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. In your application, show how you are putting your work into the world!

Awarded to Vanessa Norris - https://www.dirtyestudios.com

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.

Bio: Vanessa Norris grew up in Maine and spent much of her time doodling and crafting as a youngster. Craving to get out of her comfort zone, she enrolled at MassArt to pursue a life of working with her hands. It was there she discovered her love for clay and since graduating has moved across the country several times to work for different ceramic artists, including Deb Schwartzkopf. She currently resides in Boston where she set up a private studio (Dirty E Studios) with her husband and fellow MassArt alum, Gustavo Barceloni. She is currently a full-time potter.

Project : Since graduating from college, it has been my goal to become a full-time self-employed ceramic artist. When I lost my jobs at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak, making pottery became my only option to make ends meet--but also an opportunity to try to cultivate the life I had been working toward. I suddenly had the time to spend all day every day in the studio, but I worried if people would continue to buy pottery in the midst of a global pandemic. It has been nine months since this shift occurred, and I have been incredibly lucky to receive a steady outpouring of support for my work--enough to sustain myself and make a profit.

After a few years of toying with the idea of adding color to my clay body, I made the leap to incorporate it into my practice, and it added such a joyful element to my work! Now I make a rainbow of colorful pottery--from vibrant red to soft lavender. I currently wedge mason stains into my clay by hand, which means I can only make small 10-15lb batches at a time. Multiply that by the eight colors I currently offer, and the task becomes extremely time-consuming and inefficient--not to mention hard on the wrists. The grant money will help supplement the purchase of a Bluebird clay mixer so I can easily add color to 50lbs of wet clay at a time. This will allow me to streamline my process, save time, and relieve my wrists of unnecessary strain! My goal for 2021 is to start creating structures in my practice that allows me to have both a thriving business and a healthy work/life balance.

The Kris Bliss Grant Memorial Award: Follow Your Bliss – $500

(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 https://www.evelyncanne.com

Artist Statement: My work has evolved from a search for patterns within the body to an observation of connections between people. I draw inspiration from my environment: urban and rural, domestic and public and wild. I synthesize my observations into something that I hope is familiar but not recognizable. I see that all humans are searching for love and loyalty, truth and acceptance. My work is gestural, as a figure and colorful, as an emotion. Through my creative process, 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.

Project : When I left The Clay Studio in 2018, I told myself I have the skills to maintain my own studio anywhere. I felt a need to spread roots in one place and feel more grounded, so when I found myself home in Alabama, later that year, I decided to stay. I have spent the past two years building my practice out of a 10’ x 12’ shed in my dad’s back yard. I spend an average of 15 hours per week on my practice on top of graduate school, a part-time job, and volunteering. I am finding ways to generate income with my work through retail, show, commission, and e-commerce sales. This income supports my studio practice but rarely supports me on account of overhead costs.

At this time, I have a few goals on my studio wish-list that a “Get A Leg Up” Award would help me reach. My goals for expansion at this time are threefold: One project-based, one income-based, one practice-based.

The project: I want to design a series of wall-hanging sculptures based on color swatches derived from a series of blended glaze tests. An award would help fund artwork that most likely will not generate income, and will help my functional practice grow through the expansion of my glaze palette.

The income: Next month, I plan to apply for my first out of town craft fair. Craft fairs have been a reliable source of income for me, but traveling dramatically raises my overhead. An award would cover my booth fee, if accepted and help me generate more income to put back into my practice.

The practice: I have been trying to save up for a table-top slab roller for over a year. At this time, I clear my work table, make a stack of slabs, and store them until I need them. I wind up wasting a lot of fresh clay this way and have to plan an entire making cycle around this work. A slab-roller would allow me to make slabs as needed, saving time and space.

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 which 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.

Project : This past year has been a doozy, to say the least. In the middle of the pandemic, with exhibitions and workshops canceled and emotions out of whack, our landlord decided he was going to remodel our house and studio and needed us out as soon as possible. Somehow, through sheer perseverance and necessity, we were able to stay on top of our making, and with two big online sales, as well as working full-time jobs, my partner and I were able to save up enough for a downpayment on a house. This is huge as it has always been a dream to own our home and build a permanent studio. The bittersweet aspect of this being that we now have to leave our studio. Just as opportunities have started to present themselves again, I’m finding myself on unstable ground without a space dedicated to making and firing work. We will persevere and this grant will help steady the legs!

Currently, I am in the middle of setting up a temporary studio in one of the spare rooms in the new house, as well as setting up a temporary kiln area in the basement. The funds from this grant would go towards upgrading the electrical from 100 amps to 200 amps and running conduit and electrical from the breaker box down to the basement, where the kiln will be. This would allow me to continue making work and staying on top of my exhibition commitments, as I save money to build a permanent studio. Once the new studio is built, I will have enough power to extend the electrical to a sub panel and power the studio and kiln. This grant will help me to not only continue moving forward in my studio practice but also help me to take steps towards setting up the new studio.