When I realized that there was no clay sculpture in my son's elementary school I knew that I had to bring in my skills and start helping children create real art. Both of my children have now graduated from Chapman Hills Elementary School and it is there that the Great Clay Adventure began in 2011.
In 2015, I had the honor of being one of OC Weekly’s “Most Influential People,” for my contribution to the After School Enrichment Program.
https://www.ocweekly.com/cybele-rowe-is-the-clay-lady-6449627/
CYBELE ROWE IS THE CLAY LADY PATRICE MARSTERS | MARCH 20, 2015 ORANGE COUNTY'S LEADING SOURCE OF NEWS, CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT When some of us were in elementary school, there were art classes. Once a week or so, your class would be lead by an art teacher in creating something with popsicle sticks, clay, paint or the holy grail of childhood art that is papier-mâché. And then budget cuts happened, and those classes were axed entirely or replaced with a monthly Art Masters program, in which kids ape the classics. “The thing that separates us is cultural creative artistry,” believes Cybele Rowe. “And we're skipping a generation.” The world-renowned sculptor aims to change that. ] To read all of our OC People 2015 profiles, click here! “I started Clay Club because there was zero art in schools,” she recalls. To remedy that, Rowe travels to elementary schools throughout the Orange, Tustin and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School Districts, getting little hands around clay and creating pinch pots, animal-shaped cups, lidded vessels and more. She fires the results in a kiln located in her Silverado Canyon studio. The structure sits just off her well-lit home, a 100-year-old, window-framed dance hall built by the Army Corps of Engineers. The artist shares the space with her husband, their two children, a dog, a cat, two guinea pigs and some fish. And her art, many of which are enormous. Australian-born Rowe is actually well-known for doing things big. Her ceramic works are larger than life–even big enough to stand in–and can be found in the private collections of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and Halle Berry, as well as in such public places as the Australian Consulate in New York. Though she's been invited around the world to create and teach, Rowe traverses Southern California regularly, inviting inspiration. Along with Clay Club, there are art boot camps and art classes; during a regular week, the youngest of her students is 5, and the oldest “somewhere around 90.” Last year, she started an Art Survival course to help Saddleback College students see they can make a living out of what they love to do. “If I can produce inspiration and confidence in these students . . . then they're going to go back into their communities with that,” she says. Maybe even something as imposing as the extremely tall, surprisingly lightweight sculptures on her back patio. Filled with movement, with expression, with the joy of their creator, they are unlike anything you've ever seen–or felt. It takes just a nudge to move one. A man wanted to commission a piece for his boat, Rowe explains. But ceramics at that size are too heavy–“His boat would sink!” she exclaims with a laugh. So she went about finding a new medium. She studied buoys, surfboards, things that float. “I worked on a technique to make sculptures with my hands using ancient technology–what's found in France, in China–but contemporized,” she says. “I said, 'I'm going to make a lot of ugly art and come out the other side with beauty.'” And then she laughs melodically because she did just that. These giant creations seem to showcase the rhythms, the ups and downs of her feelings. “[If] the viewer can just unhook their preconceptions of what art means in their life,” she says, “they'll get that same state of flow as an artist, and that's hugely powerful.” Just as powerful are the “skins” painted onto these newer forms. When her longtime friend and fine-art painter Kaye Freeman visits, she attacks Rowe's creations. “She's a better painter,” Rowe says, laughing. (If you look closely, though, you can see Rowe's scribblings under the paint.) “It's a really cool way to live,” says Rowe, “making huge abstract works of art, then having your best friend come over and color all over it.” The results are part of what they're calling “The Love Armada.” “If I didn't have balls the size of Texas to build these big things,” Rowe says, “then the kids wouldn't have that confidence.” To read all of our OC People 2015 profiles, click here! Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook! PATRICE MARSTERS Patrice Marsters started at OC Weekly as an intern, just before the first issue was published. She is now the associate editor of the paper, serves on the board of the Orange County Press Club, and mentors aspiring writers and editors at Newport Harbor High School. In her spare time, Ms. Marsters co-leads a multi-level Girl Scout troop, creates baked goods, and rants at inanimate objects (including her computer) about her grammatical and writing pet peeves. ARTS & CULTURE
So far in 2018 I was the feature sculptor in the Los Angeles Art Show and the Palm Springs Art Show. I have a strong exhibition schedule and my work is on permanent display at The American Ceramics Museum CA and the American Museum of Ceramic Art China.
From 2011- 2018 I taught sculpture at Saddleback College and am currently taking a break to focus on putting clay into the future generation’s hands.
There is a wonderful moment that takes place when a child understands that with clay there are no mistakes. The ability to make, squash and remake is the plastic art of ceramic sculpture’s greatest gift as an art medium for creative free thinking.
Each week your child will build and color their clay sculpture in an hour long class. Cybele brings all the materials with her for the class. The children know ahead of their class what they will be making. In that way, they can research their project if they wish to. The children’s artwork is taken back to Cybele’s studio where she clear-gloss glazes and fires their artwork in her kilns. In the next class, Cybele returns the children’s artwork and they get busy on their next sculpture.
Children are taught a new skill each week. The classes all build on the previous skill learned. A five week class may consist of first learning a pinch pot and coil technique, producing a cupcake jar (a kid favorite!). In the next class they may make a turtle which is an upside down pinch pot, the technique of modeling, scoring and using slip (glue for clay) to make the head flippers and tail stick together. Week three may be a fish where the children will learn how to join two pinch pots together for the body and use their learned modeling and scoring techniques for the fins and tail. And so on, untill they get to the last class which by then they have learned many skills and its free choice time, and I am always so amazed at what they create.
All materials are kid safe and non toxic.
Every class taught has Cybele’s 35 years of knowledge and passion for clay. Cybele’s goal: inspiring and enabling small hands and big imaginations to stretch and flourish. The ability to teach a skill while there is laughter and joy is at the essence of each class. The Great Clay Adventure encompasses visual. auditory and kinesthetic skills. Learning to make sculpture helps child development in a multitude of ways — practicing fine motor skills, activating their imagination, following multiple-step directions and developing their own sense of aesthetics.
Go to Contact Cybele Rowe (above) to book your school for the upcoming year.
Please note: I am always the instructor of each class. There are no substitute teachers, which is why I only get to each school once a year. My schedule fills up fast, so please book your school’s Great Clay Adventure now.
