Checking in with the "Get a Leg Up" RCS Alum Award 2021 Recipients
8/3/2021
It has been a few months since the 2021 RCS Alumni Awardees were announced - this is what Vanessa M Norris, Canne Holladay, and Rickie Barnett have been up to in their studios and how they have used their awards.
To read their project proposals and individual intentions for the awards read our previous blog article: “Get a Leg Up: RCS Alum Award 2021.”
About the RCS Project Award
The “Get a Leg Up” RCS Project Awards are open to alumni (past assistants) of Rat City Studios. The mission of these awards is to offer annually gifted support and to give alumni a leg up in their endeavors as artists. These awards are also intended to be a way of keeping in touch with the goals of alumni, as well as to honor the legacy of mentors. The three awards below are described and each recipient for the award follows.
There are more details on the Award Webpage. And if you would like to consider matching one of these awards or starting your own through RCS, your support will make a lasting impact on the next generation of artists!
Living the Dream – $1000
Earning a living as an artist is not always that dreamy. In fact, it is downright challenging. The bills add up, tools are expensive, time is precious. This grant is given by an Anonymous Donor. They want to help one of you keep, keeping on in your path. They especially want to encourage those earning a living from their work.
Awarded to Vanessa M Norris -
Artist Statement: I’m a lover of words and how we piece them together, much like clay, to create meaning. My work refers specifically to weather and cloud-related idioms (every cloud has a silver lining, head in the clouds, etc). I make whimsical, voluminous forms that reflect the playful nature of those idioms. The recognizable iconography of the cloud provides an access point to enter the language of my work, allowing space to reflect on the role these phrases play in our lives. My goal is to spark joy in routine--to infuse whimsy in the act of slicing butter and sipping coffee.
About: Vanessa lives and works in Boston, MA where she and her husband Gustavo Barceloni share a private studio called Dirty E Studios. Vanessa writes on her website that she “is a full-time potter, socialist, and vegetarian whose hobbies include building spreadsheets, eating cheese, collecting tattoos, and rollerblading (poorly) in abandoned parking lots. You can usually find her in the studio--feet on the ground and head in the clouds.” Vanessa’s work features an array of playful motifs including clouds, rainbows, bees, and animals. Most recently she has been infusing her clay with stains to produce a clay body palette of soft pastel colors.
What is Vanessa working on and how did she use her grant?
With the help of this grant, I was able to purchase a Bluebird 12 clay mixer! It has been such an immense help in my studio practice. Previously, when I wanted to make big batches of colored clay, I would wedge it all by hand. This laborious process took hours and was hard on my wrists. With the new mixer, I am able to load it up, walk away, and work on something else while it does the hard work for me! It is both a wrist and a time saver. I am so grateful to Deb for setting up this grant and helping me purchase a piece of equipment that otherwise would’ve been a wishlist item.
Vanessa’s Studio
Check out Vanessa’s next shop update on August 15th at 1pm EDT to continue to support her artistic endeavors.
The Kris Bliss Grant Memorial Award: Follow Your Bliss – $500
Canne’s Studio Space
(1950-2016) Kris Bliss was a wholesale potter from Anchorage, Alaska for many years. She changed the path of many young potters as they came to work with her as studio assistants. She offered them the chance to see the ins and outs of maintaining a career as a production potter. Kris nurtured the dreams and skills of those who came to work for her with supportive attention and her own passion for making. Her role model gave them skills and a network to grow and begin to develop their own studio practice. To learn more about Kris, visit the linked article by Jen Allen.
Awarded to Canne Holladay
Artist Statement: Canne writes the following on her website about her ceramic practice. I am amazed at the profound effect that environment has on a person. Environment includes nature and extends to the space where every person’s time is spent. My work is influenced by the environments I have inhabited. I often consider environment through the lens of finding a sense of place for myself and my work. I ground this exploration with the creation of functional art objects.
My work is informed by cells, bodily tissues, the human figure, landscapes, architecture, and more in a search for patterns. With each excursion, my observations point me to better understand that fellowship is at the heart of all human striving. I use functional wares to represent this fellowship as a vessel for sharing meals and the act of growing closer through conversation. An environment composed of hand-crafted objects invites the owner to routinely consider the makers. In this way, a cycle of mindfulness toward others is enacted. The maker considers the user; the user considers their loved ones and the maker.
I make pottery for the user. I enjoy wondering how my wares engage others and impact their environment. Through my work, I seek to share that which we all experience, from the place where I turn about.
Bio: Canne (pronounced "Kay-nee") Holladay was born and raised in Birmingham, AL. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Fine Art. She is proud of her experience as an Artist Assistant to Deborah Schwartzkopf in Seattle, Washington; a Work Exchange Member at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA; a Production Thrower at Earthborn Pottery in Leeds, AL. These opportunities have helped her personal development immensely. Currently, Canne resides near Birmingham, Alabama where she maintains a studio practice while working toward her Master of Visual Arts Education. She enjoys teaching, summer camp, knitting, sewing, baking, and gardening.
What is Canne working on and how did she use her grant?
I was so grateful to be awarded funding from the 2021 Rat City Studios Get A Leg Up Awards. When I applied for the grant, my hopes for the money were threefold: funding a craft show, purchasing glaze materials to expand my palette, and taking a glaze formulation course for professional development. I spent my funds on my booth and other associated fees for two craft shows this fall, in the spirit of Kris Bliss for whom my award is named. Having these fees paid for by grant funding allowed me to spend some of my earnings from my previous craft show on materials to mix new batches of glaze for my regular practice as well as purchase some additional materials to test for expanding my palette and process. As I have set up my studio practice, I have tried to be strategic and frugal with how I spend my earnings. Frequently, I find myself restocking popular items instead of having time to experiment because I need to be sure to have the funding to support my practice. This grant has impacted my studio practice as it gives me the chance to grow and improve as an artist in ways that I often cannot afford. I am so grateful for this funding and the opportunity for growth it has brought to me.
Canne’s Craft Fair booth
The Ella Graf Memorial Award: Create Your Dream – $500
Ella Graf was a hard-working dreamer. She immigrated to the US shortly after WWII with her family. Academic education was not available to her and much of what she learned, she figured out by observing others, and through trial and error. She raised her family, using creativity to solve problems. She was an avid supporter of learning and constant individual growth. She was always in movement – gardening, cooking, and creating handiwork for family and friends.
Awarded to Rickie Barnett
https://twoheadeddiver.com/rickie
Artist Statement: My work is an internal look at the preeminent issues of being bound to loved ones and the effects it has on one's own mental state of being. I work figuratively creating characters based on the struggle of balancing relationships, placing them in an open narrative where they can revisit emotions experienced but not quite understood. I strive to provide a sympathetic relation to narrative in the restlessness of living in one’s headspace, an effort to stay honest with myself and my loved ones. The continual self-assessment within our interactions bears fruit that nourishes the bond and eases vulnerability, harvesting growth.
Bio: Rickie Barnett grew up in the Northern California city of Redding. He attended California State University, Chico, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art degree with an emphasis in painting and ceramics. After Graduating in the fall of 2013 he took up a year-long position as an Artist in Residence at Taos Clay Studio in Taos, NM. He then moved to Seattle for a long-term position as a Studio Assistant to Deborah Schwartzkopf at Rat City Studios. In 2016, he moved to North Carolina, to become a studio assistant to ceramic sculptors, Cristina Cordova and Jeannine Marchand. His work has been shown and collected, nationally and internationally. Currently, he lives near Penland School of Craft, where he works out of his home studio, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
What is Rickie working on and how did he use his grant?
Right after Covid hit the states, before lockdowns, our landlord let us know that he wouldn’t be renewing our lease for our home and studio. He was planning on remodeling the house with his son and setting the property up as an investment property for him. This was all fine and sounded really fun and important for them to do together, but it meant that we would need to find a place to relocate. Once all of the lockdowns started being put in place, he let us know that he would extend our lease until we found something and that we could take all the time we needed. This was actually a huge opportunity as we were about a year off our savings goal for a downpayment on a house. Anyways, long story short, we purchased a hundred-year-old house at the beginning of this year. The house had a lot of character but it didn’t have a studio space and with it being so old, the electric intake wasn’t high enough to operate the kiln. We knew we had a lot of work to do in order to get a studio space set up and the kiln hooked up. This was our utmost priority as the studio is always at the top of that list. It’s how we make half of our income and how we balance our brains. The only problem was that we had just spent most of our savings on closing the house.
Thanks to the amazing opportunity of this grant we were able to get the electrical panel upgraded to 200 amps, as soon as we moved in and get the kiln hooked up in the small basement/garden shed. We were lucky enough to have a spare bedroom with hardwood floors that we could turn into a studio space. Both the kiln and the studio are in temporary locations until we get the funds to build a more permanent studio on the property. The studio is tight with both Lynne and myself working in there together but we are incredibly fortunate to have space at all. This grant was a tremendous asset to our being able to move home and studio without too great of a pause on our practices. The generosity of offering an opportunity like this to previous assistants of RCS is enormous for makers that are earlier in their careers. Being able to have space and being able to make work is one of the most important things in the world to me and this grant opportunity has helped me accomplish steps toward building a continual studio practice twice now. My gratitude for being awarded this grant and being a part of RCS is beyond words. What this opportunity of being a part of a growing family has offered in my studio practice, in my career, and in my personal self and mental health is immense and I don’t think I’d be where I’m at today or the person I am today without the generosity of Deb and this incredible dream that she has created. Not only for herself but the community of the Seattle area and the ceramics community at large. It’s truly an honor to be considered a part of RCS. Thank you!