As dozens of people gathered in the gazebo at D.A. Ranch in Page Springs on Nov. 15, Verde Valley clay sculptors showed off how they create their pieces of art.
The fourth annual Verde Valley Pottery Festival brought 14 ceramicists from all over the state to showcase their art, process and give them a place to sell their artwork, with several hundred in attendance. Drivers formed a line Saturday afternoon to find parking spots.
Magda Gluszek, who was showing how she sculpted animals, said having lived in New York, she likes sculpting hares.
“We didn’t have jackrabbits out there,” she said. “Every time I see them out here, they just stop me in my tracks. They’re not really like rabbits. They’re otherworldly, the way they run is almost two-legged, but it’s on four legs.”
Sculpting animals, whether it be a jackrabbit or a hare, she said is interesting because the ceramicist needs to think about the skull shape and the underlying features of the animal from early on in the process.
Gluszek lives in Lakeside and is the gallery director at Northland Pioneer College in Show Low.
Deborah Garland, a ceramicist who works with Heidi Kreitchet, another ceramicist who put on a live showcase, said there’s really no other event like the festival in Arizona.
It’s her third year helping out with the festival, although she hasn’t displayed her work yet. She does mostly woodfirings, but it’s a very competitive event to be part of and many ceramicists are vying for a spot. But she’s happy to be there and to be a ceramicist.
Working in woodfirings, “you’re working with all of the natural elements,” she said. “And ceramics … it also teaches non attachment, because you never know, something can go wrong at every stage of your work.”
Ceramicist Rena Hamilton, founder of the Flagstaff Potters’ Guild, said the festival is one of her favorite events.
When asked what her favorite part was, she said “literally everything.
“The community, the variety of high quality ceramic work, connecting and teaching the public about the process.”
Her live demo was on crafting lids.
“Dropping the flange when it’s freshly thrown, lids and attaching knobs,” she said. “What makes a good-fitting lid? … Make sure it doesn’t jiggle around too much, not too big, not too small. And then how that knob and proportion relates.”
She’s been in the pottery business for most of her life and doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
