assisting with sales, and fulfilling standard monitor duties and will not work on their own artwork.
Thank you.
Upcoming Classes and Events
Lynne Shanrock
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Class
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Date
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Time
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Instructor
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Hanging Totem – January (class in progress)
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1/4 1/11, 2/2, 2/16
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6-9 PM
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Lynne Shanrock
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Hand Building/Carving (class in progress)
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1/10, 13, 17, 21
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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Whimsical Village Cylinder
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1/17 and 1/24
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3-6 PM
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Pat O’Brien
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Beginning Wheel- January (Full)
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1/18, 20, 25, 27
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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The Wow of Glazing - Part 1
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1/19
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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The Doctor is In!
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1/20
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3-6 PM
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Diane Niehof
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Would You Wear These? (2)
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1/21, 1/28
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3-6 PM
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Pat O’Brien
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The Wow of Glazing - Part 2
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1/22
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3-5 PM
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Brian Marx
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Mask Making
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1/15, 1/27
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3-6 PM
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Diane Niehof
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Super Fun Super EZ Underglaze Transfer
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1/29
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9AM-2PM
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Diane Niehof
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Basic Clay - Hand Building - February
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2/1, 8, 15
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3-6 PM
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Pat O’Brien
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Beginning Wheel – February
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2/1, 3, 22, 24
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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Flower Making with Donna Repaty
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2/3
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3-6 PM
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Donna Repaty
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The Wow of Glazing Part 1 February
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2/10
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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Stains and Underglazes
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2/7
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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Betwix & Between Throwing
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2/8, 9, 15, 17
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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The Wow of Glazing Part 2 February
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2/10
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6-8 PM
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Brian Marx
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Pickled Pigs Feet
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2/12, 16
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3–6 PM
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Diane Niehof
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Pots Run Riot (masks required)
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2/18, 19
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3-6 PM
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Carol Commins
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Adobe House
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2/23
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6-9 PM
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Lynne Shanrock
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Would You Wear These? February
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2/25, 3/4
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3-6 PM
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Pat O’Brien
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Basic Clay – March (invitation only)
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3/1, 8, 15
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3-6 PM
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Pat O’Brien
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Hand Building/Carving
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3/1, 3, 8, 10
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6-9 PM
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Brian Marx
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Please continue to check the event calendar on our website for the most current information on class offerings.
You will notice a new name among the instructors. Carol Commins is a guest instructor with over thirty years of experience creating pots. Carol teaches ceramics in her studio in Prescott as well as at various studios in the area. Sign up for her class if you want to add a bit of zip to your pottery creations.
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