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Fundraiser features
handmade bowls with soup
Historic Bear’s Mill…
Historic Bear’s Mill’s new fundraising event “Soup ‘N’ Bowl,” to be
held on Saturday, March 10, will feature handmade bowls created by
artists who are donating their work to benefit the Mill. Potters Julie
Clark, Ben Deeter, Dionne Fleming, Rita Wiley, and Loretta Wray will
craft 164 numbered bowls, one for each year of the Mill’s existence;
therefore, these pieces will bear numbers ranging from 1849 through
2012. Each “Soup ‘N’ Bowl” participant is entitled to a stoneware bowl
as well as to supper, which includes soup, bread, drink, and dessert.
Each of the participating potters brings a unique sensibility to the
craft, as well as an appreciation for Bear’s Mill and it’s heritage.
Resident Bear’s Mill artist Julie Clark has lived and worked at the
historic site for over thirty years, and is inspired by the beauty and
heritage which surrounds her. However, Julie also enjoys the challenge
and allure of contemporary design; her artistic pairing of these
disparate elements helps her work remain relevant as well as highly
regarded even as it changes and evolves.
Rita Wiley, a teacher who lives in Indianapolis, started producing
pottery with Ms. Clark even before Julie and her husband Terry moved to
Bear’s Mill; the friends share basic motivations and values, and have
formed a working relationship which fulfills their artistic goals and
reinforces their basic creative bond. Rita finds a purity of purpose in
utilizing the universal elements – earth, air, fire, and water - to
construct pieces which are aesthetically appealing, yet useful, an
ideal in keeping with the spirit of Bear’s Mill.
Loretta Wray also appreciates the Mill’s connection with nature and the
past, elements which are also inherent to the graceful yet functional
pieces she creates. The Troy native feels a relationship with those who
purchase her pottery, and wants those people to also experience that
connection which reaches past the artist to the earth from which they
clay pieces are formed.
Shortly after Versailles resident Dionne Fleming began working at the
Mill store several years ago, she was invited into Julie Clark’s studio
where she honed her innate skills to become a colleague to her mentor.
“I watch Di’s raw talent grow each day that she works in the studio,”
Ms. Clark proudly stated. Dionne produces work which emphasizes simple,
natural shapes and surfaces while exploring the endless possibilities
offered by clay as a creative medium.
The newest addition to the Bear’s Mill potters, Ben Deeter, is the only
formally educated artist of the group; however, like his cohorts, he
integrates historical and contemporary concepts into his work. Ben
strives to incorporate the basic artistic elements of movement, rhythm,
harmony, balance, and line into each of his pieces, altering forms on
the wheel or highlighting spontaneous natural occurrences while using a
variety of firing and glazing techniques.
Roots musician Brian Keith Wallen will provide entertainment at “Soup
‘n’ Bowl, performing songs from the folk, bluegrass, jazz, and blues
traditions. Soup is donated by The Bistro Off Broadway in Greenville,
and bread will be provided by Troy’s Bakehouse Bakery. Additionally,
the stoneware bowls will be of varying sizes and styles, featuring a
variety of glazes; they will be made in sets of eight so that patrons
wishing to purchase matching bowls may do so.
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