During the spring of 2025, Northern Clay Center’s outreach program, ART@HAND, partnered with MSS —previously Midwest Special Services— for a program with all seven of their locations across the metro area. Led by two of our talented teaching artists, Susan Obermeyer and Elizabeth Coleman, this program ran from March to June and reached over 70 individuals.
MSS is a non-profit that supports adults with disabilities through community engagement, skill building, employment services and creative arts experiences, which is where NCC came into play. MSS already has a heavy emphasis on arts learning—and bringing our AAH program to them added to an already well-rounded arts program.
Each MSS location met for a total of 4 times, working on a unique project every time from trivets and bowls to bird nests and more. Two of the locations closest to NCC, Minneapolis and St. Paul, came to our center for the classes, arriving with big smiles on their faces each morning. Our teachers noticed the participants encouraging each other and complementing one another on their work. Participants also applied skills from other arts mediums to their work, like painting, and talked about how their design and color skills apply to the painting of the sculpture they made.
Both teachers and students gained something from these classes —whether it was the development of a new skill or a sense of awe and inspiration witnessing students trying something new and somethings difficult. Teaching artist Susan shared a memorable experience working with Tom, a middle-aged man who opened up about his past. He told her how, due to his disability, he had been denied the opportunity to attend high school in his small town, and that he had been teased and bullied by other children. Tom expressed his gratitude to Susan for bringing clay into the classroom and helping him create his project. MSS and NCC —as well as many other community organizations— are helping to further the accessibility of arts programming across the cities. As stated from a program director at MSS, “I think what I’ve gained is further acknowledgement that Northern Clay Center is open to working with the disability community, and making strides to connect artists of various abilities and experiences to this medium.”
If you have a school or organization that is interested in working with clay as a part of a residency or after-school program, please contact the Community Engagement Manager at juliarodman@northernclaycenter.org or 612.339.8007 x313. Thank you for your interest in programming with us!
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