The Artisan Guilds of Bloomington kicked off their annual holiday show and sale featuring blown glass jewelry, hand crafted pottery and locally made clothing. The event, which began Friday, runs until 3 p.m. Sunday at the Monroe Convention Center.
The event features three Indiana-based guilds: the Indiana Glass Guild, Bloomington Spinners and Weavers Fiber Art Guild and the Local Clay Potters’ Guild. The guilds provide workshops, study groups and community events for members.
Karen Green Stone, president of the Local Clay Potters’ Guild, came up with the idea for a show along with Barb Bilher, Tena Wenta and Susan Synder. Stone said the first version of the showcase was in 1997 at the John Waldron Arts Center.
Stone said she learned how to create a showcase like this from her time in the Colorado Potters Guild in Denver.
“I had all the models for it, the template, and I made the first show,” Stone said.
The showcase has since expanded to fit the growing guild, as they became too big to operate in the John Waldron Arts Center. They first moved to St Mark’s United Methodist Church before settling into the Monroe Convention Center.
Now, the event not only showcases the works of the guilds but also works from the artistic community of Bloomington.
Jen Richardson is a member of the Bloomington Spinners and Weavers Fiber Art Guild and offers demonstrations of how to work a drop spindle.
Richardson said she took a class with the guild in February and then began volunteering with the guild and attending Knit Nights, where members can give and receive feedback on knitting projects.
“It's really just meditative,” Richardson said. “And it can be as deep as this is the first things humans learn to do or as simple as a twirly thing that makes my hands work.”
Daria Smith, a ceramics teacher at Bloomington High School North, brings students to the showcase to give them insights into professional pottery.
“This is an opportunity for them to come and hang out and meet the artists,” Smith said.
Smith has been involved in the Local Clay Potters Guild for many years, more than she said she can remember. Her pottery education began with a fine arts degree in metalworking and evolved into an interest in teaching, which is what she said inspired her to involve her students in the guild’s efforts.
The Local Clay Potters’ Guild has hopes of continuing this showcase in the future, as Stone and Smith both said they believe the future is with the younger generation.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to get some young potters in here,” Smith said, “because a lot of us are a little older, which is great because we’ve been doing this a long time, but one of the things is that we all live here and like we said its local, but we’ve had people come in and out.”
The guild also offers an associate membership to non-professional potters to give them the chance to gain more experience. The guild allows them to participate in the guild's events while they work up to showcasing their work in the future. Stone said she hopes the program will help people get started in the business of pottery.
“One of the reasons I love Bloomington is you can make things happen here. If you have a concept and you put energy into it, you can make it happen,” Stone said.
The Local Clay Potters Guild and Smith’s students also participate in the SoupBowl, an annual fundraising event hosted by the Hoosier Hills Food Bank by creating bowls to be donated to the event. Smith said she finds it important for her and her students to give back to the community.
“The beauty of it really is the camaraderie,” Stone said.
