Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Sculptural Pottery Created by Melissa Flautt at Kentucky Artisan Center

On Saturday, July 8, studio potter Melissa Flautt of Louisville, will create and sculpt wheel thrown and hand built vessels from 10:30 – 3:30 at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

While Melissa Flautt has formal education in fine arts from Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University, her clay experience has been primarily self-taught. Having lived in the Midwest where rich soil and abundant plant life abound, Melissa has found that she is influenced by these earlier surroundings and uses clay to interpret nature.

Her work begins with wheel thrown forms made from smooth white stoneware. Melissa adds to these forms hand rolled and flattened clay coils at the rim. These coils are joined together and the entire shape is then altered by pushing, stretching and scraping the surface. The finished vessel makes indirect reference to the many plant and petal forms Melissa uses as inspiration. Glaze chemistry is an important component of Melissa’s work and many hours are spent testing and developing her own personal palate of fluid and colorful glazes.
 
Works by Melissa Flautt are regularly available at the Kentucky Artisan Center, located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov 

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.