By Kat Bryant
The Daily World
There’s a whole lot of mudslinging going on at the Gallery of Ocean Shores this week.
The North Beach Artists Guild’s potters are busily making ceramic cups, bowls and other vessels for a fundraiser called Soup’s On.
This Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., gallery visitors will be able to purchase any of 65 unique vessels that are being created just for the occasion. Then, they can have them filled (and refilled as many times as desired) with soup or chili — which, incidentally, will be homemade by the same clay artists. For example, Melanie Knight is making the clam chowder, and Pam Otteson is making minestrone.
Once they get their fill of soup (along with bread, a beverage and dessert), visitors will be able to mingle with the artists and enjoy some live music, which will start at noon.
This is the first fundraiser to be organized by the nonprofit artists guild, which formed six years ago.
“Hopefully, as this evolves, we would have more events,” said member Gary Ganz. “Everybody’s had a great time getting this together, and if it is a little bit of a success, then certainly we would continue to march down this road.”
Knight’s brother and sister-in-law are potters in Olympia. “They sponsor ‘empty bowls’ events in their home, which are traditionally soup dinners for food banks,” said guild member Nancy Williams. “For our first event, we wanted to try a similar thing.”
Most of the vessels to be offered at Saturday’s event are being made by NBAG “mudders” Ganz and Susan Rozalsky, and many are being hand-painted by Ardith Forsgren. Some are being designed by Otteson and Knight; others are being created by local high school students and by Ganz’s pottery students.
“For me, it’s all magic,” said Ganz, “because I just think it’s a generic little chunk of stone, and Ardith turns it into a beautiful work of art.”
The pieces are in all shapes and sizes, ranging from cups to small tureens. “Our definition was anything that will hold soup and a spoon is a bowl,” Williams chuckled.
The vessels will be priced from $10 to $50 each, and all are being donated by the artists for the event. Part of the money raised will go into the pottery studio, and the rest will go to the guild.
“Right now the funding would go for more in-house pottery tools and accessories, and we’re working on a spray booth for applying glaze to pots,” said Ganz. “A smaller kiln for test-firing is another thing I think we might be investing in.”
In keeping with the guild’s mission to bring art to the community, Williams and Ganz noted that anyone who’s interested in learning about ceramic art can simply walk in and ask any Friday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“You can come and make some beautiful things — just play in the mud a little bit,” said Ganz. “You can come in with any skill level and actually go home with something.”
He added that once new people become acquainted with the studio and its practices, they can have access any day during regular hours for an $80 monthly fee.
“That’s why we’re having the fundraisers, too, is to keep it affordable,” he said.
The gallery is located at 849 Point Brown Ave. NW in Ocean Shores. For more information, contact the North Beach Artists Guild at 360-289-0734.
Nancy Williams watches Pam Otteson cut a design into a clay plate; behind them, Ardith Forsgren draws a design to paint onto a bowl. All are members of the North Beach Artists Guild in Ocean Shores. (Kat Bryant | The Daily World)
Photos by Kat Bryant | The Daily World North Beach Artists Guild member Ardith Forsgren draws a horse design to be painted onto a bowl.
North Beach Artists Guild member Gary Ganz guides local resident Julie Pope as she learns how to make a bowl on the potter’s wheel. (Kat Bryant | The Daily World)
