Local couple selected for prestigious Florida art show.By TERESA GEARY
Local couple selected for prestigious Florida art show. By TERESA GEARY
By TERESA GEARY
Date published: 2/2/2004
N A RECENT EVENING, local artist Trista Chapman was up to her arms in bowls, literally.
She crafted 100 bowls for the Empty Bowl fund-raiser, which was rescheduled to Feb. 29 because of last weekend's snow.
She donates the bowls to the event, which gives all proceeds to the Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence. But for Trista and her husband, Phil, pottery also pays the bills.
This year, both husband and wife were chosen to participate in the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, an annual art festival in Florida.
While this is Phil's fifth time attending the event, it is Trista's first.
"I was very excited and pleasantly shocked to be accepted," said Trista. "It was a long-term goal, but I wasn't sure if I'd ever get in since it's such a prestigious show."
According to a Winter Park spokesperson, 1,400 artists applied to the 2004 show, while only 280 were accepted.
The festival will give away a total of $60,000 in awards this year, including the Best of Show Purchase Award, where the festival buys the work from the artist for $10,000.
Phil laughed at the prospect of winning Best of Show, but stressed how important the sales generated at this festival, and another Florida show, are for the couple's income.
"Florida represents 15 to 20 percent of our income," he said.
"[These shows are] how we make our living," echoed Trista. "Or how we pay the winter power bill, at least," said Phil.
The three-day festival runs from March 19 through 21 and has boasted attendance rates of more than 350,000 people.
"Winter Park might be the No. 1 show, at least the No. 3 show, in Florida," said Phil. "It has a great reputation, and Florida is a great market because there's a lot of rich people there. The quality of work is phenomenal, and we feel honored just being there."
The couple described another perk of the Florida festival.
"It's so warm! It's like a vacation when we're there," said Trista, smiling.
"Last year we took our tandem bike down and rode all around. We had a great time," said Phil.
Phil and Trista are both potters, but their work is stylistically very different.
Trista enjoys making functional objects such as dishes and teapots. She explains her use of bright colored glazes and jazzy patterns by saying, "I like to make functional fun."
Phil, on the other hand, creates ornamental urns and vases using a Japanese firing technique called Raku, which leaves his work with a cracked, smoky finish.
To reach TERESA GEARY: 540/374-5779 tgear6la@mwc.edu
Date published: 2/2/2004
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