Art Smart At Brunson

Location: Brunson (Milton) Math & Science Specialty Elementary School

Date: Saturday, March 07, 2015; 9:50 am-11:30 pm

It was almost a year since I had been on the familiar icy sidewalks leading to the school; though the weather was better this morning.  Sara had told us by email that there would be a ‘St Patrick's Day’ theme today and we would be making clay – from scratch - and eventually something called “Blarney Stones”, whatever those were.  I made my way to the classroom where we usually meet and I was the first to arrive.  Sara came soon thereafter and mentioned that there had been a change of administration at the school and they had not been doing a good job of informing the kids about this program; meaning that we may not get many today. 

It was an "Irish" theme

Other volunteers arrived and we helped Sara put tablecloths on the tables.  She said that getting tablecloths was the best idea she had, since we used to always cause a mess and had to scrub the tables.  We had 2 girls come in and they seemed friendly. I immediately hit it off with one of them and she was enthusiastic for the project.  Sara gave us a sheet on ‘St Patrick's Day’ and I asked the girls who wanted to start reading.  Both raised their hand and so we alternated, reading through the sheet. There we're a few words which they had trouble with, mostly names of places; which were mostly Irish! But all in all, they did a terrific job and by now we had been joined by another student.  I learned that “Blarney Stone” is a stone on some castle in Ireland that you kiss for luck. I said that the Irish have made luck a commercial endeavor, though it seems that they find it funny when visitors kiss the stone.  And no wonder, since the stone is considered to be one of the most unhygienic things on the planet. 

Now it was time to make clay and that included mixing flour, salt, corn starch and warm water.  We did not have any measuring cups, so we started winging it, meaning it would get messy.  For a while it did get sticky and it was all over our fingers.  The girl I was working with would hold up her fingers and I would scrape off the wet dough off her fingers with a spoon.  Many others had got their dough right and we kept adding more salt and corn starch.  As we worked, the girl kept chattering, but we finally got our dough done.  Sara had given us a cheat sheet of “Celtic” characters and I asked her to spell her name using those.  As she did that, she told me about her little sister.  Sara had also given us “scratch-off shamrocks” and she mounted her dough with her name in “Celtic” on it and then scratched a heart around it.  She really was a sweetheart.

This was all with homemade clay!

Others were making creative designs like a ‘Shamrock’ and one group was now collaborating on a pot of gold with coins in there, along with a ‘Leprechaun’ - a female one at that, with lipstick, skirt and heels; although I did say that she needed earrings.  My girl had finished her design and had started making a pot of gold, with gold coins, which she said would go to her sister.  Each of the gold coins was worth $1000 according to her.  The other group making the pot was now making a rainbow to go with it.  Time was almost up and my girl was pleased with all that she had made.  She took all the things and left happily saying her little sister would love this.  We cleaned up and left and I had enjoyed coming back.  Hopefully it wouldn’t be a long wait for the next time.