COMMUNITY INVITED TO CREATE TILES FOR MURAL

West Cape May artist, Susan Ross, will lead 32 tile-making and glazing workshops beginning July 5 and continuing through August. Tiles made in the workshops will become part of a large mosaic of Ross’ design, depicting Cape Island, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Delaware Bay. The mural will adorn the entrance hall to the Franklin Street School Community Cultural Center, scheduled to open in 2008 under the auspices of the Center for Community Arts.

The workshops are free and open to adults and children ages ten and up. They are most Wednesdays and Thursdays at Cape May City Elementary School, and Fridays July 14, 21, 28 and August 11 at the Nature Center of Cape May, from 10 a.m. – noon, and Tuesdays July 11- August 15 at Ross’ Studio in West Cape May, evenings from 7 – 9 pm. There will also be three workshops at the Franklin Street School Gym, August 17, 22 and 24, from 10 a.m. – noon.

Ross will teach the mechanics of making clay tiles, including rolling wet clay into slabs, cutting the slabs into tiles, and decorating and finishing tiles for firing.

Susan Ross is a founding member of Center for Community Arts, and has taught tilemaking in CCA’s Youth Arts Program (YAP). A former school teacher, she fell in love with pottery as a young adult and has worked full-time as an artist ever since. She teaches summer clay classes for youth, and year-round classes for adults in her West Cape May Studio. Her work can be found in private collections, and in fine shops and galleries. In 1998, Ross earned a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Center for Community Arts programs and this residency with Ross are supported by grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and many generous businesses and individuals.

For more information, please call 884-7525. Also scroll down for flyer with calendar showing workshop dates, times and locations.