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West Union Peace Pole Headed for Japan
May 25, 2018 - Recently, students in the after-school Clay Club at West Union Elementary School had a unique opportunity to create two “Peace Poles” as part of a collaborative project co-sponsored by the Hokkaido Pottery Society in Japan and the Oregon Potters Association to share artwork and peace between Portland, Oregon, and our sister city: Sapporo, Japan.
At least fifty of these five-foot-tall Peace Poles were designed and created by youth across the state and were on display at the 2018 Ceramic Showcase at the Oregon Convention Center in late April. Eight were selected by a jury to go to Portland’s sister city: Sapporo, Japan, to represent the Pacific Northwest and one of these was from West Union! West Union’s second Peace Pole was chosen to be put on display locally.
A description of how the project unfolded is provided below by retired West Union teacher and Clay Club advisor Teresa Vaughan:
"West Union Elementary past and present students that had been a part of Mrs. Vaughan's Clay Club accepted her invitation to take part in the Peace Pole Project. We started the project with research. Using cell phones, iPads and laptops, we searched to see what the environment was like in Hokkaido. To our surprise, the plants and animals are very much like they are in the Pacific Northwest. We decided to share the things in the Pacific Northwest that were similar to those in Japan so they would see that our part of the world is no different than theirs. Next, each student was given Sculpty clay and a small Peace Pole stand to build their own small Peace Pole. While they started this process at school, it became a homework project.
At our next meeting, everyone shared their miniature Peace Pole and then chose their favorite piece on it. We disassembled the miniature poles and then reassembled one Peace Pole with everyone's favorite piece that he/she had made. Now, we had a vision of what the 5-foot pole would look like and we were ready to start with the "real" clay. Each person went to work building their favorite piece one more time with trail mix, cone 6 clay. There was much talk and laughter as everyone worked away.
During our third meeting, we finished our original pieces and went to work on pieces that could be used as dividers for the larger pieces. Our conversation about the Pacific Northwest focused on the natural habitat but it also focused on what makes Portland unique. We decided to make a few of those pieces as well, possibly to be used as dividers. At this time, the students’ parents couldn't resist jumping in and building alongside the children.
At the fourth meeting, the clay had been through the kiln. We did a test stack of our bisqued pieces keeping with the all-natural theme on this pole. We needed to see if we had enough to fill our 5-foot pole. We had enough larger sculptures and smaller natural dividers to fill the habitat Peace Pole, but only had enough student work to fill half the unique Portland pole. This is when extra clay went home with parents and they helped build a few more pieces. After a fast firing at my home, everything was ready to be glazed.
The next task was to glaze everything we had built. Some of the students said that this part of the project was their favorite. The excitement was building, knowing the next time we would get together we would see the final product.
On our last day, we still had much to do. We stacked and re-stacked the clay pieces until everyone was satisfied with the arrangement of our Peace Pole. Next, everyone wrote down ideas for a title and we finalized the name: "A Walk Through the Pacific Northwest.” When each person finished writing a personal artist statement, we celebrated with pizza and goodies. While eating, the second pole was put together by the students and adults who had made the unique Portland sculptures. Afterwards, the title: "The Sights and Sounds of Portland" was settled on.
Last, but not least, we were surprised and delighted to have our Peace Pole: "A Walk Through the Pacific Northwest" chosen to be shipped to the exhibit in Sapporo, Japan! We were also elated when we were told our second Peace Pole: "The Sights and Sounds of Portland" was wanted by our Japanese Sister City organization to be displayed here in Portland!
Well done, West Union students and parents. I am so proud of all of you for your cooperative hard work, enthusiasm, and amazing work you produced! It was a joy to work with everyone!"