One-of-a-kind art for any home

The Yuma Arts Center is offering three classes to stimulate the creative artist lurking within.

Holly Hendrick-Jones, a professional artist and educator, offers a number of classes that promise to provoke her students' imagination.

Beginning Wheel, a class that teaches students how to use a pottery wheel, adds another level with Raku, an ancient Japanese glaze firing technique, Hendrick-Jones said.

"This is a great opportunity for people to get together and learn how to create pottery on a wheel," Hendrick-Jones said. "Raku is an immediate process. Usually, pottery fired in a kiln takes until the next day.

"But with Raku, artists fire a piece with a torch and put it inside what looks like an upside down trash can and put a lid on it. The fire makes it glow with silver and copper colors depending on the glazes you use. But it's a really cool process that takes only an hour."

The second class, Design Details, is a class Hendrick-Jones does in conjunction with a show she has at the Art Center along with her husband's paintings. He is Scott Jones, whose mixed-media work includes abstract, room-interior, and figurative work in oil and acrylic in the Art Center galleries now, she noted.

"I'm doing sculpture there and taking students inside the Gallery Space to stimulate their ideas. I'll talk about what inspired me and explain design details to inspire their own original creations with clay media."

The third class, Textured Tiles, presents a variety of techniques on how to create tiles that can be functional, such as installing them in a kitchen or bathroom, or just displayed as a work of art.

Beginning Wheel is scheduled for Jan. 23 and 30, Design Details, is on Feb. 13 and 20, while Textured Tiles, is slated for March 6 and 13. The first two classes cost $35 while the third is $25 and there is a $19 supplies fee for all three. Deadline for registration is 24 hours before the class but it will be canceled unless there are at least eight students.

To register, students may go online to http://www.yumaaz.gov/1357.htm. People may also register at city hall or after hours using the slot at One City Plaza. Registration can also be faxed in with a Discover, Visa, American Express or Master Card at: 373-5244.

Mail-in registration can be sent to Yuma Parks and Recreation, One City Plaza. P.O. Box 13012, Yuma, AZ 85366. Also with the above credit cards people may register by phone: 373-5243.

For anyone interested in checking out Hendrick-Jones' work online they may log in to: http://northendartists.com/and then click on her name. Currently, she also has work on exhibit at the North End Artist Cooperative in the United Building, she noted.

"I want to stress these clay classes will be a lot of fun. I want to help students at all levels. Students will have the freedom to create whatever they can imagine out of clay."

William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.