Teaching and Community Building

For all those in the know, you may have heard that I have taken a bit of a break.  I am calling it a sabbatical - a break from making work to pursue other ideas and goals.  I wanted to take 2018 to reconnect with community, to gather ideas that had scattered over the years and to regroup.  Currently I am teaching at the Markham Museum Pottery Studio and the Schwartz Reisman Centre JCC.   This experience has given me so much more than I ever expected.  My love for teaching is overflowing and my students have given me more joy than I could have imagined.  They have given me back that Beginner's Mind about clay, the butterflies in my stomach feeling when you make something with your own hands.  You all know what I mean! 

I have worked with a local community program for low-income women who have been impacted by homelessness, trauma, poverty and mental health issues called Inspirations Studio.  It is a project of Sistering, a woman’s organization that offers practical and emotional support and works to change social conditions, which endanger women’s welfare.  The Mission of Inspirations Studio is to build on women’s capacity to supplement their income and enhance their livelihoods through arts/crafts training, production and business development and related employment and social supports.

I am in between studios once again, with plans to start up somewhere in the downtown Toronto core. this time…just me. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.