Teaching notes, Wornick Jewish Day School, Young Audiences

Grueling day teaching art at the Wornick Jewish Day school in Foster City; several of the kinderkids lost their pinch pots (they were all jumbled together in the kiln—not my doing, I didn’t load the kiln) & far too many of our cool butterflies blew up. Talk about the butterfly effect! We glazed 'em anyway. And then we glued them back together. The 1st graders made amazing wet pastel landscapes. Our schoolwide art show and Open House is coming up, so the madness is on. It is hard teaching ceramics as an artist in residence, I have to lug everything to each classroom. Backbreaking work. It’s hard enough with all the art supplies needed to teach two-dimensional art. But I’ve got it down to a science. Art a la cart catering. I’ve also taught silk painting at the school as well. And that too is a real production. Massive amounts of prep for both silk painting and clay. And to make things worse, the classes are only 45 minutes long with not transition time between classes. And I’m not paid anywhere near enough for the work that I do, with all the prep through Young Audiences. They’re charging the school nearly double what I get. At least it’s three sessions. Small miracles. And the commute to Foster City is challenging. I have to get up super early in order to get there on time. Otherwise I won’t up dealing with to traffic jams. But I do love crossing the San Mateo Bridge, the utter beauty of the bay, the salt flats, and the patterns of migrating birds.

• Teaching notes YANC