FIRED UP
Longtime pottery
educator shapes
peninsula residents
into creatives
BY PATRICK WEBB
T
he recipe for Sue Raymond is simple.
“Clay is such a magic thing!”
The potter holds a doctoral degree and
years of experience in the field. She loves noth-
ing more than taking four steps outside her art
gallery, cranking open the door to her studio
and settling in to create whimsical characters.
She’s also eager to pass on her passion
through teaching. Her mission is to encour-
age fledgling artists to take creative risks. She
owns Bay Avenue Gallery in Ocean Park,
Washington, and offers several classes through-
out the year.
One weekday afternoon, Raymond’s class
had officially ended, but the studio was far
from empty.
In a cramped corner just inside the door,
John Forder remained, hunched over a spin-
ning potter’s wheel. The retired truck driver
appeared in the zone, hands coaxing moist clay
upward to become a vase.
Raymond managed to simultaneously com-
mend the zeal with which Forder has embraced
his new craft while not overtly supervising.
“It is amazing to me when the light bulb
turns on,” Raymond said. “This makes me very
happy — this makes me really tick.”
For her own project, Raymond used a tiny
sharp blade to slice triangles of purple-brown
flat clay and pinch them into inch-long clam
ornaments.
“The clay really speaks to me,” Raymond
said, as she poked in spherical eyes, inten-
tionally making one larger than the other for a
cheeky look.
“I love what I do so much — it makes me
happy,” she said, explaining the importance of
endorphins in the brain. “It is good for your mind
if you can be creative. I am nicer. I sleep better.”
Learning
Raymond is 70 years old. She earned a
drawing and education degree in Michigan,
then taught in a one-room schoolhouse, an
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Photos by Patrick Webb
Bay Avenue Gallery owner Sue Raymond concentrates on her work in her studio in Ocean Park.
Patrick Webb
Sue Raymond gives her ceramic clam
ornaments a cheeky look by making one eye
larger than the other.
Sherry Bosch of Seaview stands next to her artwork ‘Sunset Beach,’ on display at the Bay
Avenue Gallery in Ocean Park.
American Indian reservation and a school
with ongoing violence issues. After 15 years
teaching other subjects, she switched to art
for another 20 years.
Despite rich credentials, her own educa-
tion continues.
“I can learn from everybody. I love learn-
ing from other potters,” she said, alluding to
the communal inevitability of the craft. That’s
because big kilns — like Astoria’s dragon
kiln — aren’t constantly fired up.
“Potters learned in community,” she
added. “They ate together and made pots for
food. Painters used to do the same until they
started selling paint in tubes and they could
go solo.”
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