Artistic ambitions

Nestled in the heart of Bloomington, By Hand Gallery showcases an array of artistic representations, crafted with the talent of local artisans.\nApproximately 20 years ago, several people collaborated to open the gallery. Today, 13 people -- Jack and Marian Forney, Jim and Suzanne Halvorson, Walt Schmidt and Betty Westhues, Rob Mills and Patricia Coleman, Marilyn Greenwood, Lee Cohn, Jack Brubaker, Ruth Conway, and Julia Livingston -- combine as the owning members of this cooperative venture.\nThese crafters and other area consignees display their pieces, ranging from sculpted pieces like smoothly furbished woodwork, nature-inspired earthenware, glass blown kaleidoscopes, to wearable art like hand-woven chenille scarves and jewelry that integrates stones and metals into delicate ornaments for the body.\nThe gallery displays teddy bears for children or children-at-heart, traditional painted canvases and a multitude of other treasures. They continuously collect new media of work and additions to artists' showcases.\nBy Hand invites its patrons to indulge their senses immediately upon entering the gallery. With custom, oak shelves and simple, white walls, these are the bones and the blank canvases that frame each richly colored piece without detracting from its individual splendor and functionality.\n"I like my pots to just speak for themselves," potter and co-owner Ruth Conway said. "A successful piece is one that is used."\nFirst Conway was a nurse, but she made a career change after enrolling in a ceramics class.\nConway's ceramics are largely naturalistic in style, and she credits some of her inspiration from her childhood home environment in the English country. She enjoys using the firing-process to her advantage, the ashes from the kiln creating variation in color and unusual irregularities on the ceramic surface.\nJim Halvorson, another By Hand potter, said he specialized in the craft of ceramics because he liked the "immediacy" of the materials and clay used in this line of work compared to other art media. \nHe can create two or three dozen pieces for a single collection from one ball of clay. He then fires them in a gas kiln with a capacity of 200 pieces and after the pottery cools, individually glazes each ceramic piece.\nNot only is Halvorson a potter, but he is an art instructor at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis. He said he gives encouragement to his young and impressionable students, many of whom are from lower income families. \n"I tell them that art is something they could learn to do as a career or as a hobby -- that they can use it to express personal individuality," Halvorson said.\nHis wife, Suzanne Halvorson, is a weaver at By Hand, as well as the owner of Yarns Unlimited. She is often commissioned by churches to design wall hangings, altar cloths and clergy garments.\nMany of the charter members agree that commissions can be the most challenging aspect of their work, including jeweler Jack Forney.\n"(Commissions) can be tricky," Forney said. "Many times you'll get a customer who can't express with words or images what their vision is. It can take hours trying to make a design that satisfies what they want."\nForney collaborates with his wife, Marian Forney, and credits her with their artistic vision, describing himself as the "constructor." \nMarian Forney is responsible for designing the detailed images cut out in 14K yellow gold. She begins with an idea and lightly scribes the gold to indicate where the negative spaces will be punched out. \nForney then solders, sets the stones, and forges the jewelry. The final product reveals intricate scenes or patterns much like silhouettes. Forney said a technique of this caliber is unusual, and few other jewelers in the craft circuit specialize in similar productions.\nThe Forneys have been working side-by-side since the day they met. In 1969, both attended IU, majoring in art education. As students, they made their money delivering pizzas and later traded in pizzas for delivering newspapers.\n"We enjoy being together and working together," Marian Forney said. "A lot of couples have marital problems because they have a hard time relating through their work, but with us, it's all one thing. If one of us is stressed out about work, at least the other knows why, and we can understand it."\nThe couple designed and created their own wedding bands; Marian's ring has a diamond with opal, her birthstone, surrounded by a tree cut-out, and Jack's ring features the same tree cut-out motif.\nBecause of the tedious amount of time involved in producing these original fine crafts, the By Hand co-op members are already discussing inventory for the upcoming holiday season.\n"This is our busiest time of the year," Ruth Conway said. "We meet to discuss what we need to stock, what sells, but most importantly, the quality of pieces showcased above anything else."\nBy Hand Gallery is located in Fountain Square Mall at the corner of Walnut St. and Kirkwood Ave. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday.