Herstory

How the South Bay Polymer Clay Guild Started

Believe it or not, you could say this wonderful guild owes its existence to those two little purple necklaces you see below.

Though we didn't know each other at the time, Debbie Anderson, her daughter Marah and I had simultaneously developed an extreme fondness for polymer clay and its potentials, feverishly creating at every opportunity in the early 1990's. Independently we'd taken polymer clay classes from local folks such as Laurel Hobbs and Steve Wood in local stores like The Global Bead and the Quilting Bee. We each drooled over every page of our copies of Nan's 'The New Clay'. We were both members of the National Polymer Clay Guild (NPCG). But we were still hungry for more, yearning to share our enthusiasm, exchange ideas with local folk who was as excited as we. Independently, we each wondered, "Who and where were they?".

Debbie and Marah submitted two of their necklaces to Bead & Button's third issue, June 1994. Their necklaces appeared in the "Your Work" segment.

Thankfully, they allowed their address and phone number to be printed in the magazine. As fate would have it, I purchased that issue, found their entry and called Debbie.

Although I was their only caller, that was all that was needed. I visited Debbie at her home. On that day, we talked for hours and hours about polymer clay (11:00am - 6:00pm). Even though we both belonged to NPCG, we thought it would be great to join the folks of a local guild. Together we wondered, "Who and where were they?".

At the time, I knew there were several active polymer clay guilds in southern California. Unfortunately, everyone I talked to around here didn't know of a (San Jose area) local group and didn't want to start one. But everyone told me that if one got started, they wouldn't hesitate to join.

Great! I thought sarcastically, since I felt the exact same way. I didn't want to start one, I just wanted to join. ;-)

Since it looked like no one else was going to, and Debbie and I were polymer crazed enough, we decided to start a local guild. It was initially called the Silicon Valley Polymer Clay Special Interest Group. Another name we tried was The Northern California Polymer Clay Guild. I whipped up some announcements, placed them in various bead and craft stores and posted announcements in a couple of internet newsgroups. We called a few folks.

And so it began. Our first meeting was held 15 July 1994. Because I worked at Apple Computers then, we had our first meeting in one of their Cupertino buildlings. You might be interested in who attended the first meeting - I mean aside from Debbie and myself.

• Cathy Warrick
• Steve Wood
• Jennifer Needham
• Tawna Wilsey
• Mary Lou Fall
• Christine Alibert-Mas
• David Valenza

Being a good local guild, we adopted the NPCG's charter:

• Encourage further recognition and legitimization of polymer clay as a medium by publicizing our work nationally to galleries, museums and the public.
• Foster professional education, such as sharing information, giving demonstrations of our work at meetings and planning and holding workshops.
• Develop opportunities to show polymer clay work.

Our first meeting was a great success. We all made a bunch of new friends, shared stories, ideas, etc. But our work didn't end there. I did a little homework on the subject of guilds. I learned my preference for the "make it up as we go" approach wouldn't work at all. It was very important for a guild to have regularity and consistency in meeting times, a meeting place and general scheduled activities. There would need to be formal officers, minutes, agendas, newsletters, etc.

We picked Friday, 7:30pm as the meeting time because, being the only polymer clay guild in Northern California, some people would be coming from very far away like San Francisco or Pleasanton.

Tawna Wilsey volunteered to be our first president since neither Debbie nor I were that sort. ;-)

Debbie and I went on the hunt to find a place where we could meet on a regular basis, that had easy access and didn't cost an arm and a leg. City libraries required more than half the attendees live in that city. Churches had meeting rooms but required $100 - $200 per meeting for the deposit and fee and more for things like chairs and tables. We grew very concerned since our little group didn't have much money and we learned the key to continued growth and success of the group was heavily dependent on having a nice regular meeting place.

Then, in August 1994, the best thing that could ever happen for us happened!

Connie Shaw, who was JapanTown's Business Executive, knew Debbie and told her to call Lisa Koybayashi to reserve a room at this brand new senior community center in San Jose, CA called Yu-Ai Kai. It seemed the center needed meetings to be held there to help justify its existence. Although prices are significantly higher now, in the beginning, room reservations cost $10! Since there were no member dues at the time, we asked everyone to chip in a dollar each to cover the cost of the room. And time hasn't changed the fact that our guild is still very lucky have Yu-Ai Kai as our meeting spot. The place is beautiful, bright, air conditioned and well equipped for meetings and classes. Even visiting instructors comment on how much they enjoy teaching in such a wonderful facility. But even in the beginning, we knew we'd found our home.

Speaking of classes, the guild's very first class was Imitatives taught by Tory Hughes! How could a guild go wrong with Tory setting our creative standard?

So on Sep 94, our guild meetings moved to the wonderful Yu-Ai Kai Community Center and due to the creative and extraordinary efforts of our members, we've been meeting there ever since.

By Desiree McCrorey, Sep 2000