First Saturday of October was San Diego's Mud Olympics ! No wrestling in the mud, no running in the mud, though quite a few faces and feet got covered in clay. It was a fun day for the young and old to play with clay, with absolute abandon. And it was quite the turnout.
Clay Artists of San Diego (CASD) organized the event in the courtyard of the Spanish Village in Balboa Park. Many of its members volunteered throughout the day, guiding, cheering and supporting the curious and the brave in handling and experimenting with clay, whether it was a one-on-one lesson on the wheel, a clay monster making class, a tile painting experience, or a clay competition, such as wheel throwing blindfolded or in tandem, wheel throwing the tallest piece, wheel throwing without hands, or the pinched teapot competition. Clay medals and small prizes were passed around. The event drew a big crowd, many local high school students with their teachers, local residents, and out of state onlookers strolling through Balboa Park. It was a real pleasure to see people's faces light up as they created their little clay monsters, or having an absolute blast throwing clay on the wheel for the first time (and getting clay everywhere in the process !).
CASD's mission is to promote clay activities in an educational and fun way, to make arts and crafts accessible to everyone. In that respect Mudfest was a total success. Good job CASD !!!
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| Blind-throwing competition |
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| Kid lesson |
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| One-on-one lesson with Anne |
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| Clay monsters: not so scary ! |
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| Playing with clay is fun |
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| "no hand" throwing competition |
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| Pinched teapot tandem competition |
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| Tallest thrown piece competition |
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| Finding serenity with tile painting |
