Good Dirt

2012 WINTER

*Winter Classes

*Instructors

*Registration and Cancellation

*Parties and Workshops

*Try Clay

*Private Artist Studios

*The Gallery @ Good Dirt

*E-mail List Sign-up

info.gooddirt@gmail.com

NOTES FROM ROB

Of Interest . . .

Years ago, when we launched the Gallery at Good Dirt, my mother, Sue Sutherland and our family friend, Ellen Prophater were fixtures at the gallery and studio. They practically lived at the Gallery, doing whatever was needed to help create the business you know and love today. They have started a new enterprise in historic Buford, Georgia, that I think you will enjoy. Creative Journey Studios is housed in the old Bona Allen Harness Factory at 115 East Main Street, Buford, just up the road from the Mall of Georgia. With their friend Barbara McGuire, they have created a center that educates people in the use of polymer clay as an art medium. This versatile medium is being used to create fantastic art jewelry, sculpture, paintings and small art objects. The center has two teaching areas where Barbara and Ellen are holding classes in polymer and silver clay. Two studio artists also hold classes – Jan Stephens (from Wrapsody Jewelry Studio here in Athens) teaches beginning and advanced wire wrapping, and Patricia DiBona teaches mixed media and book arts classes. Visiting artists from around the world will also be teaching their techniques in polymer and art jewelry. There is a large gallery with jewelry and small art objects from many notable polymer artists that will fascinate you and educate you to the versatility of this art medium. On April 8^th and 9^th there is an opening of an historic exhibit called “Polymer – From the Beginning,” that features work since the inception of polymer as a valid art medium. Who knew that those little packages of kid’s modeling clay could become such amazing works of art? The center also houses Mom’s supply business, Filigree & more, which sells American made raw brass filigree, jewelry making tools and supplies, collections of Japanese hand-made paper and other interesting items. You can find more information at www.creativejourneystudios.com and www.creativejourneyart.blogspot.com . I hope you’ll join them for the opening. I’m sure it will be a fun event with good food and good company, and lots of interesting things to see.

Thanks, Rob

Empty Bowls 2011

Over the years, Good Dirt and the pottery community at large have made an ever-increasing commitment to support the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia through their annual Empty Bowls event. Just last year we produced over 700 individual handmade bowls for the event and over a dozen talented local potters contributed a beautiful piece to their silent auction. This year, our goal is to increase our impact even further both in terms of money raised and in awareness of the persistent problems of poverty and hunger in our community.

Why should we devote so much energy to this Empty Bowls event every year? There is the obvious connection between food and the vessels we make to contain it. However, there is a much deeper connection. Potters use their hands to create objects that are imbued with the energy of their maker. We put a lot of effort into creating vessels that function well, have lasting beauty, and forge a connection between a real live maker of tangible objects and those who enjoy them. By creating bowls for the Empty Bowls event, we can see a direct impact of our physical and artistic effort on a much larger societal problem. This pulls us together as a community and connects us to the people whom the Food Bank serves.

We’ve already begun making preparations for this year’s event. Potters have graciously agreed to donate again to the silent auction. I’ve already begun throwing bowls. Good Dirt will host an event on January 16 from 12-5 in honor of the MLK day of service at which hundreds of beautiful bowls will flow from over a dozen potters’ wheels all humming along together. In typical Good Dirt fashion, we’ll follow the event with a pot-luck dinner.

The silent auction pieces will go up on the Food Bank website at the end of February, and this year, we will have two events on the Empty Bowls theme at the end of March. Good Dirt will host “Hand-made for the Hungry” a preview event, soup cook-off, and bowl pre-sale on Saturday, March 26 from 12 – 3pm. This family-friendly benefit will have live music, a clay play area for the kids, bowl-throwing demos, and lots of great pottery and food. The traditional luncheon will take place on March 30 at the Classic Center. Watch this space for details as the event draws nearer or become a fan on our facebook page for up to the minute information.

Rob Sutherland

GREEN NOTES --

We rebuilt the arch on the gas kiln, added more insulation, and reconfigured the bagwalls two firings ago. So far, we’re seeing some great energy savings. The firing time has been cut from 12+ hours to around 8 hours. The results so far are encouraging and we’re reducing our output of greenhouse gases.   It’s a modest improvement, but significant nonetheless.

EXCERPT --



Finally, I’d like to report on our successful trip to Ecuador last month. Kim, Rowan and I visited the village of Yunguilla high up in the Andes Mountains to help a women’s craft group expand their activities into pottery making. We modified an existing adobe oven into a functional earthenware kiln and successfully test-fired it with wood. I taught lessons on the potter’s wheel, which consisted of a car axle, complete with tire, turned on its side and attached to a small wheel-head. While a challenge, it was comforting to know how little technology is actually needed to produce pottery. Kim taught some handbuilding techniques, and Rowan helped out as only he can. One of the women became fairly proficient at making flower pots in a very short time. Their goal is to produce unique pots in which they will plant bromeliads and orchids that they propagate to help raise funds for the community. We learned a lot and had the amazing experience of living with a family in the village, enjoying their cuisine, and experiencing the amazing scenery and wildlife of the Andes at around 10,000 ft. elevation.

We also visited the main lodge on the Maquipucuna Cloudforest Reserve and constructed a pizza oven form out of split native bamboo. I hope to return next year to build a cob oven over this form once they relocate their kitchen facility. I would highly recommend this lodge to anyone interested in birding. There are over 300 species in the area and they have an extensive network of trails to access a variety of habitats for observing them. Best of all, the naturalists and reserve managers are gracious and welcoming hosts, the accommodations are ecologically appropriate and comfortable, and the scenery is spectacular. Give me a call or check out http://maqui.myweb.uga.edu/ to find out more. Many thanks to the Maquipucuna Foundation for working out the logistics of our visit. I look forward to continued collaborations between Good Dirt and both the women’s craft group in Yunguilla and the Maquipucuna Foundation’s efforts in conservation and sustainable development.

.

The Gallery @ Good Dirt showcases functional and sculptural work by studio potters from Georgia and beyond in an elegant, natural setting. Collectors will find an exciting range of styles, colors, and firing techniques on display throughout the year. The Gallery embraces the diversity and extraordinary quality of work from this region and is dedicated to educating the public about the processes involved in its creation. Because the Gallery represents unique works of functional art, our inventory is constantly changing as pieces find new homes and new kiln-loads of pots arrive. Be sure to stop in often to witness the impressive creative output of the potters represented by the Gallery @ Good Dirt. Exciting news in the Gallery @ Good Dirt … we will now be open 7 days a week for your shopping convenience. Just look for the open sign on the front of the building, and if you don’t see it, pop your head into the clay studio, and you will very likely find a volunteer happy to assist you in the gallery. Hours are 10 AM – 5 PM daily, and we can meet you outside of those hours by appointment. Now you can always visit when guests are in town looking for some local flavor.

GOOD DIRT hosts birthday parties, sorority/fraternity functions
and workshops for any group, any age.
Please call for more information.

510 North Thomas St. • Athens, GA 30601 • 706.355.3161
info.gooddirt@gmail.com

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		2012 WINTER Winter Classes Instructors Registration and Cancellation Parties and Workshops Try Clay Private Artist Studios The Gallery @ Good Dirt E-mail List Sign-up
info.gooddirt@gmail.com

NOTES FROM ROB
Of Interest . . . Years ago, when we launched the Gallery at Good Dirt, my mother, Sue Sutherland and our family friend, Ellen Prophater were fixtures at the gallery and studio. They practically lived at the Gallery, doing whatever was needed to help create the business you know and love today. They have started a new enterprise in historic Buford, Georgia, that I think you will enjoy. Creative Journey Studios is housed in the old Bona Allen Harness Factory at 115 East Main Street, Buford, just up the road from the Mall of Georgia. With their friend Barbara McGuire, they have created a center that educates people in the use of polymer clay as an art medium. This versatile medium is being used to create fantastic art jewelry, sculpture, paintings and small art objects. The center has two teaching areas where Barbara and Ellen are holding classes in polymer and silver clay. Two studio artists also hold classes – Jan Stephens (from Wrapsody Jewelry Studio here in Athens) teaches beginning and advanced wire wrapping, and Patricia DiBona teaches mixed media and book arts classes. Visiting artists from around the world will also be teaching their techniques in polymer and art jewelry. There is a large gallery with jewelry and small art objects from many notable polymer artists that will fascinate you and educate you to the versatility of this art medium. On April 8^th and 9^th there is an opening of an historic exhibit called “Polymer – From the Beginning,” that features work since the inception of polymer as a valid art medium. Who knew that those little packages of kid’s modeling clay could become such amazing works of art? The center also houses Mom’s supply business, Filigree & more, which sells American made raw brass filigree, jewelry making tools and supplies, collections of Japanese hand-made paper and other interesting items. You can find more information at www.creativejourneystudios.com and www.creativejourneyart.blogspot.com . I hope you’ll join them for the opening. I’m sure it will be a fun event with good food and good company, and lots of interesting things to see. Thanks, Rob Empty Bowls 2011 Over the years, Good Dirt and the pottery community at large have made an ever-increasing commitment to support the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia through their annual Empty Bowls event. Just last year we produced over 700 individual handmade bowls for the event and over a dozen talented local potters contributed a beautiful piece to their silent auction. This year, our goal is to increase our impact even further both in terms of money raised and in awareness of the persistent problems of poverty and hunger in our community. Why should we devote so much energy to this Empty Bowls event every year? There is the obvious connection between food and the vessels we make to contain it. However, there is a much deeper connection. Potters use their hands to create objects that are imbued with the energy of their maker. We put a lot of effort into creating vessels that function well, have lasting beauty, and forge a connection between a real live maker of tangible objects and those who enjoy them. By creating bowls for the Empty Bowls event, we can see a direct impact of our physical and artistic effort on a much larger societal problem. This pulls us together as a community and connects us to the people whom the Food Bank serves. We’ve already begun making preparations for this year’s event. Potters have graciously agreed to donate again to the silent auction. I’ve already begun throwing bowls. Good Dirt will host an event on January 16 from 12-5 in honor of the MLK day of service at which hundreds of beautiful bowls will flow from over a dozen potters’ wheels all humming along together. In typical Good Dirt fashion, we’ll follow the event with a pot-luck dinner. The silent auction pieces will go up on the Food Bank website at the end of February, and this year, we will have two events on the Empty Bowls theme at the end of March. Good Dirt will host “Hand-made for the Hungry” a preview event, soup cook-off, and bowl pre-sale on Saturday, March 26 from 12 – 3pm. This family-friendly benefit will have live music, a clay play area for the kids, bowl-throwing demos, and lots of great pottery and food. The traditional luncheon will take place on March 30 at the Classic Center. Watch this space for details as the event draws nearer or become a fan on our facebook page for up to the minute information. Rob Sutherland

GREEN NOTES -- We rebuilt the arch on the gas kiln, added more insulation, and reconfigured the bagwalls two firings ago. So far, we’re seeing some great energy savings. The firing time has been cut from 12+ hours to around 8 hours. The results so far are encouraging and we’re reducing our output of greenhouse gases. It’s a modest improvement, but significant nonetheless.

EXCERPT -- Finally, I’d like to report on our successful trip to Ecuador last month. Kim, Rowan and I visited the village of Yunguilla high up in the Andes Mountains to help a women’s craft group expand their activities into pottery making. We modified an existing adobe oven into a functional earthenware kiln and successfully test-fired it with wood. I taught lessons on the potter’s wheel, which consisted of a car axle, complete with tire, turned on its side and attached to a small wheel-head. While a challenge, it was comforting to know how little technology is actually needed to produce pottery. Kim taught some handbuilding techniques, and Rowan helped out as only he can. One of the women became fairly proficient at making flower pots in a very short time. Their goal is to produce unique pots in which they will plant bromeliads and orchids that they propagate to help raise funds for the community. We learned a lot and had the amazing experience of living with a family in the village, enjoying their cuisine, and experiencing the amazing scenery and wildlife of the Andes at around 10,000 ft. elevation. We also visited the main lodge on the Maquipucuna Cloudforest Reserve and constructed a pizza oven form out of split native bamboo. I hope to return next year to build a cob oven over this form once they relocate their kitchen facility. I would highly recommend this lodge to anyone interested in birding. There are over 300 species in the area and they have an extensive network of trails to access a variety of habitats for observing them. Best of all, the naturalists and reserve managers are gracious and welcoming hosts, the accommodations are ecologically appropriate and comfortable, and the scenery is spectacular. Give me a call or check out http://maqui.myweb.uga.edu/ to find out more. Many thanks to the Maquipucuna Foundation for working out the logistics of our visit. I look forward to continued collaborations between Good Dirt and both the women’s craft group in Yunguilla and the Maquipucuna Foundation’s efforts in conservation and sustainable development.

.		The Gallery @ Good Dirt showcases functional and sculptural work by studio potters from Georgia and beyond in an elegant, natural setting. Collectors will find an exciting range of styles, colors, and firing techniques on display throughout the year. The Gallery embraces the diversity and extraordinary quality of work from this region and is dedicated to educating the public about the processes involved in its creation. Because the Gallery represents unique works of functional art, our inventory is constantly changing as pieces find new homes and new kiln-loads of pots arrive. Be sure to stop in often to witness the impressive creative output of the potters represented by the Gallery @ Good Dirt. Exciting news in the Gallery @ Good Dirt … we will now be open 7 days a week for your shopping convenience. Just look for the open sign on the front of the building, and if you don’t see it, pop your head into the clay studio, and you will very likely find a volunteer happy to assist you in the gallery. Hours are 10 AM – 5 PM daily, and we can meet you outside of those hours by appointment. Now you can always visit when guests are in town looking for some local flavor.


GOOD DIRT hosts birthday parties, sorority/fraternity functions and workshops for any group, any age. Please call for more information. 510 North Thomas St. • Athens, GA 30601 • 706.355.3161 info.gooddirt@gmail.com
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