WHITEHALL – Several local pottery and other artists came to the Whitehall area Dec. 8 to show off and sell their works at the Terrestrial Forming Pottery Studio December 8, and the stories the artists said about themselves, and their work were diverse and it showed in their displays.

The man who started it all, Peter Johnson, said, “Actually, I built this building, and this was my mother-in-law’s land and we formed a holding company and I ended up buying everybody out and the rest is the history of, as the years went by.”

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Johnson said that he had several stops along the way to becoming a pottery artist, starting as an English student and then went to anthropology and psychology, but has been in the Whitehall area and displaying his work at the studio for about 53 years.

He discovered pottery while in college, saying that he was fascinated by clay and the things that could be made from it.

Johnson said, “I was a sculpture artist at a liberal arts college and was in the downstairs of the art building and I saw these people working with clay and was real interested in materials at that point, and sculpture and I found the clay to be the most interesting substance that I’ve ever run across as technically what it was, what its toxicity was, how malleable it was, and what the ecology of it was as in 75-percent of the Earth’s crust is made out of clay and clay materials.

“And so that appealed to me,” Johnson said.

The liberal arts college Johnson attended is Albion College in Albion, Michigan. He has an entire area of the facility showcasing his work.

Another person who is involved with pottery is Kim Funk, the studio manager, who assists Johnson in the operation of the studio and is looking to take over more of the operations of the studio as Peter comes into the facility less often.

She also has a section of the building dedicated to her pottery work.

“I make art here, I’m a potter but I also teach lessons here at the studio and I’m trying to keep the facility going, moving forward as Peter steps more away,” Funk said.

Funk also said, “I’m hoping to keep this as a community arts center, so I teach classes here and I do private lessons, and we also keep the studio open for other potters in the area who don’t have the facilities to do it at their homes to come make their pottery here.”

“So, I started doing pottery when I was in high school, did kind of the ‘I can’t make money as an artist dumb thing’ and I actually did hair for over a decade, and I serendipitously met Peter through him teaching classes and just very lucky we’ve had a very special bond and he’s supported me and helped me grow my pottery career.”

She is originally from Houston, Texas but is currently living in Muskegon.

Cara O’Brien, who has been living in Whitehall for around 20 years, brought some porcelain Christmas ornaments, making them with designs she has been using for the last 19 years.

O”Brien said, “Kind of like decorative, festive pottery. In addition to the pottery, three other artists had some items they were showcasing.

Other artists exhibiting other works that were not potters included Alice Gambel, of Whitehall, who brought mittens and scarves.

Gambel said that the mittens were made from recycled wool sweaters with recycled leather palm pieces and insides of new fleece.

She also brought cashmere scarves as well.

She said that everything she had was made from recycled wool sweaters that have been felted, shrunk and repurposed into artsy mittens. The same method applied to the creation of the scarves.

But Gambel said that she doesn’t do wool caps because, “Everybody wants a hat that does something specific with their hair.”

“They either want a head band that doesn’t mess up their hair or they want a hat that pulls down over their ears and it uses up too much of the sweater, so we’ve chosen not to do hats,” Gambel said.

Gambel said that her and a friend from Grand Rapids, Barbara Mojzak, started doing this about 12-14 years ago.

She said she bought a pair from a company in Traverse City and said she really liked them and said to Mojzak and asked her if they could do this. They took the mittens home, according to Gambel, and decided they could do this.

So, they started buying the materials needed to produce the mittens and scarves and took off from there. Both are avid boaters that can sew.

Another artist was Khushal Wardak, who brought some wire brat pendants, with gemstones made from wood that he cut and polished. Then he wraps them in silver or copper wire.

He decided to learn how to create these during his downtime due to COVID-19.

“I had free time to learn and have been doing it since,” Wardak said.

He said he designs these at his home outside of Montague.

And finally, Stu Heinz brought in some prints after being invited to the event.

Heinz said he had been making prints for around 10 years, original paintings for about 15 years, and has been an artist, also, for 15 years.

According to Heinz, a teacher named Randal Roberts encouraged him to become an artist.

Heinz is originally from Muskegon and now lives in Montague.

“My friend Chester (Winowezki), who apprenticed with Peter (Johnson) – we were recently having some coffee, talking about art and he talked to Jan (Johnson), and gave me an invite and Jan let me come in here and set up a table to sell some art and here I am,” Heinz said.

Winowezki is the husband of O’Brien.