COLORADO SPRINGS — Over the past two weeks, a group of veterans and active service members have spent their time working with clay. It's going to be on display in the Fine Arts Center at Colorado College for the entire month of May.
"Some stuff just kind of comes out," said Jo Moore, a servicemember who's set to retire from the Army after 11 years.
"So I'm transitioning out, so clay, I mean- clay is something that you're molding, you're making, so it's kind of fitting to wrap up the end of a chunk of my life," she said.
Maggie Quinn is a clay instructor at the Fine Arts Center and
said she was inspired to lead the group after watching other veterans express themselves through the written word.
“I listened to these vets tell their stories throughout their words with such passion and such emotion, that I said we need to do this," said Quinn. “From writing to working with clay, and putting the writing on the clay, to the fire, and firing in the pits, and now hanging for exhibition”.
The group participated in a writing workshop before taking their works, carving them onto clay, then firing them in a kiln and burning them for a smokey effect.
For some like Army veteran Adrienne Sommers, the process was very therapeutic.
“I wrote about a hard time in my life, and wanted to put it all down on paper, and put it on clay," said Sommers. "I like this part that says 'still here'".
The group's artwork will be on display in the Fine Arts Center for the month of May.
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