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December 2013
Page 3
It’s Not Just Ornamental:
Shepherd’s Haven Pottery Benefits Creators and Consumers
Story and Photos by Terry Louderback
Donnie
Jernigan is the King
of the Clay. Pam
Griffin, a worker at
Shepherd’s Haven’s
Day
Center,
explains
that
flattening the lumps
of grey clay takes a
lot of strength, and
Donnie is the best
man for the job.
And when he
sits down to show
me the first step in
producing
the
hundreds
of
ornaments that the
program is known for,
Donnie makes quick work
of it. After a few minutes
with a roller (pictured
above), Donnie moves on
to
carefully
cutting
crosses out of the nowsoft clay with a cookie
cutter. The pieces are then
passed
to
Karita
LaMontage,
(pictured
above) who skillfully
smoothes each edge with
a damp finger.
Later the pieces
will be baked in
the kiln, glazed,
and re-fired.
Donnie
and
Karita are two of
the
31
participants
at
the Shepherd’s
Haven
Day
Center Program,
housed
at
Bellevue Baptist
Church
in
Cordova. About
half
of
the
participants, all of whom
have
special
needs,
including cognitive delays
and possibly physical
disabilities, reside at one
of
Shepherd’s
Haven’s two homes
in
Arlington,
Tennessee.
Pam Griffin and
Sandi
Hood,
workers at the Day
Center, explain the
importance of the
ornament-making.
Not just “arts &
crafts,” the projects
give everyone an
opportunity to take
part in some way in
spite
of
any
physical limitations.
Participants affected
by blindness and arthritis
are able to paint the
ornaments before they are
fired in the kiln.
Staff and volunteers
assist the participants in
selecting colors and
paintin