First Posted: 4/11/2014

For the past two Mondays, Diana Lombardi has headed up a class called Pottery for Artists with Special Needs. The class is one of many offered by the Abington Area Community Classroom.

This class, which has one final date on April 28, teaches students with special needs and their mothers a few basic methods of pottery.

The methods include coiling, which is rolling clay into a spiral; blending, which is smoothing the coil using one’s thumb; and scoring, which is roughing the surface of the coil using a little fork in order to attach the coils together.

“It’s fun getting your hands dirty,” said Selena Waters, one of Lombardi’s students.

With the methods they learned, students, with help from their mothers, made little flower pots called vessels during the April 7 class and birdhouses on April 14.

“It’s fun rolling the clay,” Sheila Creegan said..

The students will paint their vessels and birdhouses during the April 28 lesson.

Emily Rancier and Dori Waters, board members of the Abington Area Community Classroom, also attend the pottery classes.

“The teacher is very therapeutic,” Rancier said .

Lombardi is not only a pottery instructor, but also the owner of the Abington Art Studio located on both 208 and 210 Depot St.

She teaches pottery in the room on the left of the building (210 Depot St.), which she named “The Pottery Corner”. She’s currently teaching many kinds of ceramic classes throughout the month of April.

Other classes this month include: Family Fun!!! Textured Soap Dishes (April 19 3 to 4 p.m.); Make a Mug! Slab Built mug w/decorative handle (April 24 4 to 5 p.m. & May 3 3 to 4 p.m.); Treasured Boxes (April 19 1 to 2:30 p.m.; the second half of the session is April 24 5:30 to 7 p.m.). All of the classes are $20 per hour.

Lombardi also offers evening classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Classes are limited to five students per class and are filled on a first come, first served basis.

Lombardi taught herself pottery, and for nine years, she taught pottery at the Mountain View school district.

Lombardi enjoys teaching the students in the Artists with Special Needs class.

“I was very impressed with their creativeness,” she said.