The Payson Chronicle : Furthering a Fine Tradition: Senior Citizens’ Ceramics Exhibit Enters Third Year

Like clockwork each Wednesday, a group of Payson women gather at the Payson Senior Center ceramics room. Here, they find a studio stocked with the tools and materials they need for their masterpieces. Using paint and glaze and, at times, smoke from a candle, they apply their artistic touch to ceramic figures, chosen themselves or by family with special requests to fill. They are now sharing the result of their artwork, albeit by observation only, at a ceramics exhibit at the Peteetneet Museum and Cultural Arts Center in Payson.

The annual Senior Citizens Ceramic Show, now in its third year, is in full swing through the end of April. It showcases favorite pieces by these Senior Citizen Center artisans, all of whom receive instruction by Marie Noll.

Marie has spent the past six years as the ceramics instructor at the Center, but her experience extends far beyond her time in Payson. ”I’ve been doing ceramics for almost all my adult life,” she said last week, as the group met inside the exhibition site, Room D on the Peteetneet’s main floor. Ceramic making and painting were popular among her peers during the first years of her marriage. Marie dove into the artistic outlet while her husband, Gary Noll, served in the U.S. Military. She even ran her own ceramics studio for eleven years while the couple resided in Dixon, California, before they moved to Payson.

As the instructor at the Payson Senior Center, Marie teaches the ladies--and an occasional gentleman or two joining the group from time to time--how best to use the mediums appropriate for ceramics: Acrylic and oil paints, glazes, and not to mention, the smoking technique mentioned above.

Most of all, Marie facilitates a friendly experience for the artisans who meet each week for her direction in the ceramics room. “We sit there and just have fun,” she said.

There seems to be a strong consensus among the women who shared this remark with the Chronicle last week. That is, enjoyment and the pleasure of creating art among friends are what have kept them returning to the Payson Senior Center ceramics room week after week.

“I enjoy going to ceramics because it’s a place to be with friends,” Joye Jasperson echoed her instructor. “And I enjoy making new things.”

Among these things, now on display at the Peteetneet, are Joy’s adorable handpainted gnome, a turtle, snail, ladybug, frog, caveman, and a welcome sign maintained by a scarecrow that appears more welcoming than his title suggests.

Near the entrance in the room sits Lois Hicks’s finely painted bust of a Native American. Other ceramics she has carefully created and included in the show are fine Christmas decor, whimsical ants, an alligator, and a frog on a rock.

“It’s fun to do- we love it!” she said of the ceramics program in Payson..

“I enjoy coming to the Senior Center to be with the group to do ceramics,” Dorothy James said. “And I do yard ornaments. So I have a duck and a frog and a turtle and a worm and an owl, because I like to make things to sit in my flower bed.”

To prepare them for the elements outside, Dorothy turns to applications which aid her characters as they reside in fluctuating weather. One technique involves a graveling effect, she said, while another still is the application of a glaze to protect her pieces before they are placed outside. “That makes it so they are more weatherproof,” she added.

Meanwhile, Nola Adams is drawn to what appeals to her at the moment. “I do them as [they] come,” she said. “Whatever I feel” at the time.

Her contributions this year are her beautiful Native American figurines, whimsical characters, as well as a remarkable piece depicting Jesus Christ at a door, knocking, signifying a hope to be allowed inside.

Betty Frisby, a relative newcomer to the ceramics group, is still working on completing pieces for future shows, as well as for the countless family members and friends in the community who are often gifted by the senior artisans. Betty joined the local Senior Citizens a year ago and has been attending the ceramics group for about seven-eight months.

“I’m glad that [Marie Noll] can get in there and teach me how to draw a straight line,” said Betty, her bright smile alluding to a sense of happiness and belonging shared among them.

Although Dawna Larson had not yet submitted any of her work as of March 5, she said she planned on doing so soon. Among the items she will likely include in the exhibit are her lighthouse and a tall vase, she said.

As for the ceramics group and the work they do together as friends? “I love it!” Dawna said. “I look forward to Wednesdays. I don’t even have to write it in my planner. I just know that I get to go to ceramics.”

Would she encourage others in the community join them? “Yes!” said Dawna, smiling as she stood in the gallery among these friends at their current exhibit.

The Senior Center ceramics studio is open from 9 AM - 4 PM each Wednesday and the ladies arrive anytime in between. Some prefer to work from home, which is fine, noted ceramics instructor, Marie.

“Ceramics isn’t just a hobby,” Marie explained. “It’s actually something that relieves stress, and it’s something that you can give to friends and family that will last beyond our lifetime.

“We are seniors. This is something we can pass down. And our grandchildren think we’re geniuses,” Marie chuckled.

You can view a piece of this special tradition at the Peteetneet Museum and Cultural Arts Center during its regular operating hours. The museum is open Monday through Friday, from 10 AM - 4 PM, and is located at 10 North 600 East, Payson.