Clay Club Active Every Wednesday

Torrington High School has a clay club after school every Wednesday, with the ceramics teacher, Ryan King. During his club, he lets students do projects outside of what he teaches in class, and usually has music playing while kids do their projects, and occasionally, he lets students pick the music they want to play. 

 If you want to make something, but you don’t know how to, King would be more than happy to demonstrate. People have made things from vases to houses, and there’s no creative boundary to what you want to make. The atmosphere is rather welcoming, so there’s no pressure at all.

 King explains the yearly Empty Bowls sale, “Ultimately we collaboratively make pottery that is sold each spring at the “Empty Bowls Sale”. The sale benefits the Torrington soup kitchen feed the hungry and homeless in Torrington. On top of that, it’s a chance for us to make our own projects and have creative expression,” King states. 

So far the club has been learning. King explains,“We are in the process of learning the wheel, so students are practicing at this point. I demo with not just the club, but the classes on how to make stuff with the wheel. Everything I make, I give to them to decorate, so the things they decorate are mine. Students are still working on independent projects and classwork, so it’s an option to create artwork or the creations we’ve been making together.” 

King says joining the club is a great idea,“It’s a chance to work a little more with ceramics without worrying about grades or assignments, and it’s nice to work for a charity that’s positively influencing the community.”