Starr Garden Rec center is a community resource that offers much more than just a playground to the South Street area. The rec center along with it's leader Chloe Harris, provide a space for locals to relax, connect with their neighbors, watch movies, enrich their creativity, and all while having a publicly accessible restroom- WHOA! Among the things Starr Garden provides for the neighborhood, they also go above and beyond for organizations like The Craft Coven, and Queer Clay. The kiln that Starr Garden allows us to use is in need of MAJOR repair. Please consider supporting these costs by bidding on an item in our Kiln Repair Auction.
Items being auctioned off are hand built ceramic pieces left at Starr Garden by past attendees. In an attempt to raise funds while also clearing out some space in the studio we are starting the bids as low as $10. There is also an option to donate funds without bidding. As well as the clay made items, Fleisher Art Memorial has also agreed to donate a spot in their open studio clay session! The value of this offer costs over $200, but more so this desirable spot means you don't have to compete with buying your spot when they usually sell out in under 2 minutes. Please email info@thecraftcoven.org for questions about this auction item, and know that your donations mean the world to our community clay programming! Now for the specifics about how you can join us and get your hands muddy :-D Clay Play began late 2023 as a way to provide affordable clay access to the broader local community and bring funds into Starr Garden to support all clay programs at the recreation center. Working with fired clay requires a base of knowledge that is much more involved than most creative skill sets. That level of necessary information is a huge hurdle for anyone looking to get into the clay community. By providing a clay making session that runs on a simple system, Clay Play provides a learning environment that is not common in the world of fired ceramics. The frequency of these workshops makes it possible to build upon the skills needed for working in clay, and keep up a clay practice with very little expenses and commitment.
Local artist and educator Cassie Jones began these Clay Play sessions through her craft group- The Craft Coven. The Craft Coven is a welcoming community group with goals in bringing creative enrichment to the people of Philadelphia. Through the group Cassie plans classes in various mediums, and offers them at prices that most can afford. For those that cannot afford the costs of Clay Play, there are always at least 2 free spots available in each session for anyone that asks ahead of time.
Who should attend: Anyone who is interested in working with clay. Tickets don’t usually sell out but you do need to purchase a ticket to attend. If you would like to request one of our free spots in a session, reach out directly to info@thecraftcoven.org the week before class and we’ll be happy to sign you up!
Who should not attend: people who hate fun, people who don’t want to work with clay, meanies and crum bums
How much does it cost: $30 per session
And if you’re wondering where do those funds go/do those cover all costs? Thanks for asking! Cassie donates her time and is not paid for running Clay Play. Sea is a working clay artist that donates their time to running Clay Play and is paid for their time when the event makes additional profit. Most funds collected are used to buy clay, glaze, tools, and upkeep materials for all clay programming at the rec center. Without the funds raised by Clay Play, Queer Clay would not have the freedom to put their funds back into community support.
What type of clay work is made at Clay Play? Participants are given an all temperature clay to hand build their projects. They are able to add color with a low fire glaze, and are loaded into the kiln to fire once. Cassie also offers new projects each month with concentrations on skill building. Some examples include slip trailing, building with slabs, pinch pots, and decorating with underglaze.
When can I pick up my finished work? The rec center is open every weekday until at least 8pm, so participants can pick up their work from Starr Garden 4 weeks later. Queer Clay began in early 2023 as a way to provide affordable clay access to the queer community. With a low sliding scale price structure, queer clay provides a stress free and low commitment environment for the lgbtqia+ community to feel welcomed and supported. Because Philadelphia has so few options for alcohol free, physically accessible, socially optional workshop experiences (and in one off sessions that are cost accessible)- Queer Clay just hits on so many different levels of accessibility.
Queer Clay was founded by Erica Mandell, an award-winning local public elementary school art teacher who has been teaching in the Philadelphia public school system for 13 years. With access to the kilns at Starr Garden, they are able to offer clay as an art medium for their students, and carts the projects from the school for each firing, then back again to send home with the kids. Offering this once monthly community clay workshop is one way that they are able to show their gratitude to Starr Garden for allowing such broad access to this space, their kilns and equipment, and the kindness of their staff. Now let's talk specifics for anyone looking to attend Queer Clay:
Who should attend: Anyone who identifies as lgbtqia+ etc who is interested in working with clay. Tickets sell out quickly but reach out directly if you are a BIPOC. Three free spaces are held specifically for members of that community.
Who should not attend: Straight people, people who hate fun, people who don’t want to work with clay and ESPECIALLY people who can afford to pay for a full priced workshop. For those with more expendable funds- think about attending a session of Clay Play instead.
How much does it cost: $10-15 sliding scale pay what you can
And if you’re wondering where do those funds go/do those cover all costs?Thanks for asking! Erica donates their time and is not paid for running Queer Clay. Funds collected from Queer Clay are donated to local organizations that are putting their time into helping the queer community. No profits are made, and ticket pricing is not relative to the amount of work put in to run these workshops.
What type of clay work is made at Queer Clay? All participants are given a low fire clay to hand build their projects. They are able to add color with a low fire glaze, and are loaded into the kiln to fire once. Erica then dips each piece in clear glaze before firing all the work a second time.
When can I pick up my finished work? The rec center is open every weekday until at least 8pm, so participants can pick up their work from Starr Garden around a month later during opening hours. An email is sent to participants when projects are ready. Thanks for reading through this tidbit of info about our community clay programs. We hope you can join us for an event soon. Please consider donating to our Kiln fund, and win something created by your neighbors!
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