October 2007

Joy Anderson
Ink - Gauche - Mixed Media

Joanne Frazier
Fiber - Mixed Media

Lyn Nachbar
Majolica Earthenware-Wood/Gas Fired Stoneware

Joy Anderson

Joann Frazier

 Joann Frazier's main creative medium has been clay but through exploration and experimentation she has broadened her media field. Many organic fibers , textiles, and found objects have responded to her manipulation and have become the main ingredient of her pieces. As with clay, hands on and into the medium are first and foremost as she puts texture and color into her art.


Many of Joann's current works are made from wool roving using one of two methods or a combination of both. The dry method is a process of punching a barbed needle through the wool roving. The fibers of the wool catch on each other, interlock, and gradually form a fabric commonly known as felt. The wet method produces its felt as soapy water is added to the roving and then agitated by rolling in a mat, dropping , or squeezing.

While some of her works are two dimensional and painterly, others take on a 3 dimensional form and are inspired by her earlier clay works. She works from realistic to abstract, can resonate feelings of whimsy to sacredness, drawing you into her world.

Joann's work has been mainly exhibited in Minnesota and is included in both private and corporate collections.

She resides and works out of her studio in South Saint Paul.

Lynn Nachbar


I have been making pots since 1960 and became a production potter and teacher after earning my MFA from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1977. Over the years I have worked in raku, pit-fired ware, earthenware, and stoneware fired in electric, gas and wood burning kilns.

In this exhibit there are pieces made from stoneware and fired in either gas or wood fired kilns. Flames licking around the sides and ash settling on the shoulders to form a glaze create the brown and gold colors of the wood fired pieces. The more colorful pieces of pottery are made from earthenware clay and decorated with majolica techniques. That means the pots are glazed with opaque white glaze over red earthenware clay and colored stains are applied on top of the glaze and fired together.

Much of what I make is designed to be in everyday use, but occasionally, as in most of the pieces in this show, I make ceramic sculpture. In both the sculpture and the brushed decoration on my pots, I start with natural objects and simplify, abstract and manipulate the forms. Some of these sculptures explore transitory aspects of nature caught in permanent, fired clay. Examples of this are the ones based on lady slippers and others that explore water images.

I have often used lady slippers and moccasin flowers as the subject matter for decorating my pots. In two pieces in this show, the flower forms have become the pots. Because lady-slippers are vessel-like, enlarging the blossoms creates a vase shape while exploring the intricacies of the flower in close-up.

Because I love to canoe, for several years I have been working on pots that share the general theme of water and waves. Rapids inspire the lids for the set of River Boxes and A Glimpse of Rapids shows images of rocks and currents. Troubled Waters and Laughing Waters are part of a series of sculptural pots that emphasize the space below the main body of the pot. In these pots, a pedestal elevates the body, allowing the splashing water to go down as well as up. On the long rectangular pot, Supported by the Waves, the bottom of the pot becomes the waves.

Other pieces in this exhibit are more formal in style. These sculptures and teapots explore the way that equal ovals can create a vessel, and how balanced and unbalanced additions can be used to complete the composition.

In 1998, my husband, Jack, and I moved to the Bigfork area from Ohio. I became a member of the board of directors of the Edge Center for the Arts in 2002 and am active in helping to run the Edge Center Gallery in Bigfork.