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Artists open their studios

December 3, 2009 12:36 am

SHIRLEY Buckler and Julie Moore share a lot more than the fact that they live in King George County.

Both became full-time potters after getting the bug while taking courses at community centers in cities where they used to live.

Both love the process of turning clay into functional and lasting pieces of art.

This weekend, the pair will join four other King George artists in opening the places where they create their art to the public as part of the King George Studio Tour.

It's an idea the potters and other artists started last year and are continuing this holiday season.

"We were talking about how we'd like to get more local people to see our work, and it made sense to do a tour where we'd open our studios," said Buckler, who's been firing pottery thrown on a wheel for 35 years.

In addition to Buckler and Moore, the tour includes well-known wildlife artist John Shaw (Saturday only), fine-art photographer Christopher Rok (Saturday only), photographer and acrylic artist James A. Morris of Nanzatico Designs and woodworker Curtis Gore, who constructs swings, plant stands and hand-turned bowls.

Moore and Buckler said the tour makes sense because the county has a collection of artists who do amazing work.

"Giving people a chance to see and purchase these works seems well-timed with the holidays," said Moore.

I joined the pair recently at Buckler's beautiful home on the shore of the Potomac River near the U.S. 301 bridge.

Both shared their artistic backgrounds, kicked off by introductory classes.

For Buckler, that happened in Waldorf, Md.

"Right after I took the class, the community center was set to be renovated, so the teacher gave me the pottery wheel to use for a year or so," she said. "I was hooked."

Early work with basic mugs, bowls and functional pieces expanded into elaborate and brightly colored artistic pieces for clients ranging from the Annapolis Pottery to the National Zoo.

Her Noah's Ark bowls that sold at the latter have influenced many of the pieces she sold for years at trade shows and still makes today.

The studio designed into the heart of the home she and her husband, Lewis, moved into in 2004 is dotted with distinctive bowls, plates and more. Many feature long-necked giraffes, meaty elephants and the occasional bunny.

In her profile for this weekend's tour, Buckler notes that she uses "white earthenware clay and the under-glaze decorations are applied by hand. I love that clay endures for millennia, serving mankind not just in functional ways but decorative and spiritual as well."

Moore understands her friend's dedication to the wheel. She was hooked after her first class in the Manassas area, where she raised a family and worked a 9-to-5 job in ophthalmology.

When she and her husband, Ken, moved to a creekside home in King George six years ago, a free-standing studio near her home became her sole focus of work.

She specializes in functional pieces for the home and office, including detailed miniatures and a specially designed shaving mug that uses double-walled construction to store lather and keep it warm.

"I connected with people on an online site that draws tens of thousands of people talking about shaving," said Moore. "Now I sell a handful of these mugs each week, largely through the Internet."

Moore doesn't mind the repetitive nature of making mugs and other functional pieces.

"I just love the process, getting my hands into the clay," she said.

Both potters said they didn't realize how getting serious about their craft would would have them learning about chemistry, marketing and the fine points of manufacturing.

Still, they don't simply see it as work.

On Moore's Web page, she references her "beautiful, above-ground studio on a protected wetlands here in King George where she now 'plays in the mud' full time."

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com