Chapter 14 - Art and pottery

1950-1957

Grimm's Jewelry Story in 2014

     Art and pottery were among the greatest pleasures of attending Greenfield Village Schools, and I imagine much of the credit goes to Mrs. McAllister, who I remember as a very nice person who introduced us to many forms of the arts and crafts.

     Each art day I remember racing to Grimm’s Jewelry Store, running up the steep staircase to the huge second story room filled with natural light in which our art classes were held. The outside front door on the left side opened to the staircase. I couldn’t wait to climb those tall stairs, hang up my coat and find out what the new “project of the day” would be. I wish I could find a photo that does justice to the art room of my childhood memory. I’d like to share how large the windows were and what a pleasure it was simply to sit in that upstairs room, with all the natural light pouring in. I’m trying really hard to remember some of the art projects, but only one comes to mind. One year we learned “primary” and “tertiary” colors, and could draw anything we wanted to illustrate our grasp of the subject. I drew horses, my favorite animal and subject.
 

Grimm's Jewelry Store in 2011.  Can you see the door on the left

with  the zigzag line?  That's the one that leads upstairs.

     In sixth grade, Mrs. McAllister taught us how to create oil paintings on canvas. Mine was the head of a blue mule with yellow ears. It began as a horse, but I made the ears too big, and then decided I liked the look. I had serious trouble with finding a background color, and Mrs. McAllister was nice enough to help me with it. The background colors she showed to me seemed a bit “muddy” and I thought the effect quite ugly but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by telling her. Now I really appreciate the background coloring. I named my work “That’s a Mule?” Although painted in art class in a different building, all our oils were hung around the room in Scotch Settlement School on the last day of school so that our parents could see our work. I still remember where mine was hung. Many were really quite good. My daughter Karen asked for my oil and she hung it in one of her children’s bedrooms.

     In fifth and sixth grades, we had pottery in place of weaving, and I loved it, especially when we used the pottery wheel. My big project toward the end of fifth grade was to hand-pot a large horse head. I put a lot of labor into that horse, and learned I had to hollow-it out enough so that when it was fired, it wouldn’t crack. I petted its forehead so much that it was smooth as glass. I used black glazing. I really put my heart into that horse head. We couldn’t take our large projects home at the end of the year, because Mrs. McAllister had to fire them in the kiln over the summer.

     When I returned in the fall, Mrs. McAllister had to break the sad news to me – my horse head was stolen over the summer. I was devastated. She really wanted me to make another one, but I didn’t have the will. Eventually with her well-intentioned help, I put together another horse head, although I didn’t pet the forehead smooth. It was fired and taken home early in the year and stayed in my parents’ house until it was perhaps broken – I really don’t quite remember what happened to it. It always reminded me of the one that got away.

     Pottery classes were held in a stone building with a water wheel hidden from the public in a corner of the Suwanee River. A past president of the Museum, Harold Skramstead and his wife, lived in the building for a time in the 1970’s.

One of my classmates painted a picture of the Stone Mill where our pottery classes were held. 1957