"Get a Leg Up" RCS Alum Award 2022
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!
Artist Statement: My goal is to express fleeting moments of grace and wonder through thoughtful, handmade pots. I aim to connect the spirit of a handmade object to the mindfulness behind sharing a meal and nourishing your body, a reminder of the pleasant and sincere moments in domesticity. My art is constantly evolving, each piece part of a single ongoing body of work that informs the next. This slow transformation and movement forward is echoed in my work through the use of gradients, contrasting colors and the repetition of lines to create rhythmic patterns on porcelain forms.
Bio: Krista has a background in painting, printmaking and sculpture and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pacific Lutheran University in 2011. In 2016 she actively immersed herself back into the ceramics community in Seattle. In 2019, looking to grow as an artist and professional, she began an assistantship to Deborah Schwartzkopf at Rat City Studios in Seattle, Washington. She currently works full time as a studio potter and ceramic educator out of her home studio in North Seattle. Krista makes functional pottery with an emphasis on elaborate surface decoration achieved through layering of resist techniques and underglaze on porcelain.
Project : My project entails the development of a 20 piece collection for my first solo exhibition at Good Earth Pottery in Bellingham by the end of 2022. With this collection, I will elevate my work through technique, materials and scale while exploring themes of transformation and movement through elaborate surface decoration on porcelain forms. To retain control working larger, I will handbuild large cylinders from soft slabs. Mason stains will color the clay to create visual patterns that will be added in the fashion of thin slabs/ cut-outs on top of the soft slab. This will allow me to be more precise in each calculation and gradation of color and make it easier to track, recreate and reinvent.
I am looking for a more sustainable route to sell and showcase my art that values my time and artistry. Working with galleries and shifting my practice to focusing on making fewer, more meaningful pots that I invest more time and resources into is the route I want to devote myself to in 2022. I am in a place in my career where the work I am creating is aligning with my ideas and inspirations on a technical and conceptual level. Writing this application at two weeks postpartum, I could not think of a better time to ask for funding to support my artistic goals. It is my intention to keep pushing my work forward as an artist and my goal with this project is to create a more cohesive and mature collection that reflects the steps I have taken to elevate my art to successfully make the transition from selling my pots online to filling a gallery for a solo show. I have been offered the opportunity to work with Good Earth Pottery on this endeavor and would appreciate the support to make this achievement possible. With this grant I would be able to purchase the raw materials, tools, marketing materials and build a wedging table in my studio to ensure the success of this project. I can only imagine what doors it would open in featuring my work with other galleries.
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 Rickie Barnett
@rickiebarnett
Artist Statement: My work is an internal look at the preeminent issues of being bound to loved ones and the affects it has on ones 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 Bachelors 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 both internationally and nationally. 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 I was able to finally go full time in the studio. This decision was heavy and took a great deal of consideration before finally coming to the realization that this dream was possible. I am extremely grateful and proud to have the opportunity to focus all my efforts on this dream of working for myself and creating artwork. That being said, it is no secret that working for yourself as an artist comes with a cost. As I am spending this year still getting in the rhythm of living and working with a swinging income, I have been hesitant to take on bigger projects that require good chunks of finances. One of these projects is reorganizing and upgrading my kiln area.
This proposal is in regards to upgrading my kiln furniture with new shelves and posts, as well as a heavy duty storage shelf for storing this kiln furniture and work that is ready for the kiln.
As my work load has increased so has my firing cycles. It has reached a point where using old hand-me-down shelves and posts just isn’t cutting it. Cracked posts and warped shelves have gotten me by for a while but it is time to upgrade. This grant would help me to purchase 4 new full shelves, 4 half shelves and an assortment of different sized posts. Along with this new furniture I would be getting a new heavy duty, steel storage shelf that would not only serve as a home for the new kiln shelves and posts but would also be able to house work that is ready for the kiln. With my studio being in a spare room in my house, space is tight. Being able to store kiln ready work in the kiln area would help to keep the studio shelves more open and available for work in progress. I am a believer in the idea that well organized work areas and systems help the work load run smoothly. Making these upgrades would greatly improve my work systems as I continue to advance in my career.
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 Vanessa Norris
www.dirtyestudios.com/vanessa-norris
@VanessaMNorris
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. My goal is to spark joy in routine--to infuse whimsy in the act of slicing butter or 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 the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to make and sell pottery as my full-time job. I have a loyal following of folks on Instagram and an even more dedicated group of art appreciators who support me monthly through a Patreon-esque arrangement that I lovingly call Cloud Club.
As artists, it is commonly acknowledged that we must wear many hats. There are the obvious ones–the thrower, the decorator, the glazer–and there are ones that may be slightly (or wholly) outside of our realm of expertise–the photographer, the graphic designer, the social media expert, the marketer, the accountant… The business side of making art is a tricky realm to navigate but it is a necessary part of life as an artist.
As my business grows, I need to grow with it. I have a very DIY attitude, meaning much of my time over the last few years has gone directly into researching how to do this or that on the business side of things. Scouring the internet is time consuming and takes precious hours away from making pottery, learning new things, or just resting.
This year I’m focusing on financial management and taking a class called Money Bootcamp, a year long program that equips self-employed artists and creators with the skills to navigate the financial world with confidence. Taking this class will help accomplish two of my long-term goals: 1) to strengthen my relationship with finances, and 2) continue building a healthier work/life balance by not spending as much time on unnecessary things.