By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
October 7, 2004

HUMBOLDT - Since Dan Currier was in grade school, he has liked to draw and paint.

Little did he know that his God-given artistic gift would be used on what is sure to become a lasting piece of St. Mary's Church memorabilia - a Red Wing Stoneware Crock. These one-half gallon crocks are one of several items to be featured at the St. Mary's Bazaar slated for Oct. 16.

"My wife came up with the idea of having these commemorative crocks made and she knows I draw and I used to paint quite a bit," explained Currier, a parishioner at the Humboldt parish. "They knew they wanted it to be of St. Mary's Church and when they were looking for someone to draw it, my wife Donna said that I could do it."

His wife had volunteered him for this task.

"The whole idea of doing this was kind of fun because I like dabbling around in stuff like this," he said.

The company to make the crocks wanted the drawing to be done with an India ink pen.

"I hadn't really ever drawn anything with a pen, so I bought a set of pens at the university and got a drawing pad. I started playing around a little bit to get used to it," said Currier.

He acknowledged that working with the India ink took some time to master. The amount of ink in the pen as well as the amount of pressure applied were variables that made it a little difficult.

"Once you get used to it, it is pretty simple to do. It's not like drawing with a ball point pen or pencil," added Currier.

As he worked his artistic skills, his wife took several photos of the church. From there, Currier selected the ones he felt would look best on the crock.

He drew several different drawings on a standard 8-and-one-half by 11-inch sheet of paper. Donna took them to a committee and they picked out one or two of the drawings. A volunteer had the necessary software to scan the image and shrink it down to about 50 percent. That gave them a better idea of what the image would look like on the final product.

They realized it didn't look quite right, so he got to work on another drawing.

"You can't have that much detail on the drawing, because when you shrink it down it looks like a blob," he noted. "I went to a different approach and that worked out just fine."

In the end, Currier did about 20 drawings.

"The crocks are going to be really nice. This should be a good fundraiser," he said. "We may continue this and possibly do a plate in the future. A plate would be bigger and you could do more detail in the picture."

Currier said it was an honor to do this for the church.

"I feel really good about this. Knowing that it is a fundraiser for the church makes it all the more special," he added. "If another opportunity like this comes up, I will gladly do it."

Sondi Harrington, a member of the fall bazaar committee who heads up the canned goods items, said that the crockware would be a good addition to this year's bazaar.

"A lot of people that I have spoken to in the area are very excited about it," she said.

Harrington added that there is a certain degree of nostalgia that comes with crockware.

"My grandmother used to use the bigger crocks for pickles and that sort of thing. It really brings back good memories for me. I have a few here that I have collected over the years," she said.

Kathy Nokleby, a member of the bazaar committee, also sees the crocks as an exciting, new product for the bazaar.

"Both Dan and Donna have done a great job to make this be a commemorative, collectible piece for years to come," she said. "We are excited about it."

Both Harrington and Nokleby expressed appreciation for the work of all people who have contributed to the success of the bazaar.

"I have been working at the bazaar for eight years now. It just seems like each and every year, it gets better. Everyone is so committed to this fundraiser. Every year more and more people offer their gifts and talents. People are excited to donate things so that we can make money for St. Mary's," said Nokleby.

All pieces of the crockware will be numbered and stamped. The quantity is limited. The majority of the pieces will be sold during the Oct. 16 bazaar that is slated for 8:30 a.m. to noon, however, a few crocks will be held back for auction at the St. Mary's Spring Gala.