Lynchburg Living

Art

By Carrie Williams

It’s a commonly-known fact that beauty is subjective. It’s very rare that you are able to put three artists in the same room and have them agree upon what is considered beautiful and what is not.

Luckily, that’s exactly the case at Oxide Pottery in downtown Lynchburg. Located in the historic district on Main Street, the three artist team of Joe Monk, Chatham Monk and Justin Rice, each showcase their own unique take on pottery and its capabilities as an art form, allowing for a striking array of diverse hand-crafted pieces.

Focusing their talents on functional pieces such as bowls, plates, cups and even citrus hand juicers, these three artists are putting their stamp in local homes (and kitchens). Everything at Oxide Pottery is lead-free and microwave and dishwasher safe, reinforcing the “functional” promise made by the shop.

Having celebrated their one-year anniversary this past November, Oxide Pottery is quickly making a name for itself in the area. From the shop’s rich, dark purple painted exterior to its hand-crafted ceramic mural wall behind the cash register, the shop is like an art piece in and of itself.

Joe Monk, who, in addition to owning Oxide Pottery, is also a professor of Studio Art at Sweet Briar College. He bought the Oxide Pottery building at auction. While originally intending to rent it out entirely, Monk realized that it offered the perfect opportunity to open a shop for displaying and selling his pottery.

It took five years and an immense amount of time and effort for Monk to transform the building into what it is today–a functioning, attractive space with character and detail work easily identified as that of a true artist.

“I did everything–the floors, the design, tiles, plumbing. The whole project is kind of like an art project to me. It all goes together like an art piece would,” Monk reminisced.

Using the work area in the rear of the shop as something akin to a conference room, the artists took turns talking about art, their styles and their pride in the shop while occasionally getting up to help a customer as the door chime rang. Soft music played in the background and everyone was at ease amongst the boxes of clay and layers of dust.

The other two artists, Chatham Monk, Joe’s daughter, and her boyfriend, Justin Rice, have a background in two-dimensional drawing work. Yet each has found their respective styles in the world of three-dimensional ceramic and pottery art.

“It’s just an attractive material,” Rice explained when asked why he chose pottery as a medium. “It can do something for each person totally differently. It can have a really lush, wet feel to it, or a crisp, hard edge. It picks up both of those attributes and everything in between. It’s receptive in multiple ways.”

Chatham spoke of its captivating nature.

“Something about it is addictive. I’ve worked in other materials, but I’ve never spent all my time and thoughts on it. That just doesn’t happen with other materials,” she said.

As a seasoned three-dimensional artist and professor of the craft to many semesters-worth of students, Joe has also come to notice how the medium responds to each person in completely distinctive ways.

“It picks up whatever your personality is,” he said. “So you could be rough and abstract and clay will do that. Or you can be precise and it will do that. It will be whatever you want it to be. Clay is really, like they said, seductive–it does ‘get’ people.”

Chatham acts as the handbuilder of the group, while Rice and Joe stick to wheel throwing. The difference between the two techniques is distinctive when viewing an example of each.

Handbuilt pieces take on an abstract, paper-like quality, as though folded, since it captures the slightest movement of the hands that are creating it. On the other hand, wheel thrown pieces are typically symmetrical and clean in line and form.

“What’s really interesting it that the three of us could use the same clay, same glazes, fire things at the same time in the same kiln and they would all look totally different. It’s just how you touch it and apply the glaze. You’ve got your own fingerprint on it,” Rice explained.

When asked to describe his favorite piece, Joe responded by pointing under a nearby work table.

“Mine’s in the box over there–a lump of clay,” he said.

Rice agreed, saying “It’s always the next thing.”

A career in ceramics and pottery, it seems, is a life of experimentation. Working with such a sensitive and malleable material has allowed the three artists to play with shape and size, sometimes letting the clay do what it will. There are successes and there are failures, but each is a learning process that has allowed the artists to significantly grow in the last year.

“When we first opened the shop last year, it was like as fast as we could make things, we put it out. But the variety wasn’t all there. We were just trying to get as much volume as we could,” Rice said. “Now, the types of shapes we have are different, the functions are different, there’s a lot more options as far as colors go. We’ve experimented during that time so I think we are getting ready to outdo what we did last year.”

The three artists have been able to expand much more than just their talents in the last year. The exposure of the shop and its selection of art has also grown exponentially.

A piece from the store is featured on the cover of the “First Friday Galleries” brochure and Joe’s story as an artist was recently chronicled in “Visions,” a Sweet Briar College arts publication by the Friends of Art board. Oxide Pottery has also been listed as one of the participants of many downtown Lynchburg events, such as “First Fridays,” “Downtown Diva Crawl” and “Get!Downtown,” to name a few. And of course there are the multiple art exhibitions the artists have entered their work into.

For Rice, the most gratifying part of the shop’s contact with locals is knowing that his art work is being used and appreciated.

“I think it’s really rewarding when, two months later, you see someone and they recognize you and say, ‘I use your mug everyday! It’s my favorite thing!’ It’s really neat to think of all the things we make. We make 30 mugs at a time and you don’t think about it but they all get distributed out and become something special,” he said.

Walking through the shop, it’s easy to see how each piece can become something special to those who buy or are given a piece. The variety in color, shape and function seems endless as you weave between shelves of the signed pottery.

Chatham also utilizes her skills in two-dimensional art by showcasing a selection of hand-made jewelry. She works in different shapes and patterns, incorporating witty phrases into some pairs of earrings to create an eclectic collection for any taste.

Oxide Pottery is a testament to three artists’ devotion to a craft and its many possibilities. While it may be subjective, beauty is in every facet of the shop itself and its contents.

“Clay is the same make-up of the earth, so there’s no shortage of clay,” Joe explained. “It gets its value by somebody making something out of it.”

Where to Learn the Art of Pottery:

Interested in learning how to put your own stamp on clay work? Check out these local spots for pottery and ceramic classes and more.

-Academy of Fine Arts:

• Handbuilding Tableware
• Beginning in Clay
• Intermediate to Advanced Pottery
• Pottery Projects

For more information, visit www.academyfinearts.com/classes/pottery.asp.

-All Fired Up–A Paint Your Own Pottery Studio:

• Ladies Night, the last Thursday of each month (10 percent off your bisque purchase)
• Mommy and Me Tuesdays (10 percent off your child’s painted pottery)
• Thursday College Discount Day (10 percent off your bisque purchase)
• Pottery To-Go (for doing pottery painting projects at home)

For more information, visit www.allfireduplynchburg.com.