The work of Kendallville ceramicists Teagan Koble and Jeff Reed has been accepted into the 47th Annual Elkhart Juried Regional Exhibition at the Midwest Museum of American Art.
Both artists work out of The Pottery at the Community Learning Center in Kendallville, where Teagan is also the studio technician.
“Their success,” explains CLC executive director, Julia Tipton, “shows what’s possible when local artists have access to the tools, space and encouragement to grow.
“The Pottery was designed to be a place where creativity thrives, and this is exactly the kind of accomplishment that reminds us why community art matters.”
Here WBOI’S Julia Meek discusses the importance of this recognition with Koble and Reed, the renaissance of artisanal ceramics and how The Pottery informs and drives their passion.
Event Information:
47th Annual Elkhart Juried Regional Exhibition
at the Midwest Museum of American Art
429 S Main St, Elkhart, IN 46516
Now through Dec. 31
Find more information at the Midwest Museum of American Art website
The Pottery’s Open Studio Members Sale
401 E. Diamond Street, Kendallville
Saturday, Dec. 6
All day
Find more information and connect with The Pottery at the Community Learning Center website.
Here is a transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Teagan Koble, Jeff Reed, welcome.
Teagan Koble: Hi, thank you.
Jeff Reed: Hello.
Julia Meek: Your work's on display at one fine Michiana space. So, is it your first time displaying there? And how does it feel?
Teagan Koble: Yes, it's my first time. Feels great and inspiring.
Julia Meek: Good. What about you, Jeff?
Jeff Reed: A number of years ago, I had a piece of pottery in that show. It's been a while. Now I'm back, and it's great.
Julia Meek: Just as good as first time?
Jeff Reed: It's better! [all chuckle]
Julia Meek: Good. Now the two of you met at The Pottery, part of Kendallville's Community Learning Center, where you are employed as a studio technician. Teagan, briefly, what is the scope of that facility?
Teagan Koble: Well, we do a lot of different things there. We have memberships available there, Jeff and I are both members, which means you get to come in use the space.
We have 12 pottery wheels. We have hand building areas, and then inside we have two electric kilns. Outside, we have two gas-firing kilns, and we have a full glaze lab and materials lab where we can make all different kinds of glazes, which we have available for our members.
Aside from the memberships, we also do community classes, we do some small workshops, and we also do private classes, so, yeah.
Julia Meek: It's your one-stop full-service with state-of-the-art equipment, it kind of sounds like, a dream come true. Is that fair to say, Jeff?
Jeff Reed: It's a fantastic collection of equipment and people.
Julia Meek: And okay, Jeff, you were born in Indiana, got here actually by way of Montana, where you went to school for art, among other things. Where does the pottery fit in your artcentric journey and how has Teagan impacted and enriched that experience.
Jeff Reed: I actually have a degree from Heron School of Art in Indianapolis in Visual Communications. I've taken a lot of pottery through the years, so now I get to combine the two.
My pottery is sculptural, some throwing, but I use a lot of graphic design techniques, and as Teagan runs the shop and makes all the equipment and facility available,
I'm able to put all my skills to work the best I can.
Julia Meek: It sounds like it's a wonderful opportunity. How would you rank it as a facility being all the places you've been, including at school out in the west?
Jeff Reed: I'm not trying to be too prejudiced, but I think it's the best [all chuckle] because we have such a wide variety of experience, people from different areas.
And sometimes in schools, you can get a bit more of a narrow range of students. But at the CLC, we have older folks, younger folks, the classes that go on there, we bring kids, in families.
It's just an incredible combination of people.
Julia Meek: And what an opportunity, then, for all of those people, as well as the community itself. And now, Teagan, you are a northeast Indiana native, a ceramic student at Purdue Fort Wayne as well.
What does your combined weekly immersion in your passion, including working with artists, folks like Jeff, do for your own development?
Teagan Koble: Oh my gosh, right now, especially this year, there's been so many opportunities for me to meet all kinds of interesting people and people who know a whole heck of a lot about pottery.
Throughout the week, I work lots of hours at the studio where I get to learn from people like Jeff and other potters who have been teaching me how to run a studio, how to make the materials, how to communicate and work with Pottery members there and at school.
I also get the chance to learn from great instructors work with other people, some that are my age. And I think it just gives me a really well-rounded experience in pottery.
And it helps me see all kinds of different work. Like, where do I want to go? I can learn hand building, throwing all sorts of different techniques.
Julia Meek: And the range of potters. What's it like to be around folks as seasoned as Jeff, as young as yourself, the all-ages that take classes and everything? How does that enrich, how does that really force your eyes open and all around.
Teagan Koble: It really makes you understand all the things that you can do and how little time you have to do it all. It gives you like, little tastes of everything.
And it also kind of reinforces the fact that I know what I'm doing is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, because you see all of these different things, and you get to have a little taste of them.
And it settles your mind, knowing, okay, I found what I want to be doing, at least in this moment, and I know any moment I could find something else to go, kind of venture down.
Julia Meek: That's a great space to be in, actually. And Jeff, how does it feel to know you're providing that for people like Teagan on the artistic journey?
Jeff Reed: Well, I'm sure Teagan knows this, but from time to time, I remind her about recent art history in pottery and ceramics over the last 50 years.
When I went to school out in Montana, I was able to work around a couple, I call them grand masters in ceramics, forerunners of modern ceramics. That rubbed off on me.
That's part of who I am and part of what I make, and I like to see Tegan understand a little bit of art history. She might be the youngest member, but she's the most capable member and our master technician. [Teagan chuckles]
Julia Meek: That's high praise, and deservedly. How old were you, by the way, when you knew pottery was the right way for you to go.
Jeff Reed: I think I was about Teagan's age, and I've done a variety of things through the years, but I've always come back to pottery and ceramics.
This is the fifth pottery shop that I've worked in, and we've got the best experience; with Teagan, we've got young who's gaining a lot of experience and a lot of technical skills that's rubbing off on me and some of my old ways.
Julia Meek: A great combination, actually, Teagan's nodding an affirmation right there. Now I'm going to ask each of you ceramicists, young and old, to describe each other's style and featured pieces that did get picked up for this show. And Teagan, I will start with you telling us about Jeff's.
Teagan Koble: Jeez, it's very, um, distinct. I don't want it to come off in a negative way, but it's like, I would say it's controlled chaos.
Julia Meek: He's over there nodding agreement. So, there's one good descriptive phrase. [Teagan chuckles]
Teagan Koble: It's so unique. And I feel like, especially when you're watching him work, he does it in such a calculated way where he really has a process laid out for how he does specific illustrations and designs, but he makes it look like it's so free and organic.
It's also very rustic, I would call it, yeah. And some of it's kind of satirical, I would say, especially the pieces that he has in the museum right now.
You can kind of take them as a comment on certain things in the world, or you can just take them as a cool piece of art.
Julia Meek: Okay, Jeff, your piece in this exhibit is called "Who's Extinct?", and it's a little mind play talking about what could happen, what will happen, what does happen. You have images of Buffalo and space shuttles mixing and combining. In your head, what do you call your style?
Jeff Reed: Well, I like to think my style is graphic, fun to look at. You look at it, and then you go back and look at a second time, and you see things you missed the first time.
On that particular piece, I've done a lot of drawings on the clay of space shuttles going all kinds of different directions, and buffaloes in various stampedes, going all different directions, all mixing together.
Julia Meek: [chuckles] Hence, the controlled chaos Teagan mentioned.
Jeff Reed: The controlled chaos. And you might look at that and wonder, who's extinct? Well, the buffaloes really aren't. They almost became extinct.
Space Shuttles actually became extinct. They were a very well-known and hyped mode of space travel back in the 80s and 90s, and now they are extinct, and they're hanging in the Smithsonian.
The buffaloes, although somewhat minimized, are still out there pounding the ground.
Julia Meek: [chuckles] So, your sense of humor, your artcentricity and your questions about our own world and environment all rolled into one in your art, it sounds like.
Jeff Reed: I like to think that's true, yeah. When people look at it, it's not just a round piece of pottery.
It's got a lot of things going on. It's very graphic. It's almost like a screenshot or a picture off a television, and I think that kind of sums it up.
Julia Meek: Very nicely. So, now, what words you're going to use to describe Teagan's style, as well as her pieces in this show in Elkhart?
Jeff Reed: Teagan has a background. She's worked in a bakery. She's done some very beautiful cake decoration, and she has been able to sort of transpose that onto pottery.
So, they're thrown items that are highly decorated, reminiscent of something that might be a very, very fancy pastry, covered jars with lids that come off.
They're very elegant. They're very soft looking, but yet a little whimsical, because she'll stick a little piece of fruit on the top of each one. Brightly colored.
It's a beautiful combination of pastry skills, ceramic skills, highly tuned and very well executed.
Julia Meek: And Teagan we get the pastry connection and applaud you for it. What made you think to translate that into ceramics and add that whimsy?
Teagan Koble: Well, I kind of thought of it when I was still working at the bakery, because there's this idea that potters are either piece potters or process potters, or at least from what I've seen online.
And I'd like to think that I'm process potter, so I was like, I really like decorating a cake. I really like throwing and making pottery, so I'll just combine the two.
And so, a lot of it is just that I like to do it. I like how it looks, and I thought it really reflected what I wanted my pottery to feel like.
Julia Meek: So now on to that show. It's the 47th Annual Elkhart Juried Regional Exhibition. It is held at the Midwest Museum of American Art; now that building is the cornerstone of elkhart's art and entertainment district.
It's a beautiful building. A two-month showing there is quite a coup, and congratulations for that. What does that add to your personal artist's cred, would you think, as well as your own growth as artists?
Jeff Reed: Well, I'm glad you asked me that, because my work at the CLC, the pottery in Kendallville, I do throw and I make some traditional wheel thrown items, but I do sculptural items, as we've talked about, and this gives me a little bit of validation as to what I do.
I think some people may walk by what I'm doing and scratch their head and kind of wonder exactly what that's all about.
When you are fortunate enough to get a piece or two in a show like that, at least it gives you that nice, warm art feeling.
Teagan Koble: Oh, Yeah, same here. I mean, this was my first exhibition ever, so I was like, Oh my gosh. People look at it and they think it's something worthy to go in a museum next to all that amazing art.
Jeff can say that too, there was really good art in there, so it kind of affirms what you're doing. And it's like, okay, this resonates with other people.
Julia Meek: You deserve it. And yes, again, congratulations. Now, by all reports, the global ceramics market is experiencing a remarkable and permanent, they say, upswing.
How is this reflected at The Pottery? If pottery is a big thing, is it visibly, noticeably getting bigger, better and more out there as an art form and as a popular choice of people wanting to make it as well as enjoy it?
Jeff Reed: I think so. As I said, I've seen it develop over the last 50 years, the Pottery scene in general, and it's flourished. People are making more sculptural work, bright work, exciting work.
And throwing? That's gotten to be such a higher quality than ever. But yes, I think it's been a game changer the last number of years, where we are in the pottery world.
It's great that people can see what's going on and be part of it.
Julia Meek: Do you see an increase in buying, appreciating, learning and doing the craft?
Teagan Koble: I would say so lots of people my age, I've noticed picking up pottery.
Some people will look at me and go, you do pottery? You're so young. And I'm like, yeah, a lot of people my age are doing it now, and especially social media, I think, has helped with it.
Julia Meek: So, in your case, in Kendallville and the Community Learning Center, it's like, build the pottery and they will come?
Teagan Koble: Yeah.
Julia Meek: And on the suggestion of it being a therapeutic pursuit in itself, as well as artistic, can you vouch for that?
Jeff Reed: I can vouch for that. [chuckles] It's not only my third place, it's my fourth, fifth and sixth place, because when you go there, you can do the work in a great environment.
People come in and work; almost every day it's a different combination of people and ideas, people doing different things.
And the beautiful part about that is, when you're in a studio that's open and a lot of people are working, you have a lot of different members.
Everybody's always stealing little, teeny ideas from each other and turning it into their own, which makes everything all the better. [all chuckle]
Julia Meek: And now, okay, going forward, how do the two of you intend to run with your own passions for the art form long and short term?
Teagan Koble: Well, I plan to stay at The Pottery as long as I'm here. So long-term plans, I'd like to go to grad school, which would entail me moving away.
But I'd like to stay here for as long as possible, meet as many people as possible, learn as many things and expand my work as far as I can.
Julia Meek: And what about you, Jeff? New techniques, new style, what would be next for you to explore, to keep it fresh and keep it interesting and the chaos controlled?
Jeff Reed: In part of my earlier ceramics career, firing things at very high temperatures, things would come out in different shades of brown and gray and rather muted colors.
Since I've been working at the CLC, I've been exposed to a lot of people that are doing lower fire techniques that give you brighter colors, very exciting things happen.
And when you combine the plasticity of clay, forming interesting shapes and sculptural forms with bright colors, exciting things happen.
Once again, we have such an interesting combination of people, we can all feed off each other, give each other ideas.
And that's one of the exciting things about the CLC in Kendallville, is the variety of people, ideas and backgrounds that have all come together.
Julia Meek: It really sounds like the possibilities are, if not endless than crazy, crazy, crazy exciting, and in the shorter term of everything what's coming up there at the CLC that folks might be able to come and see what all we have been talking about.
Teagan Koble: On December 6, it's a Saturday, we're going to be having an all-day Open Studio where you guys can come in, you can buy works from nearly all of our members, including Jeff and myself.
And you can also check out our facilities, what's available there. It'll be a great day, and we'll have free food too.
Julia Meek: And in December, you put that all together, that's quite a seasonal treat. Thank you for all of that.
And last question, as Kendallville continues to emerge as a shining gem of an arts hub right here in our northerly environs, along with Auburn and Angola, we've got a lot of stuff going on above us here.
What's the one thing everyone should know about the artcentricity your Community Learning Center and The Pottery provides to the Midwest art scene that we are talking about?
Jeff Reed: Well, The Pottery is fortunate to be part of the CLC, because it's an environment where musical events happen, plays, lectures, and we are all connected in the same building complex.
So, when you can bring all the different arts together and people seeing each other and talking to each other, that is such a huge advantage having, in Kendallville, a spot where people can come from cooking classes to painting classes to pottery classes, you name it, we are able to experience just about all of it.
Julia Meek: Artcentricity rules.
Jeff Reed: Yes.
Teagan Koble: [chuckles] Yeah, same as Jeff. You should know how accessible it is, especially at some place like the CLC, nothing is too far out of your reach, especially pottery, it seems like such a complicated thing.
You need all sorts of equipment, but you go somewhere like our studio, and it's all very accessible, you know, to dip your toe in and try new things out.
Julia Meek: Teagan Koble and Jeff Reed are members of The Pottery in Kendallville, where Teagan is also studio technician. Congratulations on your recent designations and continued artcentricity your way.
Teagan Koble: Bye.
Jeff Reed: Thank you very much.
