Studio Art Tour

The big news around here is the upcoming Studio Art Tour. Scheduled for Saturday, 10 October, it involves 9 different artisans, artists, and galleries between Mathias and Wardensville in rural Hardy County, West Virginia. The idea is to visit the studios to see where these creative people work and how they make their art. In some cases, the large or unwieldy machinery involved in the artistic process makes transport to demonstrate elsewhere impossible. In all cases, seeing how something is actually made prompts appreciation for the handmade, one-of-a-kind items.

Visiting the studios will allow you to get to know 15 year old Clayton whose creativity and imagination are expressed in the unique metal sculptures he creates in his father’s garage. The tour includes Bob’s wonderful rocking chairs that you can melt right into because they are custom made to fit your body, as well as innovative Toni’s West Virginia wine tasting. Other treats include Josh’s charming silverware jewelry and horseshoe art, and Albert’s beautiful stained and fused glass. The tour is rounded out with Joshua Miller’s fine furniture and wood sculptures made in his old church at the edge of the road on the edge of the woods, and my handbuilt stoneware. (I promise cookies to encourage people to cross our streams to get to Lost Hollow.) In addition to these art studios, there is a modern mountain general store with everything from an espresso bar and bakery to antiques, and the Lost River Artisans Cooperative co-housed with the only farming family museum around!

Whatever the weather, it will be a great day and you can see all of the studios between 10 AM and 5 PM. The wine tasting is limited to 1-3 PM, but the rest can be done in any order, at any time during the day, and all at no charge. Visit either one of these websites for the details: www.lostrivertradingpost.com or www.lostrivercrafts.com. All directions to the studios are given from state route 259. It is too beautiful an area and too great an opportunity to miss!

Bears, bears, bears

We see black bears here in the wild, wonderful hills of West Virginia-- although not as many as I’d like. I love that bears share their woods with me, but mine is a minority view. Many folks prefer not to think of anybody quite that large and omnivorous out there with them. It may make more sense to worry about deer ticks or venomous snakes, but it is bears that make them nervous. Perhaps it is the bears’ unpredictability. Our son assured his wife many times that, for all his trips out here, he had yet to see a bear. Of course, a big one immediately ran right in front of their car. When Erica joins Greg and the kids for a visit, she tends to stick pretty close to the porch.

Yet people like the roly-poly shape of bears, along with the tales they can tell back in the city. There are a lot more deer and cattle than bears in the Lost River Valley, but it is the bears we use as a symbol. At the Lost River Artisans Co-op, our store manager uses bear ornaments as special rewards for customers and they are popular. We make sheep for Fiber Fest, but we make bears for Heritage Weekend and other events. The great thing about Doug is that he shows up to help make his ideas happen. So he and I made bears. We made a lot of bears. There are dozens of them as in the kiln (hopefully behaving themselves) as I write this.

We roll out clay and cut out bears. Then we imprint the back with something textured and stamp LRV on the front for the Lost River Valley. (George Washington had no idea what he began when he failed to realize that the Cacapon merely went underground for a spell and was not lost.) Then Doug uses a straw to make a hole, hopefully in the right place so the trinket hangs evenly. The bears dry a bit and the edges and holes get cleaned—a tedious task. More drying, and then I bisque fire them. Doug returns-- bless the man-- and we glaze. First we put black on the front and back to showcase the LRV and the textured print to add interest. Then we put clear glaze on the front and I add a line of metallic gold along the edge. Into the kiln they go. A $5 purchase at the co-op and you can own one too!

PS: Just saw a post on facebook that said Kathy will be demonstrating her unique pottery making skills this Saturday and Sunday. (added by Deb Fischer of The WoodArt Studio) 

Those Cute Little West Virginia Bears

I have a new favorite post card. It features a complacent- appearing black bear. He or she is quite authentic in appearance-- right down to having a few pine needles and bits of dry grass caught in his/her fur. The print accompanying this fine photo says: “Send more tourists to West Virginia. The last ones were delicious.” 

You may have to be a West Virginian to appreciate that, but it tickled me since no one I know believes anything larger than the occasional small animal likely to get eaten by a bear. Most of the year the bears here exist on berries and other vegetative goodies, given that there is not much water deep enough to provide nourishing fish. I love seeing the few bears we have around and we’ve never known them to come looking for trouble. On the other hand, bears are associated with our area and we capitalize on that. I often put their images on my pots, and I always put them on pots that celebrate the Lost River Valley.

Doug Gronholn, our store manager at Lost River ArtisansCooperative, is an ardent and creative crafter. Recently he volunteered ME to make bear ornaments for the yoga institute coming to town in June. Having taken my “Play in the Clay” class last year, Doug came and spent a whole day making bears with me—between 70 and 80 of them. We got them cleaned too, which was big job. Then they dried and were fired. A week later Doug returned and we glazed bears all day. Each one has LRV on it for the Lost River Valley. He’ll soon be back to help attach ribbons for hanging them. There will be an adequate supply of LRV bears to give one to each delicious tourist!

 

Spring cleaning

We had a great group to help clean the Lost River Artisans’Co-op barn last Saturday. We are getting it ready to open for what we hope is a stellar season! The 1844 barn is neither insulated nor heated, and I had so many layers on that I felt like a toddler in a big snowsuit. I needed them all! The Windex kept freezing on the windows, but everything else got dusted and wiped. We had three men named Bill working with us, and it took the full trio to motivate the propane stove into action. The shop-vac roared mightily both upstairs in the gallery and downstairs in the museum—the only museum in Hardy County, WV. What got us through were the good spirits and the good food folks brought with them!

My kilns have been working merrily with lots of wonderful pottery created by Audrey Taucher as she prepares for a show at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, West Virginia. It’s exciting to see how Audrey, who has thrown pots for several years, has developed her own unique and beautiful style as a hand-builder. Her show will be with Joshua Miller, talented local wood artist (and builder), and a textile artist from that part of the state. We are looking forward to seeing it in May!

In case you think I’ve been spending all my time cleaning (heaven forbid!), working with students (which I enjoy), or not being productive in the studio, here’s a recent cabbage bowl. It will be at the Lost River co-op for its opening on April 11^th. I hope to see you there!