Co-leaders: Dr. Jaylene Summers and Richard Gaito

My partner, Rich Gaito--educator, musician and boat-builder--and I, Dr. Jaylene Summers--psychologist and educator--have been involved with the Bequia Adult Continuing Education Center since 2003. We started with the Adult Literacy program, training Bequians to be adult literacy teachers. This was back when the school was meeting at Linda Withers¹ home in Spring, Bequia.(Linda Withers is an English woman with a long standing connection with local Bequians).

Over the past five years, the Center has evolved from focusing exclusively on a literacy program to encompassing broader educational goals and skills' development. Today the school has its own building. This spring, we were able to arrange for the electricity to be turned on and also completed installing a water system.

Two years ago, the adult students took a trip to St. Vincent, went into the hills, and dug over 30 bags of clay. However, when they returned to Bequia, the pottery program was discontinued due to a lack of a pottery teacher. After hearing of this dilemma, Rich took pottery lessons from our good friend, Dennis Andersen, an excellent potter. Last year on Bequia, Rich shared his knowledge with the students and they all made many pots. Because of the texture, the clay was difficult to work with, yet the students made interesting bowls, plates and cups. Together, they successfully baked the clay pots in an open pit-firing, using a tire ring.

At the same time, I taught students how to make art objects out of plastic clay which can be hardened by baking in an ordinary oven. After making an initial group of items, we then focused on making "Travel Angels", each seated on its own Bequia-decorated seashell. We also made origami (a type of Japanese paper-folding) boxes of colored construction paper in which each angel could travel. Each box was given a special name and contains a poem written by Myrtle James.

Back home in the United States, people heard of these efforts and purchased around 20 angels. Thus we were able to raise funds for additional supplies and repairs at the Center. This year, 2008, an electric kiln was donated to us by Al Pelletier and Dennis Andersen. It will enable us not only to fire clay but also to put glazes on the art objects. Rich and our friends built a crate, put the kiln, the clay, some glazes and school supplies in it, and shipped it to Bequia. It was exciting for the students and us when this very valuable piece of equipment arrived.

There was a televised dedication ceremony on March 4 of this year with Mr. Hugh Wiley, Director of SVG Adult and Continuing Education giving the keynote address. It was a very festive and happy occasion. The students' pottery-making skills have improved a great deal over the past year. Of course, the firing and glazes involved a lot of experimentation. We actually did four full firings. This meant that Rich had to stay with the kiln for at least seven hours/day on four different occasions. It was quite time-consuming and intense work but the results, especially of the last firing, were very impressive! Our hope is that students will be able to develop enough proficiency and skill in making arts objects to be able to sell them.* But it is also important that they have fun learning these art skills and building a sense of community by working together and helping each other out. Perhaps most importantly, these activities are helping them develop more confidence and better self-esteem.

We incorporated literacy skills into the art work instruction by having students write and discuss their work. A group of our Maine friends spent a week on Bequia, holding yoga and storytelling classes which were combined with the literacy program. (Local UUs who came were Margaret Jones, Gene Vahey, Beth and Dennis Andersen and Tory Leuteman. Last year Marsha Lawson, and Patrick Conner visited Bequia).

A final part of the project involved teaching some business skills and setting up a craft table where we sold pottery, angels, and boxes. On the last day of class, after two months of work, students wrote about their experiences, sang songs, had refreshments, received small gifts (bookmarks, journals, and pens) and, best of all, chose an object they had made to take home.

This was a very rewarding experience for us as teachers, too. The adult students have not only become our friends over the years, but also are family to us on Bequia. Several of them bring their children and grandchildren so it¹s an intergenerational event. And, although no one yet is ready to run the kiln without supervision, there are plenty of supplies--such as clay, paints, and paper--to continue making pottery, angels, and boxes. We look forward to teaching another session of "Art and Literacy" at Bequia's Adult Continuing Education Center next year.

* New Travel Angels are available for purchase by donation.