Nurture Your Creativity with a Pottery Class
bakercreekceramics@gmail.com, 4058 Hammer Drive #105, Bellingham, WA 98226
Resources - Review Skills with Videos
Throwing VIdeos
Throwing VIdeos
Throwing VIdeos
If you missed a class or just want to review throwing techniques, check out some of these videos!
Throwing Basics Pulling a Cylinder Centering 2 Throwing a Cylinder
Wedging Videos
Throwing VIdeos
Throwing VIdeos
Mug Videos
Throwing VIdeos
Vessel and lid Ideas
Who doesn't love mugs? Watch these videos for practice or inspiration!
Vessel and lid Ideas
Vessel and lid Ideas
Vessel and lid Ideas
Need inspiration for a vessel or lid? Check out these links for ideas!
Lidded Casserole French Butter Crock 1
Pour Over Core French Butter Crock 2
Surface Decorating
Vessel and lid Ideas
Surface Decorating
Decoration can change everything! Here are some great ideas for surface decoration.
Glazing Videos
Vessel and lid Ideas
Surface Decorating
Other Helpful Links
Helpful ceramics links
Bellingham events and venues
Helpful ceramics links
Artist websites
Bellingham events and venues
Helpful ceramics links
Check out these awesome artist's web sites!
Sarah Pike Beth Cavener Stichter
Some Girl's Pottery Wesley Wright
Bellingham events and venues
Bellingham events and venues
Bellingham events and venues
Here are some great local events and galleries where pottery is displayed.
Good Earth Pottery MINDPORT Sunnyland Stomp SeaFeast Bellingham
Why Take a Pottery Class
Making Art Tied to Fewer Cognitive Problems in Old Age
A Mayo Clinic study finds decades spent on creative work pay off.
TOM JACOBS · APR 8, 2015
Are you concerned about developing thinking and memory problems in old age?
Research suggests there are ways to increase the odds you will stay sharp, including
mental stimulation, physical exercise, and healthy eating.
A just-published study from the Mayo Clinic points to yet another activity that,
consistently pursued for decades, may be even more effective at warding off cognitive
decline: making art.
The study, which featured 256 people in their mid- to late-80s, pinpointed various
activities that either predicted cognitive impairment or protected against it during the
final years of life. As noted in other studies, an active social life—whether in midlife or in
both midlife and late life—was linked with fewer instances of mild cognitive impairment.
So was late-in-life computer use.
“Long ago, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ was a common expression,” Dr. James
Galvin writes in a comment accompanying the study, which is published in the journal
Neurology. “Perhaps today, the
expression should expand to include painting an apple, going to the store with a friend
to buy an apple, and using an Apple product.”
Since participants reported on their midlife activities as well as what they were engaging
in at the current time, the researchers were able to parse not only which activities
appeared to protect against mild cognitive impairments, but when they were the most
effective.
For instance, engaging in social activities in midlife was linked to fewer memory or
thinking problems, as long as people did so so both in midlife and late in life. The
relatively few people who only began socializing as seniors had cognitive impairment
rates equal to those of people who, as a rule, didn’t engage in social activities at any
point. In contrast, learning how to use a computer late in life had a highly positive
impact—actually greater than for those who picked up the habit during their middle
years. Perhaps seniors who discovered the joys of surfing the Web provided their brain
with a new form of helpful stimulation.
The number of participants who reported they were artists was relatively small: 45 of
the 265. As a group, they were significantly less likely to suffer from incidents of
cognitive impairment than those who never touched an easel or a piano key.
But the subset of 18 who reported they took part in such activities both in midlife and
later in life (as opposed to stopping in their senior years) did phenomenally well, with
only three reporting incidents of mild cognitive impairment. That 16.7 percent rate
compared to 49.2 percent among those who were not engaged in artistic activities.
Regularly engaging in craft activities such as woodworking, quilting, or sewing was also
linked with fewer incidents of mild cognitive impairment, as was (to a lesser but still
significant extent) participating in “social activities.” But at least in this population,
those who were engaged in the arts were the least likely to suffer from such problems.
“I really do not know why the results for engaging in the arts are stronger than other
activities,” says lead author Rosebud Roberts. “These activities may all have a role in
keeping brain cells stimulated, and may help develop new neural pathways. Or
continued engagement may enable a person to develop a larger cognitive reserve from
which to recruit alternate brain cells to take over function from cells which no longer
function.”
In any event, these results suggest that behaviors intended to ward off mild cognitive
impairment “may need to begin in midlife and persist throughout late life,” as Galvin
puts it in his commentary. So if you have an itch to start painting or learning a musical
instrument, don’t wait until retirement. Start now.
Findings is a daily column by Pacific Standard staff writer Tom Jacobs, who scours the
psychological-research journals to discover new insights into human behavior, ranging
from the origins of our political beliefs to the cultivation of creativity.
