Amy Garno
Savannah Haig, Siena Heights University (SHU) fine arts major, recently had her art selected for publication in a book “500 Teapots,” by Lark Craft Publications.
Dennis Swartzlander, a community clay student at SHU, brought the advertisement requesting submissions of teapot images to the advanced class clay class. Each person was able to submit up to three images. Melissa Dojosak, another junior, and Haig asked their professor, Tim Van Beke, what he thought about the advertisement. Van Beke thought it was a great project to challenge the class; so he made it an assignment and joined in with them. “This created a competition that kept all of us working hard. We all wanted to be the one selected,” Haig noted. The four of them submitted one image each.
Haig constructed her teapot by rolling out a slab of clay for the base and carefully attaching clay birds, baby Jesus figures, and rhino legs, all made by slip casting from molds. The rhino mold she made herself and the other two were commercial molds. She attached the pieces by first scoring, a term used for scratching into the surface of the clay, and connecting those parts using slip, a thinned out clay. She then attached her hand built spout, handle, and lid to complete her tea pot. Even though her tea pot isn’t functional, it is very cleverly crafted.
“When I filled out the application, I had to name my piece. ‘Give Jesus a Leg to Fly On’, seemed like a perfect description. It sounded silly but I didn’t know if my piece would really make it in anyway. When I got the e-mail I was elated! Dokosak, Swartzlander and Van Beke were so happy for me,” Haig recalled. “I don’t feel this is really real until I see it in print.”
The book will be published in August 2013 and available for sale at local bookstores.
“Savannah is an artist who knows what she wants and is productive in making it happen. She is an exemplary student whose hard work and determination are obviously beginning to pay off”, acknowledged Van Beke. “I wish I could take more credit for this, but I simply showed her the opportunity and she made it happen. As her ceramics professor, I am very proud of her and look forward to seeing what she will do next.”
Haig is a junior at SHU with an art concentration in printmaking and ceramics, and a minor in art history. She will give her BFA exhibition in the spring of 2014.
“After I graduate I want to open my own pottery studio so I can help others explore their own creativity,” Haig explained. “I want to start out by offering pieces that are already fired, called bisque ware, made out of molds, and have people glaze the ones they select. Eventually I will have a few pottery wheels where people can do their own throwing or hand building.”
Lark Crafts is published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes and Noble out of Asheville, N.C. For more information visit their website at: http://www.larkcrafts.com/
