Charles Smith, Pottery - Mobile AL

Charles Smith is a well-known and well-liked Mobile, AL, potter who began his career in the early 1970’s: “I began studying art after a tour of duty in Vietnam, the trauma surrounding the war made me want to pursue the arts.”

Smith matured his interest in the arts by earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education with a minor in Pottery from Jackson State University in Jackson, MS. There he served as a Teacher Assistant to the late professor Marcus Douyon. Smith credits Douyon with providing a solid foundation of artisic discipline, skill and vision that would help him grow into the artist he is today.

In 1977, he was hired by the City of Mobile as a resident artist, during which time he painted murals and taught art in city parks and recreation centers. Since that time, Smith has won some 25 first place or Best of Show awards for his work. His work was included in the traveling exhibit: “Uncommon Beauty in Common Objects: The Legacy of African American Craft Art.” He has exhibited all over the country, including the National Museum of American Art in the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and the American Craft Museum in New York City. His most recent work uses bold colors such as black and tan.

“I’ve been doing this for several years now, and in that time my work has evolved remendously, but it has not changed all that much. Art for me has been a maturing process, not a series of radical departures.”

Smith said he is always attentive to the technical aspects of clay and glazes, considering their limitation, and at the same time, employing the unimagined possibilities they hold. His forms are classic, and his glazes are sophisticated in color and application.

Charles uses cone 7 stoneware and decorated each piece using a carved-and-sgraffito technique. The style is derived from realistic and Art Nouveau forms, mixed with and interspersed with abstract animal imagery.

While the size and shape of each pieces is unique, it is – and always has been – the hand-carved surface that distinguished his work. Designs used today originated in design elements first explored in the late 1970’s. “They are the shapes and patterns of nature, and until Mother Nature finds it necessary to rediscover herself, I’ll remain content following her lead.”

Visit Charles Smith's web site: www.smith-pots.com

Lillie Mack & Marilyn Gordon, Fiber & Design Arts:Fashion - Blackbelt Designs, York AL

In the heart of the black belt of the Deep South, on the western edge of Alabama and just a few miles from Mississippi, sits the small town of York. York, population 2,854, is in Sumter County, population under 15,000 and listed as one of the poorest counties in Alabama.

August 1956 a female was born who never embraced the idea of being poor. She was well aware there was never much money to spend in stores but there was always hand-me-down clothing and leftover scraps to rework and/or play with creating something new, functional, and
usually different than her peers.

Lillie Jean Mack , the second oldest of 7 children, learned to sew by observing her mother. Often she would remake an adult’s dress into two child size dresses. Feed sacks and flour sacks were a source of new fabric to sew with.

"Although two of my sisters also sewed, I was the one that helped to clothe the family. We had no commercial patterns so I learned to eye the body, cut the garment, sew & fit on a live mannequin – the person who would be wearing the item."

After High School and the birth of her eldest child, Lillie began working at the local apparel factory. Twenty six years later, the factories moved to Mexico and she was without a job. Sewing for family members did not fulfill her need to sew and create what she visualized, so she began making quilts, lap robes, and craft items to sell.
“All these years of designing and sewing from salvaged materials and I never realized I did anything differently from other sewers. In fact, I felt others were more skilled since I could not work from a pattern. "

This soon changed when she joined Blackbelt Designs, a new fulltime fiber arts workshop that was starting in York sponsored by the Coleman Center for Arts and Culture.

"The same year I joined Black Belt Designs as a volunteer, we visited Kentuck Festival of the Arts, Northport, Alabama. Previous to this excursion I thought art was something people hung on the wall. I had an epiphany that changed the way I viewed my passion, and myself, as I walked the aisles. This exposure to quality arts and crafts awakened me to possibilities. At age forty six, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother I discovered what I had been doing for forty years to clothe family and decorate my home was admired by many people.

Now, I recycle denim jeans into designer jackets. I totally rip the jeans and incorporate unfaded areas into the design of the jackets.

Another fabric of choice is mudcloth from Mali. When people ask why mudcloth, my reply is “I use the African made fabric because it epitomizes what I believe. One can make something beautiful from what they find around them”.

Lillie is listed as one of Alabama’s outstanding artists on SouthernArtistry.org.

Some of her other recognition includes:
Arts & Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa, AL juried show - honorable mention.
Sumter County, AL Fine Arts juried show - 2nd place
Invited exhibitor Kentuck Arts & Crafts, Northport, AL
Invited exhibitor Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Design Arts Fellowship with the Alabama State Arts Council

For more information, please visit their new web site:
http://www.blackbeltdesigns.net/