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Have a Question?
Email or Call the PCA Helpline
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215-765-9040
or for the hearing impaired
215-765-9041
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October 2007 - General Interest
By Dick Saunders
“We’re going to turn the ballroom at York House into a ceramics studio,” said Harriet Hoover, outreach coordinator for The Clay Studio, which calls itself “the Philadelphia region’s only organization dedicated solely to the ceramic arts.”
York House, a senior living center, offers a weekly ceramics class. But this would be something special: a one-day visit from the Claymobile, an outreach program of The Clay Studio. From the back of its trim white van with “Claymobile” scrawled whimsically on the side, Hoover and co-leader Jonathan Dickstein unloaded all they’d need for a workshop — clay, tools, paints, brushes and cloths.
“Just an hour and a half of your time to create this beautiful item,” Dickstein told seven York House women, holding up a ceramic berry bowl. “And when you get it back, it’ll last forever.”
“Flip it up in the air the way they do a pizza,” said one of the women as Dickstein demonstrated how to roll a slab of clay into a circle. Then each woman rolled her own, using a paper circle as a template.
“Suppose it goes a little over,” one woman asked.
“No problem,” said Dickstein. “If I wanted a perfectly circular bowl, I’d go to Wal-Mart.”
“Clay is a very forgiving medium,” Hoover explained. “It is so malleable, people who don’t have success with other kinds of art can make it their own.”
“Use your whole arm — both hands,” Dickstein told the women, who were rolling clay into coils. Then the coils were turned into spirals and used to decorate the bowls-in-the-making. At first, the women followed the examples Dickstein showed them. But soon, each bowl took on an individual look.
“I love how everybody has their own way of working,” Hoover whispered. “For seniors, this gives them a chance to socialize and work their muscles and minds in a way out of the ordinary for them. It promotes dexterity and hand-eye coordination.”
Soon it was time to paint the bowls, using liquid clay with pigments added. Then some time under the blow-dryer and the bowls were ready to go back to The Clay Studio for firing in the kiln.
“When do we get them back?” the women wanted to know, eager to put their bowls to use, for candy if not for berries. Two weeks? A long wait, but worthwhile. After firing, a bowl can last forever.
Why are almost all the York House ceramicists women?
“We ask the men here to get involved in art things,” said one of the students, Thelma Garrison, “but they’re not interested.”
Dickstein affirmed that The Clay Studio’s senior projects attract mostly women, “but at other sites, more men participate. At Sterling Glen [a senior residence in Center City], where we have an ongoing program, twice a month, one gentleman is really into it.”
At its home base, 139 N. 2nd St., The Clay Studio offers workshops and classes where students of all ages can learn to work on a potter’s wheel as well as hand-build, which is what the women at York House were doing.
For information: 215-925-3453.
October is “City Scrabble Month,” declared by City Council.
Philly Plays Scrabble is an initiative launched by ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships and the Free Library of Philadelphia. You’re welcome to join the Scrabble players at one of 17 Free Library branches at designated times throughout October.
The sites and times will be listed on the websites for ASAP (www.phillyasap.org) and the Free Library (www.library.phila.gov). You can play just for fun or to qualify for a tournament at the end of the month. Sets will be provided, but you’re welcome to bring your own.
Last year’s Philly Plays Scrabble drew many older Philadelphians, both as competitors and as coaches.
If you’d like to lead a club or work with children, you may call ASAP projects coordinator Peter English, at 215-545-3077. ASAP, which has started 42 after-school Scrabble clubs, will help you volunteer at a school or community center, providing free materials, training and background checks.
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Community Flu Clinics will be set up throughout Philadelphia again beginning next month, offering free inoculations to those over 50 and others who qualify.
If you want to know where your nearest clinic is and its hours, a Flu Hotline will be set up as of Thursday, Nov. 1, at 215-685-6458.
You will be able to select the area you are interested in from six choices — Center City, South Philadelphia, West and Southwest Philadelphia, Northwest Philadelphia, Northeast Philadelphia and North Philadelphia/Kensington. Available in both English and Spanish, the hotline will be updated weekly.
Also beginning Nov. 1, you may locate a clinic online by visiting www.phila.gov/health.
In past years, the program began in October, but manufacturing and distribution problems resulted in delays. November, according to the city’s Department of Health, “is a more realistic start date.”
The clinics are open to all Philadelphians 50 and above, adults of any age with immunosuppression or chronic illness, pregnant women and those who may become pregnant during flu season, daycare employees and household caregivers of children under 5 and/or caregivers for adults over 50.
Host sites may not turn away any eligible adult, even those who are not members of the facility where the shots are administered.
In addition to the flu shot, pneumococcal vaccine may be offered.
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