February 2021 Grant Recipients

In ceramics, monitoring and controlling the moisture level of your clay is fundamental to success. In order for clay to be soft and malleable, it must be kept moist. In my ceramics classes, most of my students' projects are kept damp from day to day, and only upon completion are they allowed to dry out. We close them up in large plastic bags with twist ties to keep them moist.

With the advent of COVID-19 and the rapid school closures this spring, suddenly my ceramics students faced a bigger challenge than just keeping their clay fresh. In order to continue hands-on clay projects, students had to take clay home to work with, and then carefully bring their fragile projects back to school for firing in the kiln. Delicate sculptures had to be gently carried in the plastic bags and brought to the school without harming the contents. Plastic bags were not the ideal container for this exchange.

The school year 2020-2021 is about to begin, and the potential for closure looms over us. My district has developed a multi-level operations plan that could send us from in-person to hybrid or online learning at a moment's notice. My students need a means to frequently transport their clay between school and home while keeping their clay moist and protecting their projects. Air-tight plastic containers with handles are the solution.

I want to buy a plastic tote, large enough for our projects but small enough to fit in a cubby, for every student. A container of this size, with a lid and handle, isn’t cheap, and I need help funding enough for two classes. The totes described would make school-to-home transitions more feasible for the coming year. They will be a valuable asset for many years as a practical means of clay storage and moisture control.