The 17th annual Clay City Lions Club Pottery Festival took place recently and both the Lions Club charcoal roasted chicken on Saturday  and the Jonah Fish Fry on Sunday went over "fantabulously" with the crowd.

The weather this year did not cooperate as Saturday was practically a wash out. None-the-less a steady stream of visitors found their way to the many activities taking place all over Goshorn Park, the town and the Pottery.While less than the usual numbers the crowd was steady throughout the weekend despite the rain. Early Saturday morning members of the Clay City Lions Club manned the twenty charcoal grills and started preparing the "famous-fall-of-the-bone" charcoal grilled chicken that is certainly the most tastiest attribute of the festival. The chicken recipe, with its untold secret ingredients, has been handed down from  "Head Lion  Club Chef"  to the current  "Head Lion Club Chef " since 1947 and has no equal in the Wabash Valley.  The Clay City Lions Club is the main sponsor of the Festival and uses the Festival as their main fund raising activity. All profits are pumped right back into the community. Over the years other Clay City service organizations have been encouraged to join in on the fund raising activities. Organizations such as the "Band Boosters" and  the Volunteer Fire Department, to name but a few, have come to be regular participants and with their presence have become important contributors to the success of the the Festival. Over the years the Festival has developed into a regional event that draws people from as far away as Arizona and New York. The Festival now offers something for just about everyone. There's a flea market, an arts and crafts show & sale, the Quilt Display, Antique Cars and Tractors, a demonstrating potter (guess who!) on the North side of town in Goshorn Park and factory tours of the 119 year old family owned Clay City Pottery on the South side of town. Returning once again to lend some additional “class” to the arts and crafts displays were the husband and wife potter team  Robin and Jay Willey. As in past years their work stands out among the many displays.  Wheel thrown pierced lamp shades, lamps, rhytons, etc. reminds this writer of a certain somebody’s type of work executed in a previous life time…;-) 

 The banter of the side show barker, with his "Ring-a-ding-ding" and his familiar "Cool"  added to the  ambiance of the Festival and brought smiles to the faces of  all. This year  Rogier Donker brought his Raku kiln again and several Raku demonstrations were held in Goshorn Park over the course of the Festival. The public was encouraged to participate in the Raku demonstrations and many did. Cool!  ;-) In an effort to make the Festival even more enjoyable for all, the Lions Club brought in a story-teller, who delighted young and old. Tom McCormack,the Storyfeller certainly brightened the sometimes dreary rainy day with his delightful stories of life,youth and reality. Tom can be reached at stryflr@hotmail.com or one can visit his website at http://www.storynet.org

This little dove decided to build her nest right above the entry door of one of the buildings in Goshorn Park. Despite the hundreds of people passing under her she stayed put!

John,Gerald and Rodney manning the grills.

Timing is everything - turn that grill!

Gerald dispenses some of the secret ingredients....

Doug and Carol are getting it all together for the crowd to come

0ne of the many craft booths

The craft barn, just before the crowd arrived!

Robin Willey in her stand

Robin's pierced rhytons - beautiful!

Delightfully beautiful "stuff" Robin! :-)

I'm glad I no longer have to compete....Robin would give me a run for my money...

Time to eat....oh boy! succulent! fall-off-the-bone-good....it's "them thar" secret ingredients, I'm telling you!

Jim giving the chicken the final dose. Let's eat!

See you next year!

In early April, 2004, Rogier visited Rockville High School and had a throwing session with eight of the advanced art students. A wheel throwing demonstration started in the morning and after that the students took to the five wheels like bees to honey. Some really intensive throwing, learning and teaching took place and a good time was had by all as the pictures indicate. Just going to have to do this kind of thing again next year!  :-)

It's six a.m and the day started with a beautiful sunrise. Off to Rockville I go!

Bring up that cylinder gals!

"Whaddaymean I did it wrong?"

"Now push out the bottom"

"...and this is how you hold your hands!"

There you go!

That's called an "action shot" Abby! Cool! :-)

Now Meg's going to show you the six point choke.

Laugh if you must, but this is how you blow "life" into the pot!

The result of some intensive trying! I'm very proud of you guys! You did GOOD!

March 5th, 2004 was the World Womens Prayer Day and Rogier, by invitation of the church, took the potters wheel to the altar of the First Methodist Church in Sullivan, Indiana to give a " live demonstration" of the correlation between the potters wheel , clay and Faith. "Well done", said the pastor afterwards :-)

March 5th 2004

Thanks to a grant from Arts Illiana the kids at the McLean Education Center in Terre Haute had the opportunity to explore the possibilities playing with clay. The students started the box project, that they will finish at a later date with help from their teacher. They also created nifty gnomes. The consensus was that the students liked making the gnomes, but that fantastic lunch at 'Granny B's' was better! :-) A good time was had by all!

February 17th

As has been the case annually for the last "umphteen" years some heavy duty "mud slinging" occurred in the Dugger Union High School Art Department.  The students are getting better all the time, but who's that one guy ? :-)

Sponsored by the WCIESC, Rogier made his annual visit to Edgewood Junior High School on February 12th 2004.

January 29th &30th

Sponsored by North Putnam High School Rogier took over the Art Room for some heavy duty and concentrated wheel throwing lessons to eager art students.

...Over forty Indianapolis Public School teachers converged upon the Broadripple High School Art Department's Ceramic studio on January 14th 2004. The occasion was a long awaited teacher training session about taking proper care of kilns. The day long workshop was sponsored by the IPS Facillities Management Division and was conducted by yours truly.

"Now this", he said :-) "is a pyrometer!" 

"In conjunction with the thermocouple, the pyrometer and the kiln sitter are very important parts of your kiln!"

" Paying attention and taking notes!"   

"...and here's what that glaze blob can cause..." 

"Kiln wash! Use it! 

January 12th 2004

It has been a few years, but here we are again at Rockville Elementary School in Rockville, Indiana. The day started off with the whole school gathered in the gym, where everyone was treated to a vintage show :  Donald Duck, Porky the Pig, the Alligator and Dumbo the elephant. Afterwards the upper grades participated in a hands on workshop in the art room. In all the excitement the art teacher and myself forgot all about taking pictures of the latter activity. Trust me: the kids had a blast - so did the grown-ups!  :-)

In January 2004 Rogier visited the Rockville High School Art Classes.

December 2003

The 39th demonstration season started off with a visit to Montezuma Elementary School. Afterwards the kids made all kinds of drawings of the "clay dude" , that decorated the hall way of the school. The Special Education kids joined in the fun too. A good time was had by all!