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September 12, 2009

Serious play in clay

Mother, daughter build their business

BY DENNIS BARTLOW

VEEDERSBURG, Ind. — Ingrid Craft and Rachel Schatko are more than just mother and daughter. They are business partners.

They formed Coal Creek Clay and make pottery that is well-known throughout the two-state area and beyond.

“I started in ceramics (several years ago) and took classes at the art museum (in Lafayette),” Craft said. “When they redid the d’Arlier (Cultural) Center, Judy Ohmut came up from Rockville to teach classes. I went back to it; I call it my therapy.”

Meanwhile, Rachel took several classes in ceramics at Purdue University where she graduated in 1995.

“Rachel and I started doing jewelry and decided to expand,” Craft said. Nestled in a corner of her home’s basement north of Veedersburg, the pair get together and work, often when Rachel’s two children are taking a nap.

“We want to make it fun,” Rachel said. “It is a fun time for Mom and I to be together.”

While the base of operation is in Craft’s home, Rachel does take some work with her to her home in Noblesville.

“Every six weeks she comes home, and we do some serious work,” Craft said.

“I like the feel of the clay,” she said. “It is not just a plain bowl. We like texture and different shapes.”

Rachel added: “Each piece is unique.”

One of their specialties is horsehair pottery, which the pair has become famous. It features horse hair and can only be used in pieces for display only, not for serving food.

“The horsehair has been a big draw,” Craft said. “People contact us about it.”

Bottles are vases are used for flowers and weeds.

“Some pieces take no long than others,” Rachel said. Likely you wil not find two pices a like.

And the time varies from the time the piece begins as clay being mold, the firing up of the kiln, the glazing and then finally the inventory and tagging it.

The pair go to about 14 shows each year. This year they have been as close as Arts in the Park and Danville and to shows in Waynetown and Crawfordville. They have gone as fair as Logansport and Indianapolis.

“We like the juried shows,” Craft said. At those shows they have to submit information about their craft and have to be accepted.

“We have a pretty good setup,” she said. “Everything is different.”



FAST FACTS

To contact Coal Creek Clay, call (765) 294-2756 or e-mail info@coalcreekclay.com. A Wed site http://www.coalcreekclay.com will be up and running later this month.



COMING UP

Coal Creek Clay will be featured at the fourth annual Art of the Wabash, a Local Artits’ Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 20 at Tapawingo Park in West Lafayette.

Artists from a 15-c ounty area will invited to apply for the fair. Coal Creek Clay will be featured for the third year.

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