Mike, Maggie and Kerry Potter trainee with students
If you search Google for literature on “children and the arts”, you will get almost 20 million hits from every corner of the world. During a brief spot check of this enormous data base, we were unable to find one negative comment on the subject. Most echoed the words of Elliot W. Eisner Professor of Education and Art, Stanford University,
” The arts are fundamental resources through which the world is viewed, meaning is created, and the mind developed. To neglect the contribution of the arts in education, either through inadequate time, resources, or poorly trained teachers is to deny children access to one of the most stunning aspects of their culture and one of the most potent means for developing their minds.”
Education programs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines include numerous examples of efforts being made to introduce our students to various forms of art, including music, dance, drawing and painting. With the cooperation of local artists, performers and businesses, many students have taken advantage of creative art education initiatives.
Recently The Vincentian visited Spring Studios Pottery and Art Gallery on Bequia. It is a working pottery within the ruins of a picturesque old sugar factory at Spring. We interviewed internationally known Mike Goddard and Maggie Mitchell to learn that for the past two years they have been sponsoring at their own expense, a very popular program with children from Lower Bay.
The students who attend local schools are learning about the Arawak pottery tradition dating back 1500 years on the island. They are taught the fundamentals of the craft and experience hands-on pottery-making on a potter’s wheel in the workshop. The enthusiastic young students have been working closely with Vincentian trainee potter Kerry Timm, who, among other things, makes large decorative garden pots.
The Spring Studios Pottery and Art Gallery is located on the Spring Resort property in Bequia. It has attracted visitors from every corner of the world and will accept commission assignments and ship its products virtually anywhere. For almost a decade it has had an excellent relationship with the owners of the Spring Resort. Spring Resort has recently been acquired by Firefly Mustique Hotel and renamed Firefly Hotel Bequia. While formal arrangements have yet to be concluded with the principals of Firefly Hotels, Mike and Maggie are hopeful that similar arrangements will allow the studio to continue its operations, and respond positively to numerous inquiries from local schools as well as teachers and schools on St. Vincent.
Hillary Clinton said to the International Children’s Arts Foundation,
“I encourage you to continue to support programs that help children to discover their talents and believe in themselves “
We in St. Vincent & the Grenadines should do no less.
Recently The Vincentian visited Spring Studios Pottery and Art Gallery on Bequia. It is a working pottery within the ruins of a picturesque old sugar factory at Spring. We interviewed internationally known Mike Goddard and Maggie Mitchell to learn that for the past two years they have been sponsoring at their own expense, a very popular program with children from Lower Bay.
The students who attend local schools are learning about the Arawak pottery tradition dating back 1500 years on the island. They are taught the fundamentals of the craft and experience hands-on pottery-making on a potter’s wheel in the workshop. The enthusiastic young students have been working closely with Vincentian trainee potter Kerry Timm, who, among other things, makes large decorative garden pots.
The Spring Studios Pottery and Art Gallery is located on the Spring Resort property in Bequia. It has attracted visitors from every corner of the world and will accept commission assignments and ship its products virtually anywhere. For almost a decade it has had an excellent relationship with the owners of the Spring Resort. Spring Resort has recently been acquired by Firefly Mustique Hotel and renamed Firefly Hotel Bequia. While formal arrangements have yet to be concluded with the principals of Firefly Hotels, Mike and Maggie are hopeful that similar arrangements will allow the studio to continue its operations, and respond positively to numerous inquiries from local schools as well as teachers and schools on St. Vincent.
Hillary Clinton said to the International Children’s Arts Foundation,
“I encourage you to continue to support programs that help children to discover their talents and believe in themselves “
We in St. Vincent & the Grenadines should do no less.
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