Quick Start Grant
Quick Start Grant
Design Decisions: Growing My Pottery Skills.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, cultural programming coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
Ellen Shankin, a nationally recognized potter from Virginia, will be teaching a workshop at the Grand Marais Art Colony in May. The workshop is entitled "Design Decisions," and accurately reflects what I hope to learn from this class. I am an experienced potter who is looking for new ideas and techniques in my craft. Shankin is especially interested in the altered functional pot, a direction I've been exploring on my own this year, so this workshop comes at a perfect time for me. I am so looking forward to pushing the envelope of my creativity with her. I will expect to learn new techniques for my work and see new forms emerge, reflecting the ideas and concepts I learned in the workshop as well as my own responses to the clay. I plan to make at least four new forms and exhibit them in the next Grand Marais Art Colony Members Show. I will explore new ways to alter forms in my functional work.
My approach to making pots has shifted. Before taking Ellen Shankin's workshop, "Design Decisions", I didn't alter a form in significant ways after making it. I had learned some techniques, which weren't difficult and didn't take a lot of time. Now, I think ahead when I make a particular form, making sure I have enough clay to make the modifications I want to make on the piece after it is thrown. I think about clay differently. After watching Ellen working in the studio for five days, I saw how limited my past connection to clay had been. The class gave me a new sense of freedom to explore and make mistakes. I also learned new throwing techniques and a new appreciation of the aesthetics of a pot.