Mick Smith Receives the 2007 Cleo Curtis Award

Mick Receives Cleo Curtis Award

The 2007 recipient of the prestigious Cleo Curtis Award was Mick Smith.

This thoughtful, considerate and very humble man joined IADCCT in 1980. Las Padres Chapter had been organized in December of 1978 and it was members of the chapter who had encouraged him to become a certified Duncan Teacher. Following certification he joined the chapter. Within a short time he opened a home studio. He began by hosting from time to time chapter meetings there. He poured and donated much greenware for chapter functions, rarely missed meetings and participated in chapter activities. With membership wide spread in the area, this meant traveling distances to be the active member that he always was. He immediately made his first trip to convention, and has continued regular attendance since that time. He took extra education classes offered; he shared from the very beginning of shareware, and donated items to the raffle table when that started. Before that he donated to the country store. He attended Regionals that were held, both in California and in Arizona. He is always wearing an IADCCT cap with all of his charms attached. By 2000, this 22-year-old Chapter had lost many of its members, and he was afraid they would have to disband. He came to me and we talked about it, and discussed him becoming President of the Chapter. This he did in 2001, and again the Chapter revitalized. He then shared with me his dream, that Las Padres could host a Regional. All he needed was some encouragement. To get his feet wet, they hosted a Ceramic Retreat, which was followed in 2004 with their own Las Padres Regional. This successful event had the classroom filled to its limits, much to his pleasure. Under his leadership, his dream had come true... .they could do it, even being this very small chapter. During all of this time Mick started a program at his studio, teaching kids who were on probation, the skills of ceramics. He did this for almost 4 years.

Through his planning brought another Ceramic Retreat the following year. Mick's wife Jackie became certified so that she joined IADCCT the year that he was indoctrinated into the Quarter Century Club, showing he had been a member for 25 years. He had planned it. The 2006 Chapter Retreat scheduled was cancelled due to his cancer returning. All of these Retreats were held at their home, a home with its doors open to everyone, whether involved in ceramics or not. I truly feel he has shown his support, his involvement in both the chapter and international level, making him a most worthy candidate for this prestigious award. Thank you for your considerations.