Artisan Alliance adapting, growing

Lynn Atkins/The Weekly Vista Volunteer Cindy Torek works on her own hand-built project while she keeps the Potting Studio at Wishing Spring open.
Lynn Atkins/The Weekly Vista Volunteer Cindy Torek works on her own hand-built project while she keeps the Potting Studio at Wishing Spring open.

If you sign up for a class in the studio behind Wishing Spring Gallery, be prepared to get dirty. The studio has long been the site of art classes but, in recent months, it's become more specialized. Now, the small one-story building is known as The Clay Studio At Wishing Spring.

Inside, there are eight potter's wheels, kilns, racks, extruders and clay -- lots of clay. During the hours that the main gallery is open, the studio is open too, sometimes manned by volunteers who are working on their own pottery.

There are also classes that usually meet for about three hours, one day a week, organizer Dave Johnson said. Classes cater to both "wheel throwers" and hand builders as well as to all levels of expertise. Classes are always small, so teachers can work with students individually if necessary.

Students enrolled in a class are welcome to come into the studio when class is not in session and work on their own.

Cindy Torek volunteers as a studio monitor about four hours at a time.

"It's like therapy for me," she said as she trimmed some excess clay from the neck of a duck she was sculpting. "There's no limit to what you can do. You can create whatever you want," she said.

As a monitor, she keeps the studio open and she'll answer what questions she can, but she's not an instructor and doesn't always know the answer. Torek was working on a hand-built project. She loves the pottery wheel, but the necessary posture to throw a pot is too hard on her back.

The pottery classes are just one of the changes at Wishing Spring, board member Jan Horan said. The gallery -- located in a former dairy barn on McNelly Road -- has been open for 35 years and is probably the oldest gallery in the region. But the group that runs it has changed its name and is now Artisan Alliance.

Before the Clay Studio opened, the classes offered by Artisan Alliance were struggling. People, including the group's members, don't have as much time for classes in recent years. Now they don't have the space either. Some of the artists are planning workshops, but they're not always successful, she said.

"We need more space," she said.

The Wishing Spring Art Gallery is operated by the Artisan Alliance. Original artwork is for sale over three floors and the artists take turns working at the front desk.

"The problem with the barn is -- it's a barn," Horan said. It was renovated by the artists. There's no way to add an elevator, so some customers can't get up to the second and third floors.

The group owns the barn, the studio and another few acres behind the studio, but it's all in the floodplain so building will be tricky and expensive.

"We're struggling to step up," she said.

Meanwhile, Artisan Alliance has another big project coming up. The group puts on the annual Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Fair -- the only juried Arts and Craft fair left in the region. They do it with the help of many volunteers.

Assistant director Elaine Reinke said everything is on track for the October show. There will be about 300 booths with about 220 exhibitors. Many exhibitors have been coming to the Bella Vista show for years, she said. There will be one tent for Wishing Spring artists and a good variety of food available from food trucks and tents.

The craft fair will be October 17 through 19 on land located on Forest Hill Blvd., south of Highlands Crossing.

For more information about the Artisan Alliance or any of their projects, go to www.artisanalliance.net.

General News on 08/14/2019