WhyArts Classes Offer Creative Outlet During the Pandemic

Community Connections | May 19, 2021

Throughout the past year, Sheltering Tree has primarily had to rely on applications such as Zoom to host our various activities. Some projects were difficult to accomplish due to the limitations of an online space, while others ran brilliantly. One such in the latter category was a clay workshop sponsored by WhyArts, an organization that provides access to arts programming for groups like ours.

Working with clay is a complicated process, but the WhyArts ceramic artist, Richard Chung, did an excellent job of engaging our tenants and creating an atmosphere that felt closer to in-person than virtual. This allowed the residents to feel comfortable with the clay and truly let their imaginations flow!

WhyArts was also generous in covering the costs of the program, which began in March. Participants met as a group a total of five times. The first four meetings provided instruction on how to make a pinch pot, a cup or bowl, a miniature head, and a decorative facemask. Each object took about an hour to fully mold. After those four sessions, the finished products were given to Richard, who fired them in his kiln. The final step in the process was to decorate the pieces during the fifth meeting and once again send them to the kiln. The results were a multitude of functional and beautiful works of art.