Lifelong Learning with Community Arts

It’s been a busy few weeks for Community Arts programming at Clay Art Center!

Community Arts programming at Clay Art Center builds on partnerships with local schools, assisted living facilities, and other community-based organizations to offer high-quality arts education and enrichment in Port Chester, Westchester County, and beyond. These partnerships help us to serve our community and reach individuals of all ages. Read on to learn about our past few weeks working with teachers from the Port Chester school district, our Around the World in Clay program, the planter project at Don Bosco Community Center, and a class with the International Rescue Committee.

Clay Art Center welcomed art and music teachers from the Port Chester school district for a professional development day. These teachers have been doing a lot of work this year with English Language Learners, so their lesson focused on the experience of being in a classroom where they don’t know the language of instruction. Clay Art Center Artist Denis Licul taught the class in Croatian, without any translation, and the teachers did their best to work out her meaning and create pinch pots inspired by their interpretation of an artwork called The Well of Life, a sculpture installed outside the Croatian National Theatre. Dr. Katherine Sinsabaugh, the supervisor of Fine and Performing Arts and Pre-K Program Administrator, attended the program and had this to say: “Thank you for such an amazing PD session. As you heard teachers say – this was the best (and most helpful) session that they had ever attended. We are so thankful that you are our community partner.”

This past week we celebrated the end of the recent session of Around The World in Clay for elementary students. This after-school program - supported by the Common Sense Fund - is free to Port Chester public school students. The course gives students the opportunity to learn about the history and importance of ceramics in different cultures around the world, while also giving each student the freedom to interpret and create using their own unique perspectives and imagination. At the end of each session Clay Art Center hosts a show of the Students’ work, and families have the opportunity to come together and celebrate their achievement.

The planter project at Don Bosco Community Center is also nearing completion! The project has been guided by Artist-in-Residence Evelyn Mtika, who teaches one of the weekly classes that run year round at Don Bosco, funded by St. Faith’s House Foundation. The young students formed the pot using the coiling method, leaving large swirls of clay visible at the top of the planter. After coating the piece with a layer of white underglaze, the class began painting their own designs on the pot, which will be finished with a coat of clear glaze. Once fired, the pot will be used as a planter outside of Don Bosco for all to enjoy!

Clay Art Center also offered a class with the International Rescue Committee, a global organization that serves those whose lives and livelihoods are affected by conflict and disaster by providing access to resources for education, health, safety, and empowerment. During the class, children and their guardians learned the basic techniques of handbuilding and to make pinch pot trinket bowls. Some of the students followed their creativity wherever it led them, creating larger bowls and flowers. The class was taught by Community Arts & Offsite Programs Manager Brian Barry, who observed the many different languages being spoken in the room as students young and old navigated the project, including Mandarin, Ukrainian, Arabic, and French. Brian noted the impact that clay can have for everyone, and particularly those going through the upheaval of rebuilding their lives: “As a former ESL teacher and someone who’s married to an immigrant, issues surrounding immigrants' rights and refugee experiences are deeply personal to me. Since joining Clay Art Center and beginning to work with clay myself, I’ve seen how incredibly therapeutic and grounding the process can be. I wanted to offer these students—many of whom are navigating a new country and complex transitions—a space to slow down, play, and express themselves through clay. It’s a powerful material that invites creativity, connection, and calm.”