The Hey Julie School of Clay

Please help us raise $180,000 needed to build a permanent space for this special school!

WHY THIS SCHOOL MATTERS

95% of my students are women.

Genuinely, I connect with and gently challenge every single student.

Even out of workshop hours, everyone knows the kettle is on and my ear is always open.

There has been hardly a day in the past eight years that my studio hasn’t had a student working on their pots, dropping off projects to fire, picking up clay or chatting and sharing creative resources.

When working with our hands our periphery opens, allowing us to discuss and share with vulnerability and abandon. It is pure magic to witness the lasting friendships, community-built and problems solved in my studio.

In my first workshops, many conversations exposed me to the many social and financial gaps in our communities for women needing creativity and companionship.

Rarely do we get to step out of our lives and afford ourselves creativity.

Shoving your hands into clay, plunging them into water… such direct and visceral experiences bring you into your body and out of your “head”.

Realizing that my workshops are a form of therapy, the mandate of my studio has always been:

To create equal and purposeful access to the healing and empowerment that clay offers

For twelve years I have successfully achieved this mandate by creating two studio programs:

Assistant Program

For lower income clay enthusiasts

Two students a year become my assistants under a work/trade set up.

Working next to me, they help me complete the studio’s student work from my workshops (about 4-8 hours a week on their schedule: set up, clean up, glazing, loading and unloading the kiln)

In exchange, they have free non-stop access to the studio, most supplies, equipment and mentorship.

If they so choose, I help them refine a finished body of work through to being retail ready. This includes skill based training, techniques, design competencies, glaze and kiln technology.

I have had over twenty assistants – All of whom are now extended family.  Many of them now successfully sell their own work and have the skills to run their own studio practices.

How I choose: The assistant spots are given organically to students that show a desire to grow their skills, a committed attitude and a strong work ethic.

There has never been a problem finding these deserving people…they also always have a way of finding me. *Please see the “Assistant Program Contribution”

Women’s Legacy Program:

I purposefully and anonymously give ten or more workshops per year to women in need of creative time and its therapy. Each spot is worth min $325.

I quietly choose to support cancer fighters, women in grief, exhausted mothers, and women who have experienced violence from our island community.

This is the best part of my job!

Recently I have developed a student program alongside IWAV (Islanders Working Against Violence).  With the new space I can extend free anonymous classes to women staying at the IWAV transition house and secondary housing or accessing IWAV counseling and outreach programs. *Please see the “Women’s Legacy Contribution”

These programs have led to many successful, healing stories.

From my hundreds of students to my beloved assistants, it is these creative experiences and connections that have turned this tiny clay studio into a school.

Please help me maintain, support and serve the beautiful community that has organically formed here.

 

There is so much more info about why you should be supporting this innovative project. Please head over to: www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-hey-julie-school-of-clay#/