CURRENTS
Sharing Love of Art Meet Some Of The Leland Cultural Arts Center’s Arts & Crafts Instructors STORY BY LISA P STITES
A
long with the Leland Cultural Arts Center’s Open House on Aug 28 (see related story in this issue), the Gallery exhibit this month features some of the instructors who teach classes, and we wanted to know more about them and what they do. So we reached out to a few of the instructors who will be featured all month long in the Gallery.
We emailed a few questions to these instructors, and they responded quickly with terrific answers. We got to take a tiny glimpse into who they are as artists, so we thought we’d make this a Q&A piece and maybe also give you a glimpse into the glamorous life of a small-town magazine publisher. Journalists live by deadlines. We’re often doing things last minute, and it’s not because we don’t think ahead. It’s all well and good to start out with a plan for what a story might look like, but you have to be open to where the story may lead. We were planning to write about the Open House, of course, and the
Instructors Showcase. When we were at LCAC a few weeks ago for the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, we wandered around to see what else was going on in the building. Well, mostly I did. I went backstage and peeked out behind the curtains, I wandered through the gallery and I even made my way into the pottery rooms and chatted with some friendly people as they worked. And then I went back and got Jeffrey’s fancy camera and took some pottery pictures. I could have spent hours doing that. And that led me to think that we needed to make this into a lovely spread for the magazine to really feature at least some of the things going on at the Center.
Pam Hickson-Milat has been teaching basket-weaving at LCAC since 2016.
4 Leland Magazine /August /August 2021 / www.LelandMag.com
If there’s any “art” in journalism, it’s learning how to get out of the way and let people tell their stories. These instructors told us part of their stories, and we’re glad to be able to share them with you. Remember though, what you see on these pages is really just a glimpse, and you’ll find out so much more by viewing their work and meeting them and their fellow teachers at the Open House.
Pam Hickson-Milat Basket Weaving
How long have you been weaving?
I started weaving thru classes at the Brunswick Community College in 2004. How long have you been teaching others? And how long teaching at LCAC?
I taught my first basket class in 2011 and have been teaching at LCAC since fall of 2016. Do you create art in other mediums, and if so, do you teach classes in that
as well?
Yes, I fiddle with several thingscrocheting, painting, embroidery, alcohol inks.... But just do those for myself. What do you love best about teaching your art?
I love when a student looks in amazement at their completed baskets. And I take pride in seeing my students grow in the art. What does having your art on display mean to you?
Grateful for the Godly talent bestowed on me. I love to share how many of my pieces are woven as directed by the Holy Spirit. They come out far different than what was in my minds-eye.
John Hebert Pottery
How long have you been doing pottery?
I was accepted into the ceramics program at East Carolina University in 2008 and have been working with wheelthrown and hand building pottery and
Potter John Hebert appreciates working in an ancient art and encourages students to create pieces that show their passion for thier work.
