By Rosanne Skirble, Voice of America
Whenever Bill Strickland walks down Buena Vista Street in his boyhood neighborhood he remembers the racial riots that rocked Pittsburgh and the nation in 1968. He was a college student at the time and had agreed to run an after-school arts program for children in an abandoned brick row house. He hoped art would change the kids’ lives as it had his own, after a high school teacher introduced him to the creative potentials of the pottery wheel. “I lived up stairs in a sleeping bag, built [pottery] wheels downstairs, had a kiln out back and started working with kids on the streets.”

For the full Voice of America article:
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-10/2006-10-07-voa25.cfm

(PITTSBURGH) - Youth, Creativity and Community- Go one on one with Bill Strickland, President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, exclusively on Comcast ON DEMAND for what will be an enlightening discussion about artistic practice and insight as his creative philosophy as a ceramic artist is uncovered. Learn more about Strickland and how he turned his personal creative passion into a world renowned art center, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild. (more…)