Published: August 22, 2007 05:44 pm            

Letting loose at SullivanMunce

I can’t draw a straight line.

That is what I always used to tell my art teacher in grade school before I inevitably broke into tears in class. I also have horrible handwriting — none of those pretty, bubbly strokes. Basically, me and any pencil, marker, paint brush, etc. just don’t mix. So, when Jodie Hardy, art center director at the SullivanMunce Cultural Center, invited me to a sponsor workshop at the art center to paint and make pottery, I was a little hesitant.

“I have absolutely no artistic ability,” I warned her. I quickly decided to take a friend who did have natural talent, thinking that would make up for what I was sure would be an embarrassing display of ignorance.

Hardy said the idea for the sponsor workshop came when Tom and Kim Hardin, major sponsors of the Zionsville Art Fair, came to visit the art center. She said she gave them a “nickel and dime tour” to show them what goes on at the center, including the classes. She then thought it might be better to actually let the Hardins or prospective sponsors get their hands dirty and really experience what they are funding.

My friend and I arrived at the center and mingled with the other nine participants. I sized them up, thinking none of them looked that “artsy” and felt a quick flash of hope that I wouldn’t be the only one with deformed pottery.

Hardy divided the group, sending half of us to the pottery instructor, Soyong Kang-Partington, and the other half to the painting instructor, Cynthia Young. She mercifully put her husband Marc — who she said also lacks artistic skill — in my group. We hit the pottery wheel first. Kang-Partington began with instruction on how to get all of the air out of the clay. We kneaded the clay like bread, pounded it on the table and then rolled it into a ball. So far, so good. Now came time for the wheel. The wheel is controlled with a pedal, much like a sewing machine. The wheel looked like a flat disc.

To begin molding the clay, it must first be flattened. Easier said than done. Apparently, one needs the strength of a body builder to make pottery. The instructor helped me to apply a little more force to the clay, and I was in business. Sporadically dipping my hands in water to create a lubricant between my hands and the clay, I was soon cupping a tiny bowl — tinier than I intended. I decided to call it an ashtray.

It was time to paint. I was even more hesitant to grab a paint brush than I was to sit at the pottery wheel. Here, I thought, my true inabilities would be revealed. And then I realized our painting session was Jackson Pollock-themed. Perfect. There is no way you can really mess up Pollock’s abstract drip technique. I used a basic tan as a base and then splattered all sorts of obnoxiously bright colors with a stirring stick and paint brushes. The entire group really got into the splattering, acting a bit like children who were told by their parents to make a mess. I obeyed, and when I left my feet and legs were covered in flecks of paint. But, at least for a couple of hours, I felt like a kid again. I let my creativity flow without fear of “doing it wrong.”

And, I didn’t have to draw any straight lines.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.