Potter Lucy Clark,
lucyclarkpottery.com. Photo by Anna Dennis.
By Jacqueline Persandi L
ucy Clark has been preparing for her art for more than 20 years—and she didn’t even know it. Since 1991 Lucy has been a massage therapist on the First
Coast, but less than four years ago she found another passion—hand building pottery. “Te interesting thing about what I do for a living is that muscle tissue and clay are very similar. In both you’re looking for those inconsistencies. I’m always looking to smooth things out, whether it’s muscle or whether it’s clay.”
Unique designs and visual appeal set
Lucy’s work apart from others. A main objective when she is making a piece is to create movement that lets the eye follow the clay. “It’s really hard for a static object to do that.” She is able to accomplish this by sculpting her clay. She says movement has always been a big theme that runs through her work, both as a massage therapist and a potter.
When building, Lucy’s philosophy is
“let go and let clay.” She says, “Tat takes the stress off. When you’re trying to go— ok, I’m wheeling this thing into being a certain shape—I don’t have to do that. I think, for me, clay is an active process of learning to let go.”
32 | Family! Lucy does not
use a wheel, but instead constructs her
pottery with coils, one layer at
a time. Te method takes longer than wheel pottery, but that’s what she enjoys. “With hand building you have a chance to really contemplate where [the clay] wants to go.” She enjoys the freedom that hand building brings. “I can put a coil on my pot, cover it up, and I can walk away for two or three days. I needed that in my art because our lives are so packed with schedules.”
It’s hard to believe she’s only been
building pottery for four years when you see her handcrafted masterpieces. Lucy has won awards at many festivals including Arts in the Park in Atlantic Beach, Fla., Mt. Dora Arts Festival in Mt. Dora, Fla., Winter Park Autumn Art Festival in Winter Park, Fla. and the Festival of the Masters at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Tis year, Lucy was asked to create custom awards for the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s 37th Annual Arts and Culture Award winners.
Lucy feels honored to be part of the art
community on the First Coast. Just like every piece of pottery that she creates, she believes that every person who enjoys her work is unique. “To me it’s just so exciting that you get acknowledgment, but more so than that, someone looks at my work and connects with it. Someone wants to spend their hard-earned money on a piece of art that I created, that they’re hopefully going to have in their house for the rest of their life.”
Although Lucy is modest about her
long list of awards, she proudly boasts that her daughter and husband are her biggest fans. “Tey brag, far more than I do, about my accomplishments.”
Pottery by Lucy Clark,
lucyclarkpottery.com. Photos by Chris McCranie. HERITAGE PUBLISHING, INC. © 2013
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