At 10:45 a.m. on a warm Friday morning I met Robyn Cassidy at the corner of Metropole and Crescent Avenue. She waved to me from a white pick-up truck. I hopped in and we whizzed along pebbly beach road to her studio.
Her studio is located a few feet from where the original Catalina Island pottery factory stood. In attendance with me was Eric Klepi, a tile enthusiast from northern California.
At 10:45 a.m. on a warm Friday morning I met Robyn Cassidy at the corner of Metropole and Crescent Avenue. She waved to me from a white pick-up truck. I hopped in and we whizzed along pebbly beach road to her studio.
Her studio is located a few feet from where the original Catalina Island pottery factory stood. In attendance with me was Eric Klepi, a tile enthusiast from northern California.
The three of us gathered in a snug corner of her veranda to discuss tile. Robyn can get as technical as her patrons need her to be. She light heartily weaves her way through questions about “clay body” and chemical cobalt.
When she senses that this is all a bit over my head she breaks off to explain things in layman’s terms. She is able to swing between the most sophisticated questions to the most elementary, and answer both questions with a light-hearted, breezy air, the privilege of a person who knows their niche.
Interrupting the discussion a pod of hundreds of dolphins appear on the immediate horizon, a boat follows them, and, still more dolphins follow the boat. A feeling of joy floats in from the sea, as we pause to watch the aquatic life.
After a bit more discussion we rise and make our way to a work bench, also outside. She produces a large brown square of earth colored clay and demonstrates how to slice the clay and press it into a mold.
“Clay is a good teacher. I can condense everything I have learned in fifteen years to five minutes because I have made EVERY mistake!”
This is a reassuring statement to make to novice. She continued, saying “Clay costs 25 cents and mistakes can be fixed!”
This sense of joy is a direct outcrop of a person who is deeply fulfilled by their work and truly enjoys sharing what she has learned.
I press the clay into the mold and fold the edges, simler to how you create a pie crust, I lay a thin piece of wax paper on the clay and tap it flat with a rubber mallet. I chose to make a double headed griffin, a regular griffin, and a traditional Catalina Island floral pattern. Once the clay has been flattened by the mallet, the mold is turned and using a wooden scarper the excess clay is sluiced off using an angled motion. When all of the corners have been evened out in the center a “bellybutton” of clay remains this too is scraped using the same angled technique.
“Clay is thirsty,” she said. “It will pull moisture out of anything it can.”
Robyn speaks about clay as a living thing and it adds depth to the experience.
Robyn majored in psychology. After she graduated from school she took two classes in pottery. She describes the bay area (where she attended university) as teeming with workshops in the 1980’s. Here is where her education really began. It is impossible to imagine her doing anything else. When she returned to Catalina Island at the end of the 1980’s she began repair work on the original tile. She holds the distinction of producing “reproductions” longer than the Catalina Island pottery was producing pottery. The silver Canyon Pottery Company produces custom tile for residents and visitors alike and is charged with the repair and replacement of the tile work around the city.
Once we have nestled the thirsty clay into the molds, I am free to wander about her workshop. I find it fascinating. Writers do not have instruments, tools, and I am always delighted when I get to see all the accouterments of a working artist. The studio itself is surrounded by industrial workshops, and the complex resembles a small industrial village.
Robyn’s studio consists of three storage containers on the second floor. The first container is retail space with, green gym lockers, fluttering white curtains, and an ocean view from each of the windows.
The other two containers house the kiln and a workshop. The effect is an open light filled space accessible by the veranda that runs the length of each of the three containers. I spend the rest of the time wandering through out the studio, admiring the view and snapping photographs.
Robyn calls my name as I stand in front of a row of clay figures that remind me of the Venus of Waldorf. It is time to pop out the tiles that have been drying in the sun.
I tap the corners of each of the molds, out pop tiles, well formed tiles, with clear lines. “Not bad,” I think to myself.
The cost of the Silver Canyon tile tour is $45. It includes the cost of materials and shipping. Robyn made a point of telling me that there are as many tours as there are people, sometimes people come with a project in mind. Contact Robyn Cassidy at (800) 499 8799 http://www.silvercanyonpottery.com/Studio-Tours.html
