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The Clay Art Guild of the Hamptons’ annual Back Roads Clay Studio Tour will return this summer for the fourth edition of the weekend-long tour of guild members’ studios and work.
Jesus Antoshka, a featured artist and member of the guild, commutes to the Water Mill studio of the guild from his home in Brooklyn once a week. The studio is cozy, filled with colorful pottery and artists at work, all warmed by the huge glass kiln just out back and overlooking Mill Pond.
The studio tour will showcase 10 guild members’ work throughout six studios in Water Mill, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, and Amagansett, including that of Mr. Antoshka. “Since our last event that we had in December, we’ve just been hoarding all this work. We have it all in the studios and we’re excited to show it off,” he said.
Mr. Antoshka has been throwing on the potter’s wheel for about eight years—five more seriously. His works are all functional, ready for the dinner table, and he prefers a more natural look. “The way I decorate is more just letting the glaze do the job. It’s not so much decoration or hand-painted, it’s just glazing it and whatever comes out of the kiln is what it is,” he said. “It’s more special that way.”
He described the glazing process as a world apart from the act of throwing the clay. He said that after the throwing, the clay gets bisque fired, which means that the clay is dried out so it has no chemically bonded water left in it, and then dipped into the glaze color of choice, now dry enough to absorb the glaze. “Once you dip into the glaze, it goes into the [glass kiln] and gets fired to 2,300 degrees, then the glaze and clay kind of meld together,” Mr. Antoshka said.
When he joined the guild five years ago, he said he was excited about the communal feeling and the availability of the glass kiln to those who wish to use it, member or not. For his own duties as a member, he manages the studio and fires the kiln.
Mr. Antoshka said the biggest function of the guild currently is the classes taught at the studio by members. The classes feature both hand-building and wheel-throwing, and he said they have outgrown the space already due to popularity of the classes.
While the studio used to have a gallery attached called Celadon, named for a jade-colored pottery glaze, to sell the guild members’ work, they are currently working on putting their business completely online.
He said this tour is unique because it involves the whole community of clay artists all over the East End, and it allows the artists to show what they’ve worked so hard to create. “Any customers or friends we have get to see where we’re at, and [our work] is available to them if they want to buy it. People get to see how we work and spend our lives, it’s what we love to do.”
The tour is the only one of its kind on the East End. Mr. Antoshka said people come from all over and that each year it grows. It is not strictly scheduled, so those attending are allowed to choose which studios they wish to visit in the order they wish to visit them.
Mr. Antoshka said he encourages everybody to come on the tour and see for themselves the true beauty of clay art. “It’s art that you can touch and hold and put to your lips. … It’s really important to support local artists, and this is a great place to come and do that.”
Back Roads Clay Studio Tour takes place on Saturday, July 21, and Sunday, July 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Visit backroadsclaystudiotour.com for the map of the studios and additional information.
on Jul 17, 2018