Creston’s vibrant arts community is coming together to celebrate the inaugural Clay Fest.
David Barnes, a potter, sculptor and instructor at Eversfield Ceramics, is eager to share his lifelong passion for pottery.
“I've done a lot of different things in ceramics over 40 years,” he said. “There’s always something new to do with it - another adventure, another process.”
Originally from England, Barnes established his first ceramics business in 1977, going on to teach art at colleges and display his work in many exhibitions, museums, and galleries.
As different festivals highlighting ceramics have become popular across the U.K. and U.S., he wanted to bring a taste of that culture to Creston too.
The purpose of Clay Fest is to encourage interaction with like-minded artists and educate the general public on the process of creating ceramics.
“It allows people to see the vast array of things that you can do with clay. Yes, you can make mugs, but there's one million and one other things you can do as well,” said Barnes.
“Even a simple thing like a mug, let alone a sculpture, people take everything at face value and never really consider the process, how long it takes, and the technical challenges involved in getting to the end product.”
The free, fun, and interactive event will be hosted at Eversfield Ceramics, located at 1522 Airport Road, on Aug. 10 from 10 a.m to 5 p.m.
The day will feature market stalls to shop from, food and refreshments, and live demonstrations from local artists in a breadth of styles including Lisa Ostendorf, Andrea Revoy, Alison Bjorkman, Jess Stacey, Heath (Shpriken) Cara, and Barnes himself.
Kait McKenna, owner of The Pottery on Canyon, will be wrangling the kids’ table to give youngsters the chance to create something of their own.
Whether it’s throwing clay at the wheel, raku firing, embossing, or building sculpture, there will be something for everyone to see.
While Barnes said he may have instigated the idea, the group who came together to organize Clay Fest has been invaluable. And it wouldn’t have been possible without funding from Creston Valley Mudders.
“Somehow or another I dropped into the middle of this enthusiastic group of people,” said Barnes. “They’ve been so proactive. A big thank you to everyone involved.”
Visit crestonclayfest.com for more information.
