Clay brings passion to Longboater

At 99, Regina Gurland says working with clay keeps her alive.

“You need to keep your brain going,” she said. “You have to be interested in something.”

Almost every day, Gurland can be found working in her garage-turned-workshop on various clay pieces. It’s cluttered, but in an organized way, and she knows where everything is. The molds rest under the wooden table next to the car. The glazes are stacked on shelves against the wall. She makes all the molds and glazes herself, too.

“When I get to working, believe it or not, the clay kind of tells me what it wants to do,” Gurland said. “Like it will fold up and I didn’t mean to fold it that way. ‘Oh, that was a good idea,’ I’ll say.”

She spent her adulthood as a lunch director for various New York district schools, but she knew there was more to life than work. That’s when she enrolled in a ceramics class at a community college in New York and discovered clay. She was in her late 50s.

After her first class, Gurland’s instructor wanted each student to submit a piece for a show. Gurland didn’t, because she was taking the class for fun while others were seeking college credit. But Gurland’s teacher took one of her pieces and submitted it anyway. 

Gurland won first place.

Since then, Gurland has traveled all over for special classes and shows. She’s been to Colorado, Tennessee, Tampa and even Reykjavik, Iceland, where she had a solo show of her work. For Gurland, working with different instructors taught her various elements of clay.

Her travel paid off, as is evident from the scrapbook of her work. While she flips through pictures, it’s clear she loves working with clay. She recalls stories as if they happened yesterday and explains things with ease. 

Her lanai is dedicated to showcasing her work. Stemless wine glasses have their own shelves. Bowls rest on stands. A dog she crafted is the centerpiece of the room.

For Gurland, working with clay is like sewing — it’s like making a dress or quilt. It doesn’t have to be straight or round. “It’s different,” she said. “It’s a manual art. It’s up to the individual.”

Gurland doesn’t have a favorite design, and she changes what she makes every so often. She no longer makes tiles and is now focusing on pots and dishes. 

She’ll have a favorite piece for awhile, then muster up the courage to sell it. She tells herself she can make another one that is better.

For Gurland, it’s all about working with her hands, regardless of whether she’s working with clay.

“I’ve kept busy, and I love it,” she said. “I like to work with my hands. I like to cook. I love cooking and I love baking. I make all my own baked goods.”

As a child, nothing hinted that she would one day end up working with clay. And no one in her family was artistic.

“I think it just comes out of you if you play with it long enough,” she said. “You play with it long enough, and if you’re interested in it, you look for different ways to use it.”