Inspiration: Famous Potter & Crayola Experience!

Last week Husband and I traveled to Pennsylvania for  his class reunion. I found we were only an hour away from the Crayola Crayon Factory, so that was our first stop.

Sadly they don't make the Crayons here anymore but they did have machines that showed the onlookers a start to finish process. The tray the woman is holding became a pile of red crayons.

 The place was filled with the delightful odor of crayons. I love the smell and the great graphic of the crayon wrapper. Plenty of  tools to look at and color with.

Husband and I got in early before all the kids came, so we had the whole playground to ourselves.

We each made a crayon with a wrapper we designed and named. Of course my Ms. Moffatt crayon was lavender, Bill's was green.

We also got to make clay animals and draw in a darkroom with special markers. And that was only part of the days fun! The gift shop was great too. When I do talks for schools I often draw for the kids and constantly run out of flesh colored crayola markers. At the store I filled 1/2 an antique repro. tin with all my favorite colors so I won't have to buy complete packs just to get the two I really want. SCORE!

After Bill's class reunion our last stop was a visit to his favorite teacher from Philadelphia College of art; Bill Daley. You can find this famous mans large, unglazed stoneware vessels at  Metropolitan Museum of Art and the  Museum of Art and Design in New York.  The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London...to name a few.

 This is one of Daley's latest vessels. Below is his studio. He draws the sketches for his works on the wall, then paints over the sketch when he's ready to start a new vessel. He has customized all kinds of tools with long handles so he can get into the deep spots.

Bill Daley is an amazing man that is still creating incredible large works of art at 90 years old! It was a delight and privilege to meet the man my husband has talked about for years. Truly an inspiration!