By Danielle Ray
Landmark Correspondent
STERLING — Former longtime Houghton Elementary Art Teacher Kathy Greene was thrilled to revisit her old classroom recently while helping out with a special project.
The beloved educator retired in 2018. She worked as an art teacher for 25 years, 21 of them at Houghton School. Current Houghton art teacher Kate Blehar invited Greene to assist her and the third- and fourth-graders with clay pinch pot hand building the last week of March and first week of April.
“What a special week with Kathy and our Houghton children,” Blehar shared after the first week.
It was the first time Greene had been back to her former stomping grounds since retiring and relocating from Holden to Maine two years ago. Students and staff were thrilled to have her back in the building, and the feeling was mutual for Greene.
“When I walked in and got to work, it was like I’d never been away,” she said. “The children and the staff made me feel so welcome, and it was good to see many of my friends. Tony and Trish, all the teachers, our school psychologist, therapists, nurse Bertha, teaching assistants, ABA specialists, custodians, parents, everyone. I especially enjoyed connecting with Mike and Jess again … I miss my dear ‘Special Agents.’” She went on to say that the clay project had gone well.
“Things have run very smoothly,” Greene shared. “The kids were excited, attentive, engaged, polite, helpful, and no two pots were alike. Even the younger children were interested in the clay projects, and I ran through a simplified version of what we were doing because they will be able to do it next year.”
In the second week, she introduced the glazing process and ran through the kiln operation for glaze firing.
She has also been able to connect with a fellow former longtime Houghton educator, retired fourthgrade teacher Gail Miller.
While working on the project, she stayed with Miller, who lives across the street from Greene’s former home in Holden.
“She so graciously opened up her home and I loved reconnecting with her. We were neighbors and friends for years, and it was so good to see her and catch up.”
Greene said working alongside Blehar on the project had been wonderful and that she was happy to share her art expertise.
“Kate and I worked together like we had always done. It seems we read each other’s mind as to what needed to be prepared and who would do what,” Greene said. “While I had more experience with the actual hands-on process of teaching clay to kids, Kate has an excellent grasp of technology, unlike me, and had very creative slides she projected to introduce me, introduce clay pottery and a brief history, outline our project, and show steps as we went along.”
Blehar contacted her early in the school year to ask if she would be interested in being an “Artist in Residence” in the art room for the clay unit. They worked together on a grant that Greene submitted to the Sterling Cultural Council to help fund the project and on the materials list and schedule for the process for each class ahead of time.
“Thank you to our third- and fourth-grade teams for setting up our students for success and giving us extra time in art this past week, and thank you to the Sterling Cultural Council for accepting the grant to support and fund this project,” Blehar said. “And to our beloved, legendary art teacher and Artist in Residence Kathy Greene, thank you for agreeing to take this on and for giving us so much of your time and care. We had the best time creating and learning with you.”
The admiration is mutual, with Greene saying that “Kate is a very creative, kind, wellloved teacher and it shows in how she relates to the kids and they to her.”
“She is very easy to work with and was very appreciative of me coming to work with her on the clay process, which I think is one of the hardest mediums to work with given the schedule and timeline for each step of the process. And it’s so messy, that’s why the kids love it,” Greene said.
She added that when she told her husband she would be returning to Houghton to help with the clay unit, he didn’t believe her.
“’Clay? But it always drove you crazy’,” Greene shared of her husband’s reaction. “It can be daunting, but the kids love it so, and it is very different from everything else we do in the art room.”
She advised Blehar to do the clay project with only one grade level at a time, “with a little rest from it in between. Then you forget how crazy it makes you, and it seems more manageable.”
Greene went on to say that Blehar, physical education teacher Mike Walsh and music teacher Jess Wilke “agreed that our special subjects are some of the children’s reason for looking forward to coming to school on certain days.”
“It’s important to have the kids feel joy and accomplishment as they express themselves with individuality and originality in our classes,” Greene said. “I told Kate I always tried to remember: We could make a child’s day great, or not so great, by our reactions to their work or behavior. I would never want a child to go home sad because of art class.”
When asked if she will be returning to the school again, Greene said, “It is a possibility.”
