Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Alice Lloyd College Professor Carves Wheel Thrown Pottery at Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea

On Saturday, Nov.12, Alice Lloyd College Professor Mike Ware will be throwing pottery on the wheel and carving the clay surface with intricate patterns from 10:30 am -3:30 pm at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

Michael Ware was born and raised in Sunbury, Pa. and attended school in nearby Lancaster. He received his BS in Art Education from Millersville State University. Ware came to Kentucky to attend Morehead State University where he received a Masters in Studio Arts in 1974. Upon graduating, he accepted a teaching opportunity at the Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky, where he oversaw the operation of the clay studio at the school.

In addition, Ware taught art to levels K-12 in both Knott and Letcher counties from 1975-1991. After a year off from teaching public school, he joined the faculty at nearby Alice Lloyd College in 1992, where he now teaches art for the school’s education majors as well as classes in the humanities.

Ware creates his pottery on a potter’s wheel from stoneware clays. He often decorates his forms with images such as dogwood flowers, influenced by the woods near his home. He decorates his pottery using an incising tool that cuts away clay and leaves intricate texture and openings in the form. He decorates his pottery when the surface of the wheel thrown clay is partially dried at a stage called ‘leather hard.” Color is added using mineral oxides mixed with clay and brushed onto the clay before glazing and firing.

Pottery Works by Mike Ware is are regularly found at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, located at 200 Artisan Way, just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The center’s exhibits, shopping and travel information areas are open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from 100 counties across the Commonwealth and a special exhibition titled, An Artful Array: Bowls by Kentucky Artisans through Feb 25, 2012.  Featured in the Center’s lobby is a Kentucky Historical Society exhibition titled The Clays of Kentucky through Nov 13. 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 Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.