This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/06/2019 07:30 AMAnita Griffith is a professional potter and teacher, infusing the shoreline and beyond with the whimsy of her creations. She shares studio space with her husband and fellow ceramics artist, Bob Parrott, in Madison, where the couple also houses its wares.
The studio is tucked away from the road, and inside is a burst of color; in Anita’s half of the studio, her work adorns the walls.
“Whimsical home accessories,” Anita says, classifies her work.
For example, “I’ve been working on some soft slab sculptural pieces that are figurative. They’re mermaids...cups that I carve faces into.
“It seems stuck on function, but it’s whimsical. I lived overseas as a kid so I call myself culturally confused,” Anita says.
When Anita says she lived overseas, she means globally: Ghana, Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, and Kenya. She’s also traveled to Japan and Europe.
“I did work for a Japanese restaurant that sent me to Japan,” she says, “and that’s had a lot of influence on my later work.”
In central American and African carvings, faces are a prominent representation; Anita pulls that influence into her own art as well. Color is important, too.
When creating art, inspiration often strikes when it’s least expected. Anita’s facial imagery in her work was pulled from her past travels and culminated in one surprising moment.
“I used to make these eggs; they were salt and pepper shakers. I called them friendly eggs,” Anita says.
She and Bob were preparing to go sell their work at a show when she started painting faces on the eggs.
“I get all my ideas under pressure,” she says. “I started painting faces on [the eggs]. I made 8 or 10 different characters.
“They were literally hot out of the kiln,” she says. “I was afraid the paper would burn when we packed them.”
The eggs were a hit.
Living as a successful artist takes more than just inspiration, however.
“Pottery really requires that you have a grounded place to work,” says Anita.
Before marrying Bob and sharing studio space on their property, Anita held studio space on Main Street in Madison and in Orchard Park in Branford.
Money matters, too.
“Live within your means. Make some financial sacrifices,” Anita says.
A place to work and the financial means to rely upon yourself for financial stability are both external influences. Successful artists have something else, too: self-discipline.
“You have to be able to create a structure to your day,” Anita says.
“Be prepared to eat a lot of beans,” she continues. “In this day and age, I’d encourage young people to join up with another artist and share studio space.”
Offsetting the cost of studio rentals can make the dream of creating pottery possible.
“My first studio rent,” Anita says, “was $75 a month and I’m sure I could never find that again.”
For young or novice artists considering pursuing a career in ceramics, Anita says a knowledge of science—and business—is critical.
“Ceramics...is geology, and a lot of business,” Anita says.
Before the Internet became prolific, ceramics sales was different.
“I’ve talked to other artists about this,” Anita says. “We were all at the top of our game in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and even ‘90s. We had a great organization that supported us: the American Crafts Council.”
Both Anita and Bob maintain their membership in the council, which has provided business guidance over the years, including that both artists, already established when they married, kept their names.
“We never jumped on the Internet years ago,” Anita explains.
She and Bob were at a show when they attended a panel discussion with gallery owners. The gallery owners stipulated that any artists selling on the Home Shopping Network when it debuted would not be welcome at their galleries.
“They said they would drop us like hot potatoes if we were going to sell on TV or online,” Anita says.
This strained relationship between galleries and the Internet may have eased over the years, especially now that galleries can also sell online, but for Anita, the Internet offered another kind of Pandora’s Box.
“I don’t want to be like Zappos and pay for returns,” she says.
While she is considering creating an inventory to sell off the shelf locally, she isn’t interested in custom orders.
“We still have a few wholesale customers,” Anita says.
When one tires of beans, or perhaps when one needs more beans, teaching can provide artists a way to earn more income. But for Anita, it offers something else, something priceless.
“I always begin thinking that everyone has some need to express things. I try to help them find their own voice,” Anita says. “I like to encourage people to think that they really have their own something to say to the world through their art...It’s a confidence-building thing for a lot of people.
She’s worked for 42 years at the Guilford Art Center.
“It was my second job after college,” she says.
Teaching allows her to pass on her extensive knowledge about the science, business, and art of pottery.
Anita’s creative journey has taken her from creation, to business, to learning about the geology of different clays and minerals, to teaching. After years of working as an artist, for Anita, it’s still about having a good time.
“It’s really fun making things,” she says. “It’s really fun looking backward, [knowing] that I found what I loved and was able to find a way to do it.
“It really has been a creative journey” in more ways than one. “We had to be creative in order to figure out how to make it work.”
Anita’s work is viewable on the website she shares with Bob, www.potteryct.com.
To nominate someone from Madison or Killingworth for Person of the Week, email m.mcnellis@shorepublishing.com.