Ceramics Art Space is Open for Makers, Visitors, and Shoppers

By P.A. Geddie

A ceramics art space in downtown Winnsboro is a hot spot for seasoned and amateur artists from all over Northeast Texas and beyond who like to play in the mud and other earthy elements. Ceramic arts there include clay pottery, mosaic glass, and stained glass.

The ceramics space is part of Winnsboro Center for the Arts (WCA), located in the WCA Learning Center at 212 Market Street in The Bowery Pedestrian Park. They provide a facility, equipment, and programs for artists of all levels to get creative. They have three pottery wheels, slab rollers, workspace, and two kilns with ongoing classes and workshops.

Many of the artists who frequent the facility have their creations on display and for sale in the gift shop at the front of the building. Other ceramic artists from around the region are represented in the gift shop as well and plans are in the works to add other three-dimensional arts including stone and metal sculpture. It’s a favorite place for shoppers as well as those who come in just to admire the work.

Overseeing the ceramics program is artist and facilitator Brenda Roberts who’s held volunteer and board member positions for WCA since 2010, including board president and exhibition curator. She set up the studio space and equipment, coordinated classes, and curated and set up the gift shop that opened in March 2023.

A ceramic artist and teacher since 2002, Roberts discovering her passion of working with clay was a major turning point in her own artistic journey.

“The tactile feeling of clay and making pottery is healing for both young and old,” she said. “Take elements from the Earth, add a little water, let dry, glaze with pretty colors, heat up to around 2,000 degrees in temperature – each step becomes a transition of raw material into a ceramic work of art.

“While working in clay we leave a part of ourselves in every piece. The feeling that our little clay pot will carry our essence and DNA far into the future gives us a sense of perpetual interconnectedness to our fellow human beings. All art — no matter what the medium is — has the ability to bring joy, peace, and purpose into the lives of those who both create and receive it.”

In addition to making and selling her own pottery, Roberts teaches children’s general art and clay classes, adult hand-building, and acrylic painting workshops at the art center.

A good list of other talented artists are featured in the gift shop and otherwise are engaged with the program.

Colette Bowling is longtime volunteer and supporter and is instrumental in helping the ceramics center develop and grow. Her art endeavors include creating works with mosaic glass, clay, mixed media, pastels, ink, watercolors, and painting.

While working in corporate America, Georgia Gibson rekindled a spark for creating art that started in a high school art class as she threw clay on a wheel. Now working in both fused glass and clay, she loves to explore both mediums and make objects people will use and that add pleasure to their surroundings. She currently teaches wheel throwing and pottery at the WCA Learning Center.

Melissa Brown creates a mosaic series called Kindred Spirits and Hallelujah Ladies that she started with her late mother. Quite popular with shoppers in the gift store, each of the figurines has a story of its own that celebrate life. Brown also creates stained glass and mosaic mobiles, figurines, windows, wind chimes, and pet portraits.

Potter John Hill’s work is primarily wood-fired functional pieces and tall sculptural forms. He was first introduced to ceramics while attending Texas A&M University-Commerce. He took five semesters with renowned potter Barbara Frey to learn the basics, and after years of fine tuning his methods, he found his unique style working by intuition. He currently teaches elementary art in Greenville, Texas.

Cindy Fuqua works out of her Wood County studio in Alba where she stays busy creating pottery with the help of a menagerie of four legged friends. Ranging from functional wheel-thrown stoneware to low-fired horsehair applied Raku pottery vases and bowls, Fuqua has a loyal clientele in East Texas. Her horsehair pottery is her most popular work and is created when actual horsehair is applied during the firing process. The horsehair creates a beautiful contrasting design as it is burned into the clay for a lovely decorative accent.

A Franklin County native for her entire life, Carmen Sparks’ love of stained glass started while in high school. Her grandfather started creating pieces in stained glass and became intrigued with the way the light shone through the beautiful colored glass. Later in life she inherited tools from another family member and jumped headfirst into the world of glass. She says she loves the mix of art and science that is required to cut and arrange glass pieces and the excitement of opening the kiln after 18 hours to see the beautiful art.

Gus Gustafson creates powerful, functional and unique works of art known as orgonite pyramids and skulls. Incorporating power-generating Arkansas quartz crystals, various metals, semi-precious stones, fossils and resin, each sculpture is truly one of a kind.

Linda Sciongay began sculpting more than 30 years ago studying under and alongside some highly accomplished sculptors and monument builders in the northeast part of the country before finding “home” in Pittsburg, Texas, seven years ago. She is frequently accepted into juried exhibitions and winning awards from all over the country. She is not only an accomplished sculptor, but also in (sculpture) mold making and casting and has experience in monument building. She loves to share her knowledge and encourage others in the classroom to explore the world of sculpture.

Les Mitchell got excited about pottery when he was 10 years old. His parents bought an old pottery shop in the Dallas area of Oak Cliff and the atmosphere and pottery process intrigued him. Mitchell continued his education in pottery at the arts magnet high school in Dallas and he hasn’t stopped since. He is best known for his Raku Flash Pottery, a style of firing characterized by rich, vibrant jewel tone glaze colors. The art of Raku is based on an old Japanese method dating back hundreds of years. He also makes stoneware cups and dinnerware, along with his signature.

Cindy Kent’s love of art started back in junior high and continued throughout high school and through collage, earning a bachelor’s degree in art education, with an emphasis on painting and drawing. In 1990, she began teaching at Mount Vernon High School. Now resigned, she teaches art privately and works full time in her studio creating work with terra-cotta and stoneware clay. Her background in painting and drawing is often incorporated onto the clay.

Sylvia Morse creates art in all mediums – painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, metal working/jewelry, and mixed media. Her latest jewelry creations use vintage silverware to make rings, necklaces, earrings, and other work. She teaches a variety of ceramics and sculpture workshops around East Texas.

A native Texan, John Simmons is a full time rancher in Hopkins County. He enjoys dabbling in clay and specializes in creating functional and often large-scale pieces on the pottery wheel. Much of his work reflects the rustic, earth tone colors and effects that one would find in ancient, primitive forms of clay ware. A student of local master potters Gary and Daphne Hatcher of Pine Mills Pottery, he has traveled the world exploring pottery, kiln building, and the history of the ceramic arts.

Classes and workshops take place at the center Monday through Saturday. The gift shop and entire facility is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday for visitors.

Call (903) 312-0686 or visit WinnsboroCenterForTheArts.com for reservations and more information on the current center and plans for expanded space in the near future.