SISTERS

One of the many reasons I love my job so much 

is getting to watch the very loving and sweet interactions of the kids with each other.

I feel we are a special place here at Whitney High.

We are a family.

Many of us teach the children for 6 years,

and we get to watch them mature and grow up.

Here are one year apart siblings, 

Simi & Manishka Ranjit,

 admiring the clay wind chime piece after it was strung together at the beginning of this year. 

Both these girls enjoy and have art running thru their veins.

They had no idea I was taking a picture of them,

but I just love their closeness and how connected they are to each other.

Both have been in several of my art classes over the years

and often use the art room as their refuge during lunch and after school.

I enjoy their company so very much.

I can remember back in the day 

when the Ceramics room at Sunny Hills High School (1972-74)

was my refuge as well.

My clay teacher,

Sally Foster Wilde,

 was the first person in my life who recognized in me design & craftsmanship potential,

built up my confidence,

and nurtured me thru those turbulent high school days.

While everyone else was smoking pot in the parking lot and on the athletic fields,

 I was in the clay room helping Sally to load a kiln,

or finish a project.

I continued to see her once a year at the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival

where she had a booth selling her pottery for over 50 years.

If she wasn't in her booth,

 I would write her a note thanking her for all the encouragement she had given me,

and to keep her abreast of all my schooling and jobs in the art field.

This last year was the first time that she wasn't there.

She moved from her home in Laguna to a cabin in Montana.

She must be in her 80's or early 90's now.

She never aged and continued to be a tease & jokster, 

with an energetic childlike spontaneity & curious nature.

I will never forget her,

and the powerful impact she had on my life.