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A Very Short History of Maureen's Classes
as remembered by Maureen
HISTORY OF MAUREEN"S CLASSES: (Do any
of you remember these places?)
BEGINNING
When I started making clay characters in 1978, I had no intention of
becoming a polymer clay teacher or an author. I was just doing
something that I felt compelled to do, which was make things, all kinds of
things. I'd been doing it since I was a little girl and I knew that it
made me happy. When I found polymer clay it felt like I'd come home.
It matched my interests and skills, and there was so much that I could do
with it. I also knew that I could make money doing it, which was a
very seductive thing indeed. I had quit teaching elementary school to
become a stay-at-home and community volunteer, which I loved, but I needed
both the money and the personal validation that those sales brought my way.
DINING ROOM TABLE
Those first characters were created at the dining room table, then in a
small bedroom that was tucked away in the walkout basement. I didn't
have any big goals in mind. It was 1978, and I was just having fun
making clay characters, first at Christmas boutiques and arts and crafts
fairs, then at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
WHISTLING HOLLOW IN LONSDALE, MN, USA
After about six years, I started listening to people who wanted to take
classes. By then I had moved my production work to Lonsdale, MN, where
for two years I had a studio named Whistling Hollow with my friend Barbara
Johnson (Moudry). I did clay work and Barbara made music boxes, and we
both taught a few classes. In 1984, Barbara and I both sold our work
at the Renaissance Festival. When Barbara moved on to other things,
Dan and I rented a tiny building in downtown Lakeville, where we changed the
business name to Wee Folk Creations. That also lasted about two years,
then the building was demolished to make way for Senior Citizen Housing.
BACK TO THE BASEMENT
I continued teaching classes in rented facilities at a local Lakeville, MN
church while Dan built me a quaint home studio which was tucked in behind
our garage. That's where the first teaching videos were produced. When
Dan went into business with me in 1989, it made more sense for him to work
out of the garage studio than the basement, where he had to cart all the
clay first down the stairs, and then back up to ship the boxes, so he took
over the garage studio for his shipping office.
Once again I moved, this time into the large
community space in the walkout basement. There I wrote my first three
North Light books, How to Make Clay Characters (1997), Family and Friends in
Polymer Clay (1999) and Clay Characters for Kids (2001). For nearly 10
years I continued to work and teach at home, moving all of my
production work out of the way each time that I taught a class so that there
would be room for students. Not always an easy task!
GOING NATIONAL
In 1990, I had joined The Society of Craft Designers, a national
organization whose members worked with craft manufacturers, wrote how-to
books and project sheets, appeared on TV shows (such as Aleene's and Carol
Duvall), taught at trade shows and designed new products for the craft
industry. I began working with American Art Clay Company, Inc., as
their main FIMO demonstrator, which continued until 2006. At that time
I also started teaching at locations from Virginia to California, with
return visits many times to Sievers School of Fiber Arts on Washington
Island, Wisconsin. In 1993 I began licensing my clay characters for
reproduction for the gift market.
MAUREEN'S IN JORDAN
As the popularity of the classes and of my gift designs brought more and
more people to the home studio, Dan and I decided it was time to have a
separate business location for both the classes and the design studio.
I had been dreaming about a retreat location along a river. One day I
turned around and the dream had come true. And that's how we finally
got to Maureen's in Jordan, MN, where we have been for 10 years.
Ahhhhhhh.
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