2009 Fannin County Grassroots Awardee.  Yay! This outreach program was a whole lot of fun.  I recruited my fellow contemporary artist, Laura Parker and we set out to bring art to a population that gets very little in this regard.  We went with the intention on building handmade tiles from clay, and then after firing them assembling them onto a constructed sign base outside and act as the center’s sign out front.   We also threw in a mixed media painting for the waiting room with their photos embedded in there. The population at the Mineral Springs Center are adults with varying disabilities.  Each person was handled individually and their needs, to be able to roll out the clay with a rolling pin, using imagination to come up with some shapes, tracing patterns for letters, using hand tools, cutting and handling the tactile clay and seeing the process through to the end.  The followed verbal instruction and each received one on one help to learn the clay and achieve what they wanted. Here is the website for the Mineral Springs Center.  If you fell on this post, and are inclined to help the agency in some regard, that would be so awesome.  These are some smiley, happy folks, and the joy they get from achieving their goals, even if it is a sign made out of clay tiles, is rewarding to them, their families and all the people that work hard every day showing and sharing their time and love.  Check out the photos …