Clay IN-SIGHT is a voluntary pottery clay art program to help the Visually Impaired learn pottery by Clay-Street, Singapore

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H E A R T W O R K S - touching lives, moulding meanings, with clay!

Drink Towards a Greener Earth | Order Mugs | About Clay IN-SIGHT | Photo 2009 | Exhibition 2009

Clay IN-SIGHT

Like life, clay offers endless possibilities for the manifestation of forms from freewill and choices. As the mind perceives, clay acts as the channel through which the hands may conceive, and the clay art is the resulting form that one receives.

I suspect clay art may be a creative medium that the Visually Impaired (VI) friends could express and share their in-sights through physical creation with their hands. I often wonder what ‘visual images’ would a VI hold in his mind when we articulate ideas such as “palace” or “traffic lights” or “ghost” or “love”. While the sighted friends would immediately recall images they have seen in reality or books or on TV, a VI (especially one who’s blind from birth) would have no reference to base on.

After consultation with Mr Leow Chee Tsai of SAVH, I held an experimental clay workshop on 13 April 2009 for 30 VIs with the help of a dozen volunteers. We introduced clay to the VIs and helped them experienced playing with this art medium. Following the workshop, about 20 VIs signed up for a year-long clay learning program fully sponsored by Clay-Street that will be held on a monthly basis.

Clay IN-SIGHT has since taken a life of its own, powered by kind-hearted and committed volunteers. We call our volunteers Angels. And we call the Visually Impaired Potters VIP. Angels and VIP work together in clay co-creation. It's magical! Scroll down to see how the VIPs and Angels play with clay together! : )

To be frank, the experience of co-creation has truly been an inspiration to all Angels, seeing how fun-loving, cheerful and forward looking our visually impaired friends are. Their insights are so bright despite of living without sight.

If you are keen to volunteer, contact Angel Swati (91876762) or Angel Kim (97315491).

VOLUNTEERS WELCOME

Our clay sessions are conducted on every Tue & alternate Sat at 10am-12nn (see dates below) in the Touch Art Room at Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH), 47, Toa Payoh Rise, Singapore 298104
(click for map)

Clay Sessions in 2010
#	Date	Day	Time
1	Jan 19th	Tue	11am-1pm
2	Feb 6th	Sat	12nn-2pm
3	Feb 23rd	Tue	11am-1pm
4	Mar 6th	Sat	12nn-2pm
5a	Mar 9th	Tue	11am-1pm
5b	Mar 11th	Thu	11am-1pm
6a	Mar 16th	Tue	11am-1pm
6b	Mar 18th	Thu	11am-1pm
7a	Mar 23rd	Tue	11am-1pm
7b	Mar 25th	Thu	11am-1pm
8a	Mar 30th	Tue	11am-1pm
8b	Apr 3rd	Sat	12nn-2pm
9	May 8th	Sat	10am-12nn 12nn-2pm
10	May 11th	Tue	10am-1pm
11	May 22nd	Sat	12nn-2pm
12	May 25th	Tue	10am-1pm
12a	Jun 1st	Tue	10am-12nn
13	Jun 5th	Sat	10am-12nn
14	Jun 8th	Tue	10am-12nn
15	Jun 15th	Tue	10am-12nn
16	Jun 19th	Sat	10am-12nn
17	Jun 22nd	Tue	10am-12nn
18	Jun 29th	Tue	10am-12nn
19	Jul 3rd	Sat	10am-12nn
20	Jul 6th	Tue	10am-12nn
21	Jul 13th	Tue	10am-12nn
22	Jul 17th	Sat	10am-12nn
23	Jul 20th	Tue	10am-12nn
24	Jul 27th	Tue	10am-12nn
25	Jul 31st	Sat	10am-12nn

8 May 2010: Mug Production #1

Today was the start of many mug production sessions to come to fulfill the orders we secured during the recent exhibition. We had the good fortune of having many new volunteers who joined us - from EPICS Society, Raleigh Society and The Youth Alliance of Ngee Ann Poly. The 'seasoned' Angels played a supervisory role for the new Angels. It's great also to observe that some VIPs are gradually gaining independence in the mug creation process.


21-25 Apr 2010: Drink Towards a Greener Earth Exhibition at Millenia Walk Singapore It was a most enjoyable and memorable exhibition involving all VIPs, Angels as well as SAVH staff. Thanks to Ms Denise Phua for gracing the opening ceremony as our guest-of-honor and thanks to all our sponsors and supporters. Thanks also all kind hearted buyers of our Greener Earth Mugs. At 6.30pm on the last day of our exhibition, we celebrated with a yell as the mug orders shot pass our target of $10,000. Hooray!

Mar-Apr 2010: Preparation for Exhibition

Everyone was busy during the pre-exhibition period. VIPs and Angels co-created over 150 mugs. Angels busy glazing away bisque fired mugs at the pottery studio. Teacher Chew busy firing away batch after batch of mugs. Angels Jane collecting and painting wooden crates and boxes, Kim making eco-packing reusing newspaper, Varuna indexing all the mugs, Susan designing the banners... all hands on deck! It was a memorable and purposeful journey for all.

Angels Jenny and Varuna painting the boxes

16 Mar 2010: Potting at Mandai Orchid Garden

This was our first outing and we spent a lovely morning co-creating handmade orchid series mugs at the Mandai Orchid Garden. Much appreciation to Mr Heah Hock Heng and Alice Mendosa of Mandai Orchid Garden for supporting Clay IN-SIGHT project and SAVH. The Angels helped the VIPs touch and feel the orchid with their hearts through their hands.

Enjoy more photos at my FaceBook Album.

6 Feb 2010: Clay Lesson #2

This was the first hands-on co-creation session and numerous mugs were completed. The designs are now getting bolder and many of the VIPs are beginning to experiment with new ideas. It was great fun and we look forward to firing this first batch of mugs.

19 Jan 2010: Clay Session #1

As with last year, we kicked off the first clay session in 2010 with a Visioning exercise. Every VI Potter was supported by an Angel who helped to capture on paper the inner vision of the mugs he/she held in mind. These sets of blueprint will guide the co-creation process for the next few months. We aim to create sufficient mugs of interesting designs to launch the Drink Towards a Greener Earth project in April 2010.

Susan helps Jimmy in the visioning exercise

Browse 2009 Clay IN-SIGHT Photo Album...

Click here for Pottery Classes for Adults and Children

For enquiry on pottery classes, ring Teacher Chew at (65) 9111 5208

For enquiry on team bonding program, ring Miss Theingi at (65) 9846 7585


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