How it all happened:
A few months ago, I received the most interesting phone call from Rachel Lovelace at Hills Country Arts Foundation, in Kerrville, Texas.
One of our mutual pottery friends, Gary Huntoon, had built a totem during a pottery class at HCAF in one of the many workshops that he did at HCAF.
Following the horrible July 4, 2025 flood at Kerrville, Texas, one of these totems was the only thing left standing when the new Ceramics Facility was completely destroyed.
Rachel received a call from a patron wanting to buy a class for her friend as a retirement present. The lady was requesting a class where they made things to put on a pole….she started to research how to arrange something like this and found that a Gary Huntoon class had made a totem much like what she was describing.
Unfortunately, Gary had passed. Rachel found my blog post about Gary and then contacted me to determine if I knew anyone that could do such a workshop.
Of course, I offered my services and the resulting workshop is what eventuated.
The Workshop:
My bestie since college, Judith Hicks from the House of Clay, and I did a workshop with Gary in the ’90s – it was a wonderful, memorable time.
We all became great friends and we all had a special place in our hearts for HCAF.
I asked Judith to come assist me with the workshop and take off from work at The House of Clay in Oklahoma City. Thank goodness she came and helped!!! I could not have done it without her!
I planned and planned, received donations for the clay from Armadillo Clay, glaze discounts from Roadrunner Clay, loaded up most of my studio and headed for Kerrville.
The plan was to create a group totem to stay at HCAF and each person was to create a 3′ totem for themselves.
It Worked!
I could give you a play by play in words, but pictures do a better job. Six brave souls signed up for the week long workshop- none of them had ever worked in clay- but they created amazing work!
The final product – The Totem – to be left at HCAF was a very emotional event. Each person brought stories of the flood, memories of the losses, but the best part – the totem stood as a beacon of HOPE, REBUILDING, AND JOY!!!
A special thanks goes out to each of the participants of the workshop;
Autumn, Pam, Linda, Bee, Debbie, and Tonie – who’s friend started this all by asking for a totem workshop as a retirement gift for Tonie.
Small gestures create giant waves!
A very special thanks to the Ceramics Department for allowing us to use your space for a week! (I wish you would have joined us!)
The staff at HCAF is the best! Rachel returned every text and phone call that I made. She made every effort to help our workshop be a success. Thanks to Sarah and Linda for assisting as well- you made sure our stay was just wonderful!
If you are wanting to help HCAF get back on their feet, please donate and check out their website page. It is an extremely good cause!!!
We wish you all the best!
Love,
Marian and Judith
