From monster mouths to bobble heads, private islands to rattles, students at Valley View Elementary in Columbia Heights crafted nearly 500 pieces over the course of the 2023 – 2024 school year! This year NCC ran two 10-week programs for students in 3rd – 5th grades through Valley View’s after-school program, ENCORE, and has been partnering with them for nearly 20 years. ENCORE is an after-school academic and enrichment program designed to provide students with the skills they need to be successful in the future.
Jennica Kruse, who’s been teaching with NCC for over a decade, led this programming in the 2023 – 2024 school year. From assisting in summer camps, to teaching handbuilding and wheel throwing, onsite and offsite, specializing in both ClayToGo and ART@HAND, Kruse can do it all, to say the least! She is currently balancing teaching with studying in a master’s program for art therapy at Adler College.
“I don’t always manage to facilitate the process of drawing ideas before the clay work, but the kids get way into it and drawing their ideas and then creating them in clay seems to be a really good way to explore. Kids showed great growth in understanding about the technical challenges and skills of working with clay (not too thin, scratch and attach, compress/smooth the clay before the cracks get larger!). I also observed some really good growth in the areas of social and cognitive flexibility as they had an extra class experience in their art room but with a different instructor and different expectations. Great place, great kids. I had fun and they had fun! Some brilliant projects!”
Jennica Kruse, NCC Teaching Artist
A selection of “bookshelf buddies” made in our outreach program.
The artist built a great rapport with our students, and helped students feel more comfortable with using clay. Students were delighted to have Northern Clay Center back at our school. They love to make art using clay. They don’t get the opportunity to work with clay so this was a great experience for all of the students involved.
Peg Nelson, Valley View teacher
Northern Clay Center has been amazing to work with. They are organized on all levels, and prepare programming that our students love! Students built their confidence and you could see their excitement grow as they worked on their pieces. We’ve partnered with Northern Clay Center for many years at several of our schools during out of school time programs and embrace our community. When we lost funding for these programs, NCC was so gracious to stay on at one of our schools and continue out of school time programs for our students. It is wonderful they were able to keep our partnership when we didn’t have the means to do so. Their whole organization is wonderful!
Jodi Gadient, Columbia Heights School District’s community education coordinator
Many schools encounter obstacles when it comes to offering high-quality ceramic arts educational experiences, primarily due to financial constraints and the inherent challenges of accessing the materials and equipment that is required. NCC’s ClayToGo Outreach program is a great way for schools to provide ceramic experiences to their students. NCC is often able to offer grant funds to help with costs and schools do not need to have their own equipment—we bring materials needed and fire projects at NCC.
If you are interested in learning more about NCC’s after-school clay programs, email outreach@northernclaycenter.org.
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