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Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Wyman Rice to Create Hand – Built Pottery at Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
On Saturday, Jan. 22, Wyman Rice of Lexington will create hand-built pottery from both slabs and coils of clay from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.
Wyman Rice grew up on a farm in Adair County near Columbia. Always interested in art, he began to draw at a very early age. Art instruction was not offered in Rice’s elementary or high school – so he taught himself until he was able to take art courses in college. He attended the University of Louisville and then the University of Kentucky, where his interest in ceramics was fueled by seeing sculptural contemporary clay work. After two years of studio work in clay at University of Kentucky Rice began his 25-year clay career.
Rice produces work without a potter’s wheel, constructed or hand-built one at a time using slabs or coils of clay. The clay is rolled out into sheets, allowed to stiffen and then joined to create unique and organic forms. Rice also creates his vessels from coils of clay, wound around and joined. Looking to nature and the human figure for inspiration, Wyman fires all of his work using the Raku firing process. Raku is when a pot is glazed and fired very quickly and then removed quickly from the kiln while red hot and either plunged into water or placed into combustible materials to cool rapidly. This Raku firing process creates finished surfaces that can be red, green or gold and the clay itself becomes charcoal grey or black. A white crackle glaze is also used extensively by Rice.
Hand-built pottery by Wyman Rice can regularly be found at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, located at 975 Walnut Meadow Road, just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The center’s exhibits, shopping and travel information areas are open daily. Winter Hours in effect from Jan. 4 - March 10, will be 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and the café will be open 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Admission is free. The center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from 100 counties across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the center’s website at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov
The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet.
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