October 15, 2025 • 25 mins
Indian River Clay is the epi-center of the Soup Bowl fundraiser for the Samaritan Center, producing over 1,000 hand-made soup bowls each year for their worthy cause. The 33rd Annual Samaritan Center Soup Bowl is November 6th, 2025, and guests are invited to make donations in exchange for their soup and pottery, with all proceeds supporting Samaritan Center’s mission of assisting homeless families in Indian River County. Contact the Samaritan Center to volnunteer.
Indian River Clay has 65 members and they're hoping to expand soon. Classes are offered multiple days per week to people of all ages and abililties. Details can be found at indianriverclay.org
Indian River Clay has 65 members and they're hoping to expand soon. Classes are offered multiple days per week to people of all ages and abililties. Details can be found at indianriverclay.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Arts Blast on the Air. It's a podcast,
it's a radio show, and it's an Alexis skill. It's
all presented by Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside Theater. They
are the arts supporting the arts in Florida. I'm Willie
Miller and every week I get to talk to people
in the arts about the arts on the Treasure Coast
and beyond. Arts. Blast on the Air is so proud
(00:25):
to be supported by Ballet Vero Beach. Subscriptions for the
exciting new season are available online now, with single seats
on sale November first. I'm thinking holiday gifts and stocking
stuffers here. The Nutcracker on the Indian River is earlier
and in a new venue this year December eleventh through
the thirteenth at Riverside Theater. Ask about the new vip
(00:50):
ad on experience plus Nutcracker for all that's the family
version has some new options to learn about everything at
Ballet Vero Beach dot org and now on the show,
guests today Maria Sparsus and Kim Mayo, and we're going
to talk about what has become a wonderful tradition here
(01:13):
in Vero Beach, Indian River County, and I think has
been inspiration for this the same kind of event in
other counties, as I understand it, Maria, Maria sparsus, Kim Hayo,
you are let me see your hands. Did you wash today?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
We're not covered in mind, we're not here.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
We're clean yet.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, they love to play in the mud. Maybe we
should explain that, Maria, I'll start with you the thirty third.
I can't believe that annual Samaritan Center Soup Bowl is
coming up November sixth, that's a Thursday as always. And okay,
it's been going on for thirty three years. How many
(01:57):
years have you been involved?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I have been involved for almost twenty. I think at
this point in time, an Indian River has been the
exclusive provider for five years. Isn't that correct? Kim?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yes, that is we've taken over when COVID hit because
the museum was unable to provide the balls that year.
That's the first year that they Smarrig Center started doing
things at the Heritage Center where they will again have
lots of balls on display.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, let's go back in history. You mentioned the museum right, correct.
Where where did this actually start? Maria?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think This started with Ken Matt, the late Great
Ken Matt in his studio and he, Glenda Taylor and
Shatzilla Joy made a handful of both the first year
forty three years ago.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I believe Shatsi told me that they made one hundred
balls that first year. There were thinking five potters. I
can't remember the names of everybody. Wow, very small beginning,
but one that's been going on for a long time now.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, it's Shatzi is still involved. I haven't seen her
for a while, but I remember because I go to
First Methodist Church sitting in the lobby selling bowls and
Shatzi carrying in boxes and boxes of bowls through display.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Shatsy came in this year and made bowls. Is one
of our on our community pottery Day. But she's not
actively involved with the Super Bowl event. She took care
of it for a lot of years, and credit to
her for doing that. But it's uh, it's uh.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Kim has taken busy. But Kim has taken over from
for the.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Last two years.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, okay, Well, it has to take a lot of organization.
I'm looking at a flyer that I've printed out lots
of locations all on November sixth, that will be serving
lunch and some for dinner, some for uh well, the
Heritage Center lunch and dinner. But talk about the organization.
(04:02):
We'll go back to the making of the of the bowls,
but the organization. When when do you start thinking about
next year?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Actually, my first reach out to the Samaritan Center in
March so that we can start talking about what they
want to do this year and the number of bulls
that they want to make. And then again speaking of
the SamArt Center, we kind of coordinate how we want
to handle that, and then we actually start looking for
dates to have our community days. Because though Indian River
(04:31):
potters themselves make a large number of soup bols and
are essential to the production the providing of the clay
and the glazing and stuff, we do get a lot
of help from the community. So we like those community weekends.
So we have to coordinate because we can't have classes
going at that time. The volume that we produce just
kind of overwhelms our routine kiln firing and making and
(04:54):
going on. So first reach out in March, so it
goes on for most of the year.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, Maria, how many balls do you hope for every year,
or is it si, This is the number we're going
to make, no matter what exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The Sumerican Center tells us how many balls they need,
and that's how many we make. And this year it's
a thousand balls that we're going to deliver.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, okay, I'm looking at two there, and I looked
at my kitchen cabinet this morning. Bulls take up a
lot of space. What do you do when you get
past the manufacturing getting your hands dirty? What do you
do with a thousand balls while you're waiting to distribute them?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Well, we luckily don't have to store them. We did
that the first two years, I think Maria, we did, yeah,
which was made it interesting in our organization. But now
the Samaritan Center, so as we complete boxes of twenty,
we pack those boxes up and they take them and
store them, in part because they need to distribute them
to their various locations around the county, all those organizations
(06:02):
that help by selling bowls and selling soup on the day,
actual day of the event. So we're fortunately we don't
have because it was it was interesting that first two years.
They were lots of different locations.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
And then River Clay has grown space has become an issue,
so we had to switch from starting them to delivering
as they get completed.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, well that yeah, that actually sounds pretty efficient. I
remember being part of it when it was over at
the museum, the Center for the Arts.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I remember some of your bowls. They were really nice
back out.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I remember one in particular, a footed ball. I'm not
going to put you on the spot here in Maria,
but back in those days an odd ball bowl wasn't
as welcome as the traditional soup bowl.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
We have a lot of odd ball bowls. We still
have to cull out a few if they're not the
Some American center gives us a size that they prefer, okay,
So on occasion a bowl has to stay behind.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It is a whole process between the making and the
glazing and the firing, and we check every bowl before
that goes out to make sure that there's no cracks,
that it's functional, that it meets certain size requirements. Occasionally,
if we have one that's highly decorated and really special,
will let a slightly smaller one go through because people
like to collect all different sizes. They're not all for soup.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Raising my hand here, yep.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And then we choose a new shape for the handbuilders.
Back when you and I did and Maria did at
the museum, you remember, a lot of us were kind
of clay slaves. We kind of helped feed the wheel makers.
And now with the communitys, we really invite the public
to come in and a lot of people have never
touched clay, so we give them the opportunity to actually
make a bowl with their hands, which you know, just
(07:56):
makes them happy. My mom, who's eighty nine, came in
for the first time this year and made able. I've
got a picture of her, you know, ear to ear
smiling because she wound up with one making one and
it's now talking about bringing friends and neighbors in next
year to try and make bowls too, because she had
so much fun. So we like that community interaction both
for indor clay because we want them people to love clay,
(08:17):
but also to get people more aware of involved with
the Samaritan Center and all the good work that they do.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Okay, at a thousand bowls, I'm picturing what we used
to work, what I used to work with when I
was helping out big heavy bags of wet clay. Yes, yes, ma'am.
Where do you store that. Okay, how much of that?
And those were twenty five pounds right, yes, okay? How
(08:45):
much of that bag would you say it takes to
make one bowl?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, the wheel, each bag of twenty five pounds makes
sixteen bowls.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Sixteen yes, wow.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So it's a little bit less for hand because there's
more clay wasted and they tend to be a little
bit thicker. But for the wheel, we get sixteen bowls
out of twenty five pounds of clay.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, I'm not going to do the mass here. How
many twenty five pound bags of clay do you have
to get in and where the heck do you put them?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well, we have clay there all the time because we're
a clay center, so we use the clay that we have,
and what we do is, sorry, my brain just weinside.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So we get clay delivered almost every month, and we
get delivers of twenty three hundred pounds of clay on
a pallet.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
How many bags is that? Well, I'm not doing any matter.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's close to one hundred bags, well, not quite one
hundred bags, so a pallette would be more than what
we need, and we just replenish it as we use it.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
We normally estimate about how many bags of clay we
think we're going to need to produce that thousand bowls.
Obviously there's waste ols, collapse, things cracked, things don't work,
so we usually go over what are estimated amount is.
So I think about sixty five bags is what we
think we wind up with with making the souples. The
nice thing now within your clay is we have a
(10:10):
Pug machine, which, for those that don't know, it repurposes
clay that has been damaged so that we can recover
some of the scraps and things and not have it
go to waste or wind up in landfills or anything else.
It gets repurposed into actually more soupls that we do
use the pug clay for the supols.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Okay, now you're talking about the clay before it has
been fired.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Correct, Once it's fired, if there's an error, then it's over.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
No solutions for can't smash it up and make it
into mosaics.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Perhaps, yeah, you could do that.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Okay, Yeah, So if any mosaic artists wants some of
our scraps, let us know.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Okay, Okay, I'm not raising my hand on that one. Okay, Okay,
We're going to take a break if you don't mind
and come back. There's so much more to talk about,
so think about what you want to talk about, Maria.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I would love to talk about that upcoming holiday sale.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Okay? And did I mention the youtubur from Indian River Clay?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I think so, but I'm not sure. From Indian River Clay.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Oh are you from Indian River Clay?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
From Indian Clay?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Okay? So how many times have we just mentioned that? Okay,
now let's talk. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.
I'm going to check with Riverside Theater's website very soon.
Actually I did already to learn about the coming season,
plus everything happening this fall. If you're under forty, pull
(11:38):
and ask about the new forty for forty program. You
are in for a treat. It's a really big deal.
Always plenty on the menu at Versaide Theater, great fans
and good food for Live in the Loop and now
there are two shows per evening in the comedy Zone,
six thirty and eight thirty. Learn about the great new
season just kicking off with Little Shop of Horrors on
(11:59):
the mainstay Age to November ninth and Everything river Side
at Riversidetheater dot com.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
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There's something for everyone in the company's extraordinary lineup. Subscribe
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Speaker 3 (13:14):
Right now we're having a huge.
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Speaker 6 (13:37):
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(13:58):
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Speaker 1 (14:13):
And we are back. I'm Willie Miller back with Arts
Blast on the Air and guests Maria Sparsus and Kim Mayo.
We're talking clay and getting dirty, down and dirty, you
ladies getting muddy and muddy. Yeah, that's that's what you
call the the clay, right that you work with for
the Super Bowls?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Jokingly? Yeah, yes, yeah, come play with mud.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Can anybody's still what stage are you at now or
are you totally finished?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
We still have a few to finish. We're getting close, Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I remember when I when I the whatever year or
two years whatever, I was helping with big buckets of glaze,
talking down at the in the basement of the museum
and you just go in and you dug, dunk and
drip and dunk and drip. That was That was interesting,
(15:08):
It was fun. It was challenging, is it. There would
seem to be a lot of camaraderie going on there.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It is. We still have the big buckets of clay.
You can still dip. Some of our more experienced people
tend to want more decorative bowls, so you'll also see
a lot of what we call underglazers, which are painted
on before dipped in clear or a transparent type of glaze.
My husband, who comes and helps when he can, likes
(15:37):
painting fish on his bowls. So if you find a
ball with a painted fish in a slightly shaky hand,
that's usually Randy's. And you can paint the fish and
then paint wax over it and dip it in a glaze,
or you can do all painted glazers. There's all sorts
of different techniques for producing balls, and that's honestly what
(15:59):
the best thought about it is that there's so many
different types of bowls and types of artists that participate, so.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You can definitely see the hand of the artist in
the bowl.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
And because just like there's so many people, there's so
many different bowls something it's going to appeal to everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yep, I have to agree. I remember in the years
when we did sell them at first Methodist Church, people
would come in for lunch. Well we haven't talked we
haven't talked about the soup yet, Okay. They would come
in for lunch and walk out with a bag of
five ten bowls for gifts.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
People buy them for Christmas. They collect them for themselves.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, I have.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I used to work as a nurse and I have
a list of doctors that I have to notify when soup,
remind them when Super Bowls coming up because they come
and buy gifts at the soup bowls.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So yeah, yeah, okay, should we talk about the soup.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, we can't tell you as much about the soup
because that smart center arranges that portion of it. I
know that in some cases the organization that is hosting
the Soup Bowl party makes their soup because I've seen that.
I know that some restaurants sometimes do it. We're on
the bowl producing side of it, the art side of it, though,
(17:15):
I'm sure the chefs are artists as well, But this
merit center is the one who organizes the soup portion
of it. But I bought it a few times in
the Soup's delicious.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Absolutely absolutely, And I will say from experience, if you
are looking for soup for lunch, get there early because
people line up wherever they are and we'll go over
a couple of the sites and then how to people
can find out where they are. But people would line up.
The soups are so yum and each place was I
(17:48):
think a little bit different. Some would serve it with
a dessert or a drink and some would just have takeout.
I do remember, I guess the chefs coming in with
big five gallon buckets of soup. Row after row of
people bringing in soup. It was such a wonderful day.
(18:09):
I loved Souper Bowl Day.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah, it's it's definitely a community event with people from
all over the community participating and providing food, art, everything
else for a homeless shelterer and one that does is
very successful with helping those people that are members of
that organization get back on their feet and out in
the community and not have to experience homelessness in the future.
(18:33):
It's a whole immersive program where they learn job skills
and how to manage finance and so it's you know,
it's a very good organization that does a lot of
good in our community.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And how do people get in touch with them?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Do you know through the Samaritan Center? And I don't
have the number in front of me, but Katie Ryan,
Renee Byerley are the people that I work that I
work with in contact with the samaran Center. And I'm
sure you reaching out of them, someone could help, could
get more information?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Well, I have on on one of the flyers that
says for more information call Catholic Charity Samaritan Center seven
seven to two seven seven zero three zero three nine
and a website where I don't remember where I got
this flyer's it has a list of all of the
(19:24):
places that will be serving the organization.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, you can go. I know they have it on
their Facebook page as well as on their website and.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
On our website, Indian Riverclay dot org.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Okay, okay, could you would you care if I just
looked right over just a few of them? I can't
there were so many. Let's see Indian River County Sheriff's Office,
Auditorium if you're feeling brave and innocent, Coldwell, Caldwell, Banker, Paradise,
(19:57):
a lot of real letters, Kelly Keller, Williams Reality Living,
lowerd Lutheran Church, a lot of churches as well, Saint
Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, Saint Sebastian Catholic Church. So
it's not just right here in the center of Vero Beach.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
No, No, it's the county.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Okay, yeah, all right, A couple of them are serving dinner.
I do want to know. The lunches are eleven thirty
to one thirty on November sixth I have three and
maybe this will grow, I don't know, serving dinner as well.
Four thirty to seven pm. First Baptist Church in Vero Beach,
Saint Sebastian Catholic Church and Vero Beach rowing at the
(20:40):
boat House that's Shatzi, right.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
And then the Heritage Center itself. They serve soup there
as well, and there's a really large display of bulls
on that day.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
The majority of the bulls go to the Heritage Center. Okay,
so if you want to see most of the balls
altogether or try and get a set, that's the place
to go.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Is there any kind of a preview day or there's
a preview day for the potters that actually made it,
because not everybody gets to see the finished product, right right? Yeah,
So the potters that actually make the bulls were invited
on the day before the Heritage Center side, just so
that they can get a chance to see what they made.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
No soup though, and soup not on that night, not
on the preview no, not on Yeah, they'll have a
little something there for the potters as to thank you,
but it's kind of a thank you and a chance
to get the sea stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Is it too late for anybody to get involved for
this year?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
They can certainly contact the Smritan Center and see if
they can volunteer at the at you know, down at
the Heritage Center on some other site as far as
indw or Clay. Now we're in final stages of production.
We will be delivered, have delivered as of today, eight
hundred and eighty bowls and we're getting down to the
final firing. So yeah, getting closed.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Okay, Can we talk a little bit about Indian River
Clay because Maria, this.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Was you we would love to talk about in the
Neverclay I love talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Well, you have two and a half minutes, okay.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Indian River Clay is now in its seven or eighth year.
We are a nonprofit organization. We have sixty five full
time members. Membership allows you access twenty four to seven.
We have a waiting list of over one hundred people
waiting for those memberships. Unfortunately, we've run out of space.
We hope to expand in the future to accommodate more people.
(22:34):
We can still accommodate people through our classes. We offer
classes multiple days a week for all skill levels, beginners,
experienced potters. We have an upcoming holiday sale on September December,
(22:54):
I'm sorry. In December the sixth, we have a our
holiday sale which will be at the Plaza, which is
just up the street from Indian River Clay, and we
have I believe over twenty artists participating, not just our artists,
but other artists in the community. What is the name
(23:16):
of the What is the name of the other studio?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Do you remember Midroom?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
The Modroom. The Modroom is working with us this year,
so we will have Modroom potters participating with us for
this sale. Come and see what we make. It's a
lot more colorful and intricate and exciting than just bowls,
So artists can show off all of their skills and
(23:42):
just come and see us.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Okay, that's December sixth. December sixth, and to get information
on where and everything else, it's Indian River Clay to
do org. Okay, we have run out of time, so exciting.
Maybe we'll do this again before your sale. Okay, we're
out of time. Kim Maria sparsis great to see you
(24:04):
both and thank you for doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
This is thank okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
For having us, thanks my pleasure okay, and thank you
listeners as always for joining us again this week for
Arts Blast on the Air. It's a podcast, a radio show,
and an Alexis skill, all presented by a Riverside theater
and ballet Vero Beach, covering the arts online and in
(24:29):
Arts Blast, the free emailed weekly Florida arts news magazine.
Join us again next week for another edition of Arts
Blast on the Air. I'm Willie Miller. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Arts Blast on the Air. It's a podcast,
it's a radio show, and it's an Alexis skill. It's
all presented by Ballet Vero Beach and Riverside Theater. They
are the arts supporting the arts in Florida. I'm Willie
Miller and every week I get to talk to people
in the arts about the arts on the Treasure Coast
and beyond. Arts. Blast on the Air is so proud
(00:25):
to be supported by Ballet Vero Beach. Subscriptions for the
exciting new season are available online now, with single seats
on sale November first. I'm thinking holiday gifts and stocking
stuffers here. The Nutcracker on the Indian River is earlier
and in a new venue this year December eleventh through
the thirteenth at Riverside Theater. Ask about the new vip
(00:50):
ad on experience plus Nutcracker for all that's the family
version has some new options to learn about everything at
Ballet Vero Beach dot org and now on the show,
guests today Maria Sparsus and Kim Mayo, and we're going
to talk about what has become a wonderful tradition here
(01:13):
in Vero Beach, Indian River County, and I think has
been inspiration for this the same kind of event in
other counties, as I understand it, Maria, Maria sparsus, Kim Hayo,
you are let me see your hands. Did you wash today?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
We're not covered in mind, we're not here.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
We're clean yet.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, they love to play in the mud. Maybe we
should explain that, Maria, I'll start with you the thirty third.
I can't believe that annual Samaritan Center Soup Bowl is
coming up November sixth, that's a Thursday as always. And okay,
it's been going on for thirty three years. How many
(01:57):
years have you been involved?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I have been involved for almost twenty. I think at
this point in time, an Indian River has been the
exclusive provider for five years. Isn't that correct? Kim?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yes, that is we've taken over when COVID hit because
the museum was unable to provide the balls that year.
That's the first year that they Smarrig Center started doing
things at the Heritage Center where they will again have
lots of balls on display.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, let's go back in history. You mentioned the museum right, correct.
Where where did this actually start? Maria?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think This started with Ken Matt, the late Great
Ken Matt in his studio and he, Glenda Taylor and
Shatzilla Joy made a handful of both the first year
forty three years ago.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I believe Shatsi told me that they made one hundred
balls that first year. There were thinking five potters. I
can't remember the names of everybody. Wow, very small beginning,
but one that's been going on for a long time now.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, it's Shatzi is still involved. I haven't seen her
for a while, but I remember because I go to
First Methodist Church sitting in the lobby selling bowls and
Shatzi carrying in boxes and boxes of bowls through display.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Shatsy came in this year and made bowls. Is one
of our on our community pottery Day. But she's not
actively involved with the Super Bowl event. She took care
of it for a lot of years, and credit to
her for doing that. But it's uh, it's uh.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Kim has taken busy. But Kim has taken over from
for the.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Last two years.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, okay, Well, it has to take a lot of organization.
I'm looking at a flyer that I've printed out lots
of locations all on November sixth, that will be serving
lunch and some for dinner, some for uh well, the
Heritage Center lunch and dinner. But talk about the organization.
(04:02):
We'll go back to the making of the of the bowls,
but the organization. When when do you start thinking about
next year?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Actually, my first reach out to the Samaritan Center in
March so that we can start talking about what they
want to do this year and the number of bulls
that they want to make. And then again speaking of
the SamArt Center, we kind of coordinate how we want
to handle that, and then we actually start looking for
dates to have our community days. Because though Indian River
(04:31):
potters themselves make a large number of soup bols and
are essential to the production the providing of the clay
and the glazing and stuff, we do get a lot
of help from the community. So we like those community weekends.
So we have to coordinate because we can't have classes
going at that time. The volume that we produce just
kind of overwhelms our routine kiln firing and making and
(04:54):
going on. So first reach out in March, so it
goes on for most of the year.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, Maria, how many balls do you hope for every year,
or is it si, This is the number we're going
to make, no matter what exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The Sumerican Center tells us how many balls they need,
and that's how many we make. And this year it's
a thousand balls that we're going to deliver.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, okay, I'm looking at two there, and I looked
at my kitchen cabinet this morning. Bulls take up a
lot of space. What do you do when you get
past the manufacturing getting your hands dirty? What do you
do with a thousand balls while you're waiting to distribute them?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Well, we luckily don't have to store them. We did
that the first two years, I think Maria, we did, yeah,
which was made it interesting in our organization. But now
the Samaritan Center, so as we complete boxes of twenty,
we pack those boxes up and they take them and
store them, in part because they need to distribute them
to their various locations around the county, all those organizations
(06:02):
that help by selling bowls and selling soup on the day,
actual day of the event. So we're fortunately we don't
have because it was it was interesting that first two years.
They were lots of different locations.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
And then River Clay has grown space has become an issue,
so we had to switch from starting them to delivering
as they get completed.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, well that yeah, that actually sounds pretty efficient. I
remember being part of it when it was over at
the museum, the Center for the Arts.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I remember some of your bowls. They were really nice
back out.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I remember one in particular, a footed ball. I'm not
going to put you on the spot here in Maria,
but back in those days an odd ball bowl wasn't
as welcome as the traditional soup bowl.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
We have a lot of odd ball bowls. We still
have to cull out a few if they're not the
Some American center gives us a size that they prefer, okay,
So on occasion a bowl has to stay behind.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It is a whole process between the making and the
glazing and the firing, and we check every bowl before
that goes out to make sure that there's no cracks,
that it's functional, that it meets certain size requirements. Occasionally,
if we have one that's highly decorated and really special,
will let a slightly smaller one go through because people
like to collect all different sizes. They're not all for soup.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Raising my hand here, yep.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And then we choose a new shape for the handbuilders.
Back when you and I did and Maria did at
the museum, you remember, a lot of us were kind
of clay slaves. We kind of helped feed the wheel makers.
And now with the communitys, we really invite the public
to come in and a lot of people have never
touched clay, so we give them the opportunity to actually
make a bowl with their hands, which you know, just
(07:56):
makes them happy. My mom, who's eighty nine, came in
for the first time this year and made able. I've
got a picture of her, you know, ear to ear
smiling because she wound up with one making one and
it's now talking about bringing friends and neighbors in next
year to try and make bowls too, because she had
so much fun. So we like that community interaction both
for indor clay because we want them people to love clay,
(08:17):
but also to get people more aware of involved with
the Samaritan Center and all the good work that they do.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Okay, at a thousand bowls, I'm picturing what we used
to work, what I used to work with when I
was helping out big heavy bags of wet clay. Yes, yes, ma'am.
Where do you store that. Okay, how much of that?
And those were twenty five pounds right, yes, okay? How
(08:45):
much of that bag would you say it takes to
make one bowl?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, the wheel, each bag of twenty five pounds makes
sixteen bowls.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Sixteen yes, wow.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So it's a little bit less for hand because there's
more clay wasted and they tend to be a little
bit thicker. But for the wheel, we get sixteen bowls
out of twenty five pounds of clay.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, I'm not going to do the mass here. How
many twenty five pound bags of clay do you have
to get in and where the heck do you put them?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well, we have clay there all the time because we're
a clay center, so we use the clay that we have,
and what we do is, sorry, my brain just weinside.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So we get clay delivered almost every month, and we
get delivers of twenty three hundred pounds of clay on
a pallet.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
How many bags is that? Well, I'm not doing any matter.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's close to one hundred bags, well, not quite one
hundred bags, so a pallette would be more than what
we need, and we just replenish it as we use it.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
We normally estimate about how many bags of clay we
think we're going to need to produce that thousand bowls.
Obviously there's waste ols, collapse, things cracked, things don't work,
so we usually go over what are estimated amount is.
So I think about sixty five bags is what we
think we wind up with with making the souples. The
nice thing now within your clay is we have a
(10:10):
Pug machine, which, for those that don't know, it repurposes
clay that has been damaged so that we can recover
some of the scraps and things and not have it
go to waste or wind up in landfills or anything else.
It gets repurposed into actually more soupls that we do
use the pug clay for the supols.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Okay, now you're talking about the clay before it has
been fired.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Correct, Once it's fired, if there's an error, then it's over.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
No solutions for can't smash it up and make it
into mosaics.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Perhaps, yeah, you could do that.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Okay, Yeah, So if any mosaic artists wants some of
our scraps, let us know.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Okay, Okay, I'm not raising my hand on that one. Okay, Okay,
We're going to take a break if you don't mind
and come back. There's so much more to talk about,
so think about what you want to talk about, Maria.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I would love to talk about that upcoming holiday sale.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Okay? And did I mention the youtubur from Indian River Clay?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I think so, but I'm not sure. From Indian River Clay.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Oh are you from Indian River Clay?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
From Indian Clay?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Okay? So how many times have we just mentioned that? Okay,
now let's talk. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.
I'm going to check with Riverside Theater's website very soon.
Actually I did already to learn about the coming season,
plus everything happening this fall. If you're under forty, pull
(11:38):
and ask about the new forty for forty program. You
are in for a treat. It's a really big deal.
Always plenty on the menu at Versaide Theater, great fans
and good food for Live in the Loop and now
there are two shows per evening in the comedy Zone,
six thirty and eight thirty. Learn about the great new
season just kicking off with Little Shop of Horrors on
(11:59):
the mainstay Age to November ninth and Everything river Side
at Riversidetheater dot com.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Ballet Vero Beach is leaping into its thirteenth season, and
you're invited to experience every breathtaking moment, from timeless classics
to bold new works. The company's upcoming season promises unforgettable
performances for the whole family, featuring performances at Riverside Theater,
VBHS Performing Arts Center and the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
There's something for everyone in the company's extraordinary lineup. Subscribe
(12:30):
now and enjoy exclusive perks all season long. Visit Ballet
Vero Beach dot org to reserve your subscription today.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
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(12:57):
experts and have hundreds of styles of any patio furniture
you need, including a gallery of American made telescope, Berlin Gardens,
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we also specialize in fire pits, outdoor rugs, umbrellas and
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Speaker 3 (13:14):
Right now we're having a huge.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Floor sample sale with lots of great markdowns on everything
you need for your Florida home, including all pictures, slamps
and accessories half price Sunshine Furniture twelve ninety five US
one in the public Splasa, Vero Beach. Don't forget to
visit our outlet store directly across the street, filled with
lots of name brand closeout and sale items, and visit
our website at Sunshine Furniturecasual dot com.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
You'll scream with delight at Little Shop of Hearts. The
uplandishly funny sci fi music will open in the new
season at the Beautiful Riverside Theater at Vero Beach. Seymour
a tibid flower shop port It discovers a mysterious plant
with an appetite for fame fortune at Human Blood with
our rocket pop score, this cult classic will have you laughing, gasping,
(13:58):
and singing along. Little Shop of Doors is now blaze
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Speaker 1 (14:13):
And we are back. I'm Willie Miller back with Arts
Blast on the Air and guests Maria Sparsus and Kim Mayo.
We're talking clay and getting dirty, down and dirty, you
ladies getting muddy and muddy. Yeah, that's that's what you
call the the clay, right that you work with for
the Super Bowls?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Jokingly? Yeah, yes, yeah, come play with mud.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Can anybody's still what stage are you at now or
are you totally finished?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
We still have a few to finish. We're getting close, Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I remember when I when I the whatever year or
two years whatever, I was helping with big buckets of glaze,
talking down at the in the basement of the museum
and you just go in and you dug, dunk and
drip and dunk and drip. That was That was interesting,
(15:08):
It was fun. It was challenging, is it. There would
seem to be a lot of camaraderie going on there.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It is. We still have the big buckets of clay.
You can still dip. Some of our more experienced people
tend to want more decorative bowls, so you'll also see
a lot of what we call underglazers, which are painted
on before dipped in clear or a transparent type of glaze.
My husband, who comes and helps when he can, likes
(15:37):
painting fish on his bowls. So if you find a
ball with a painted fish in a slightly shaky hand,
that's usually Randy's. And you can paint the fish and
then paint wax over it and dip it in a glaze,
or you can do all painted glazers. There's all sorts
of different techniques for producing balls, and that's honestly what
(15:59):
the best thought about it is that there's so many
different types of bowls and types of artists that participate, so.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You can definitely see the hand of the artist in
the bowl.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
And because just like there's so many people, there's so
many different bowls something it's going to appeal to everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yep, I have to agree. I remember in the years
when we did sell them at first Methodist Church, people
would come in for lunch. Well we haven't talked we
haven't talked about the soup yet, Okay. They would come
in for lunch and walk out with a bag of
five ten bowls for gifts.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
People buy them for Christmas. They collect them for themselves.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, I have.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I used to work as a nurse and I have
a list of doctors that I have to notify when soup,
remind them when Super Bowls coming up because they come
and buy gifts at the soup bowls.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So yeah, yeah, okay, should we talk about the soup.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, we can't tell you as much about the soup
because that smart center arranges that portion of it. I
know that in some cases the organization that is hosting
the Soup Bowl party makes their soup because I've seen that.
I know that some restaurants sometimes do it. We're on
the bowl producing side of it, the art side of it, though,
(17:15):
I'm sure the chefs are artists as well, But this
merit center is the one who organizes the soup portion
of it. But I bought it a few times in
the Soup's delicious.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Absolutely absolutely, And I will say from experience, if you
are looking for soup for lunch, get there early because
people line up wherever they are and we'll go over
a couple of the sites and then how to people
can find out where they are. But people would line up.
The soups are so yum and each place was I
(17:48):
think a little bit different. Some would serve it with
a dessert or a drink and some would just have takeout.
I do remember, I guess the chefs coming in with
big five gallon buckets of soup. Row after row of
people bringing in soup. It was such a wonderful day.
(18:09):
I loved Souper Bowl Day.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah, it's it's definitely a community event with people from
all over the community participating and providing food, art, everything
else for a homeless shelterer and one that does is
very successful with helping those people that are members of
that organization get back on their feet and out in
the community and not have to experience homelessness in the future.
(18:33):
It's a whole immersive program where they learn job skills
and how to manage finance and so it's you know,
it's a very good organization that does a lot of
good in our community.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And how do people get in touch with them?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Do you know through the Samaritan Center? And I don't
have the number in front of me, but Katie Ryan,
Renee Byerley are the people that I work that I
work with in contact with the samaran Center. And I'm
sure you reaching out of them, someone could help, could
get more information?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Well, I have on on one of the flyers that
says for more information call Catholic Charity Samaritan Center seven
seven to two seven seven zero three zero three nine
and a website where I don't remember where I got
this flyer's it has a list of all of the
(19:24):
places that will be serving the organization.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, you can go. I know they have it on
their Facebook page as well as on their website and.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
On our website, Indian Riverclay dot org.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Okay, okay, could you would you care if I just
looked right over just a few of them? I can't
there were so many. Let's see Indian River County Sheriff's Office,
Auditorium if you're feeling brave and innocent, Coldwell, Caldwell, Banker, Paradise,
(19:57):
a lot of real letters, Kelly Keller, Williams Reality Living,
lowerd Lutheran Church, a lot of churches as well, Saint
Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, Saint Sebastian Catholic Church. So
it's not just right here in the center of Vero Beach.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
No, No, it's the county.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Okay, yeah, all right, A couple of them are serving dinner.
I do want to know. The lunches are eleven thirty
to one thirty on November sixth I have three and
maybe this will grow, I don't know, serving dinner as well.
Four thirty to seven pm. First Baptist Church in Vero Beach,
Saint Sebastian Catholic Church and Vero Beach rowing at the
(20:40):
boat House that's Shatzi, right.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
And then the Heritage Center itself. They serve soup there
as well, and there's a really large display of bulls
on that day.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
The majority of the bulls go to the Heritage Center. Okay,
so if you want to see most of the balls
altogether or try and get a set, that's the place
to go.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Is there any kind of a preview day or there's
a preview day for the potters that actually made it,
because not everybody gets to see the finished product, right right? Yeah,
So the potters that actually make the bulls were invited
on the day before the Heritage Center side, just so
that they can get a chance to see what they made.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
No soup though, and soup not on that night, not
on the preview no, not on Yeah, they'll have a
little something there for the potters as to thank you,
but it's kind of a thank you and a chance
to get the sea stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Is it too late for anybody to get involved for
this year?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
They can certainly contact the Smritan Center and see if
they can volunteer at the at you know, down at
the Heritage Center on some other site as far as
indw or Clay. Now we're in final stages of production.
We will be delivered, have delivered as of today, eight
hundred and eighty bowls and we're getting down to the
final firing. So yeah, getting closed.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Okay, Can we talk a little bit about Indian River
Clay because Maria, this.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Was you we would love to talk about in the
Neverclay I love talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Well, you have two and a half minutes, okay.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Indian River Clay is now in its seven or eighth year.
We are a nonprofit organization. We have sixty five full
time members. Membership allows you access twenty four to seven.
We have a waiting list of over one hundred people
waiting for those memberships. Unfortunately, we've run out of space.
We hope to expand in the future to accommodate more people.
(22:34):
We can still accommodate people through our classes. We offer
classes multiple days a week for all skill levels, beginners,
experienced potters. We have an upcoming holiday sale on September December,
(22:54):
I'm sorry. In December the sixth, we have a our
holiday sale which will be at the Plaza, which is
just up the street from Indian River Clay, and we
have I believe over twenty artists participating, not just our artists,
but other artists in the community. What is the name
(23:16):
of the What is the name of the other studio?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Do you remember Midroom?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
The Modroom. The Modroom is working with us this year,
so we will have Modroom potters participating with us for
this sale. Come and see what we make. It's a
lot more colorful and intricate and exciting than just bowls,
So artists can show off all of their skills and
(23:42):
just come and see us.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Okay, that's December sixth. December sixth, and to get information
on where and everything else, it's Indian River Clay to
do org. Okay, we have run out of time, so exciting.
Maybe we'll do this again before your sale. Okay, we're
out of time. Kim Maria sparsis great to see you
(24:04):
both and thank you for doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
This is thank okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
For having us, thanks my pleasure okay, and thank you
listeners as always for joining us again this week for
Arts Blast on the Air. It's a podcast, a radio show,
and an Alexis skill, all presented by a Riverside theater
and ballet Vero Beach, covering the arts online and in
(24:29):
Arts Blast, the free emailed weekly Florida arts news magazine.
Join us again next week for another edition of Arts
Blast on the Air. I'm Willie Miller. Thanks for listening.
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