An East Coulee artist never pictured herself taking on large public installations, but now it seems she has a knack.
Janet Grabner of Caracol Clay Studio in East Coulee, was content to toil away in her studio, producing unique clay items. That changed when she was commissioned to complete the tree mural at Greentree School. Her work was noticed, and last fall she completed her second installation, this time at Westmount School in Strathmore.
“I never (considered large public works). I kind of always wanted to work at home, it never really occurred to me,” said Grabner.
She was invited to complete the clay mural in commemoration of the school’s 40th anniversary.
“They are part of Golden Hills School Division, and someone was at Greentree School for a meeting, and came up and saw it. One of the teachers called and was looking for something for the 40th anniversary of their school,” said Grabner.
The mural at Greentree School was a great lesson for Grabner, and she was more confident that she could complete this project in a timely manner. It took her less than a month from start to finish to complete work at Westmount school. The mural included 400 individual raw tiles students and staff designed.
“Each tile has a word of virtue. Each child did a word. The Kindergarten and Grade One kids did stampings,” said Grabner.
The tiles were fired and glazed by Grabner and husband John Dalm at their studio in East Coulee. She brought them back to the school and it took her about a week to mount and grout the piece together.
“I learned at Greentree how it do it efficiently,” said Grabner.
Now that she has these projects under her belt, she is interested in doing it more.
“Next month I am going up to Edmonton for the Alberta Crafts Council, and they are holding a show called 'Thinking Big,' and it is about people doing larger public work,” said Grabner.
She said it was challenging to take on this type of project. Considerations on how to keep 250 pounds of clay secure was not usually a consideration for her. She has enjoyed the process.
“It was a lot of fun and I want to do more of them,” said Grabner. “I love to walk inside the school and see it, that’s the most exciting part.”
