The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: Variety

Media Credit: Courtesy Tim Flinn Tim Flinn and Bobbi Jo Imbrogno, owners of Flinn Family Pottery, will present this untitled "face piece" at the 2008 Perspectives Invitational. [Click to enlarge]

Athens is well-known for its art scene, but those seeking something even more unique should take a sideways step both in medium and in location to the Sixth Annual Perspectives Pottery Invitational in Watkinsville.

Perspectives, hosted by the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, begins today with an opening gala and preview sale. The other events commence Saturday and continue through September 17. Perspectives will feature thousands of pieces from 50 Georgia potters.

Events include tours of studios in the Athens area, a pottery workshop, and the Perspectives pottery sale - the largest selection of Georgia pottery in the state.

From highly detailed pieces by artist Stacey Stanhope, to traditional Southern pieces from Shelby West of Shelby West Pottery in Adairsville, the invitational aims to offer a wide-variety of pottery styles and functions.

One of the featured exhibits is entitled "Another View: Pots and Sculpture," which showcases the use of functional pottery in sculpture-art.

Tim Flinn and Bobbi Jo Imbrogno, former owners of Flat Penny Folk Art Gallery, will host one of the five studio tours in their studio in Danielsville.

In addition to the Flinn Family Pottery Studio, other tours will take place in Watkinsville and here in Athens. Good Dirt studio, located on Thomas Street is one of the featured spaces. Artist Shelia Bradley, who creates and teaches out of Good Dirt, prefers to make practical pottery as opposed to just ornamentation.

"I do mugs and bowls of all sizes, and I do a lot of surface decoration. My pieces are usually decorated, but it's all functional pottery," she said. "But lately I've just been busy making stuff for Perspectives."

Bradley built the foundation for her lifelong love of art by playing outdoors as a child.

"I've been an artist all my life. I've always liked art, and I've always painted. I've always been doing something. And when I found clay in 2005, I went to Good Dirt and never left. That's where

I really figured out that I wanted to be a serious potter."

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