Art and farming go hand in hand for artist
Sunday, November 04, 2007
By Gail Philbin
Reprinted from The Grand Rapids Press
FENNVILLE -- What's the difference between pottery and poultry? Not a whole lot, if you ask Dawn Soltysiak, a Fennville artist who lives and works surrounded by free-range chickens and other barnyard birds on a 116-year-old farmstead.
Soltysiak runs her Khnemu Studio out of a historic barn on the 34 acres she and her husband purchased seven years ago. She sees farming and art as kindred endeavors.
"Both are creating something beautiful from basically nothing. And they both take a lot of hard work, personal drive and commitment," said Soltysiak, who is enjoying her first Grand Rapids solo show of her nature-inspired pottery this month at Forest Hills Fine Arts Center.
She adds, "Neither is lucrative until after you are dead -- when the farmland gets sold off for development or the art becomes exclusive because no more will be made."
MORE CONNECTIONS
The parallels don't end there for this Belmont native who grew up helping out on her grandparents' vegetable farm. The food we eat -- which once came from small-scale farms where animals spent their lives outdoors -- and the items in our cupboards, once handmade by artists, are now mass-produced, Soltysiak said. She believes we've lost something in the drive to make things as cheap as possible.
"People are so removed from the farm, they don't know where their food comes from," Soltysiak said.
Many of the people who visit Soltysiak's studio have "never felt an egg that just came out of a chicken and is still warm" and "they don't realize corn comes on a cob, not from a root in the ground," the artist said. "People under 25 don't realize that popcorn can be cooked on the stove." 
By the same token, Soltysiak's visitors see, often for the first-time, the labor-intensive process behind the earthy, smoke- and pit-fired pieces she makes. She is displaying about 40-50 of these works as well as some functional, glazed ceramics in the arts center show.
"They learn that there's something more to handmade things. They see that an artist makes these things," said Soltysiak, who raises peacocks on her farm because their beautiful coloring reminds her of raku pottery.
"You may have a cupboard full of commercially made mugs, but what do you go for when you have that cup of coffee?" she asks. "The handmade one that feels good in your hand."
SOME BACKGROUND
Soltysiak, a largely self-taught potter, lived in Grand Rapids and worked in real estate before moving to her Fennville farm. The change in environment has impacted her work, she said.
"It's more organic now, because I'm in touch with nature like I was when I was a kid," said Soltysiak, whose vases often sport vine-like handles that curl around the vessels. "And I can do more pit firing and smoke firing. I use more primitive techniques."
The move to the country also has impacted her customers, who come to see her art but get a subtle education in what's wrong with modern large-scale farms, where a chicken "never sees natural daylight in its life ... housed with hundreds of thousands of chickens and crammed into small cages," she said.
By contrast, Soltysiak's animals rule the roost at Khnemu Studio, interacting with and entertaining customers. Many people return to visit them and buy eggs, which, unlike those from conventionally raised poultry, have deep orange yolks, she said
"Farming and art are so similar," said Soltysiak, who aims to give her customers "an appreciation for the homemade and having a connection to the land and the artist."