January Art : Saratoga Window

Posted on Jan. 06, 2010 by Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs

Decorative plate by Allison Petroski.

This profile could be half art archive, half “Where Are They Now?” post since artist Allison Petroski is a long-time alumnus of Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs. A quiet, sweet woman, Allison is blessing our front window with her beautiful ceramic works. Her profile on Fine Art America details a heavily spiritual personal view of artwork. It was eye-opening to find out that some her intimately intricate designed vessels are intended to hold the remains of pets and loved ones.

We sat down with her today in her studio in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. to find out a bit more about her work:

Uncommon Grounds (UG) : What lead you to the specific media of thrown ceramic?

Allison Petroski (AP) : I taught art at the Charlton School for Girls and when they had an excess in the budget I asked, “Hey could we get a wheel?” and I started throwing every day. I just love it. Love it, love it, love it! It became my passion immediately.

UG : Oh! Interesting. Did you have any formal training with it?

AP : I went to Skidmore and did their community program for two years, and then went back to school at Burlington College to finish my degree in ceramics.

UG : A-ha! So, how do you feel your work has progressed? Did you have a vision of what you wanted to make before you started working with ceramics?

AP : Certainly as you learn, you’re always adding to your toolbox. As soon as I got good enough to start throwing lidded vessels, that’s all I wanted to do. Someone came up to me and said “Ohh, you make urns!” and I thought “No, I don’t make urns.” But then I fell in love with the idea and I realized that it was such an amazing place to hold someone’s remains. And now I’m trying to market a lot of these as funereal urns. The decorative ones like the pieces in the window at Uncommon are simply decorative, like you could put them up on your mantle as a beautiful piece of pottery. Whereas some of the new work, I’ll be marketing more as pet urns and hopefully people urns eventually.

UG : How often are you here in your studio? Are you here every day?

Horse-hair raku fired vessel.

AP : In general yeah, I’m here all the time, trying to build up an inventory. If I’m not here I’m actually trying to work on the business aspect of by working on the Shringar Pottery website. I’m calling it Shringar Pottery because it’s an Indian word that honors the beauty of the creativity of a woman.

UG : So where do you fire all your pottery?

AP : Here! There’s a kiln here. I also do raku out back which is an alternative firing method. I used horse-hairs in this piece [picks up vessel similar to pic on right]. You lay horse-hairs on it when it reaches 1800 degrees. You take it out of the kiln with special tongs and you put horse hairs or feathers or whatever you want to use. It leaves this imprint.

UG : Ohh! Wow, interesting! What’s next for you?

Mantra pot.

AP : I’m starting this new line of “mantra” pots. One of them is in the window show at Uncommon. I put mantras on them so that people can use them as devotional pots. I’m very into the spiritual aspect of art. I’m looking for more art galleries to show my work and more opportunities for people to appreciate it.

Tags: Allison Petroski, art show, ceramics, horsehairs, raku, Saratoga Springs NY, sculpture, Uncommon Grounds