Southwest ceramic home décor by Shirley Cushing
Ceramic bowl by Shirley Cushing
Ardell Roberts
Shirley Cushing has been hooked on ceramics since she moved to PebbleCreek in 2005. Shirley is originally from Minnesota, grew up and went to college in Wisconsin, and taught school in Illinois for 33 years until she and her husband retired to Las Vegas. Shirley and her husband, Jack, were visiting friends in Avondale in 2004. Their friends told them about PebbleCreek and asked if they wanted to see the models. It was love at first sight when Shirley saw the floor plan of one of the models. They signed the papers to build a house the same day. She says it has turned out to be the best decision. They both adore living in PebbleCreek. They heard about the ceramics club, and both began taking lessons from Jim Lee as soon as their house was finished. Shirley has continued doing ceramics since then.
Shirley and Jack’s first pieces were southwest décor for their new house. Soon they needed a display case to show all the pieces they made. A large, two-piece blue and silver Santa Shirley made is her favorite piece. She used the wipe-back technique. Shirley loves to paint Santas. Now she has a collection of Santas (and steins) she uses to decorate for the holidays along with many other holiday projects she’s made that bring her joy.
Shirley has learned many techniques, including dry brushing, painting with EZ paints and acrylics, and adding glass and grout to her pieces. Her favorite technique is dry brushing because she loves the effect of shading she can achieve. Linda Galowitch is one of our skilled ceramics teachers who taught Shirley how to use this technique. Shirley goes to the ceramics room once a week. You can imagine how many projects she’s made over the years. Whenever Shirley brings home a new project and Jack asks where’s she going to put it, she says, “Oh, I’ll find a place.” And she does.