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BRANDY STARKTotems spring up in sunny gardens, each symbolizing its artist's individuality.
Students taking a clay art class at the Arts Center in St. Petersburg wanted to make "yart," claymaker slang for yard art designed for garden use.
Teacher Valerie Scott Knaust also wanted an assignment that would allow students to work together. Yet, she didn't want the work to be too time-consuming.
The result was totem poles.
"I thought it was a great idea," said Knaust, who had six to 12 students in her weekly Inspiration Interpretation class. "It's perfect for the Florida environment. It doesn't mold. Like tile, it can be sprayed off and cleaned."
The project required each person to create an image that would be stacked with others and held in place by a pole. Students used several kinds of clay to create a multicolored totem with abstract lines and geometric facial features. The 5-foot-tall piece, called "Inspiration Interpretation," now guards the entrance to the St. Petersburg Clay Company, inside the renovated Seaboard Railroad Building on 22nd Street S.
The success of the first project led to a second series of totems that reflected periods and places in the artists' lives.
The results revealed variations as unique as the creators; they included images of earth, wind, water and fire, words of wisdom and metaphors for divinity.
Some pieces were glazed by the artists; others relied on firing. Using wood-, soda- or salt-fired kilns alters the clay texture, influencing colors and surface forms.
"Decorating the garden is like decorating your house," Knaust said. "You choose a focal point for people to look. In gardens, the totems would be used to guide the eye toward the best part of the garden. So, the plants placed around them would be particularly important."
Beth Morean Manning's work, "Gifts from the Sea - A Personal Totem," resulted from various firing techniques and glazes that created a totem with an ocean theme. It was designed to complement her yard, which is filled with sea oats and dune daisies. A stylized seashell reflects the collection of shells scattered across her lawn.
"That's who I am, a water baby, a dolphin mama," she said. "I live on the beach."
Jo Ann Cheek's totem features words and phrases. A cleverly sculpted face gives the totem its title, "Gossip." With closed eyes and protruding lips, the image reflects the words carved upon it: "I never repeat gossip, so listen carefully."
In matching her interest with the outdoors, Cheek elongated the nose to create a bird perch. To further encourage her avian friends, the long eyelashes have clay grooves carved into them, designed to hold sunflower seeds.
Many of the artists say that they will take commissions to create totems for others.
"This really forced me to stretch my engineering skills, as each piece had to be carefully planned to fit on the pole and with each other," Manning said.
"I am absolutely thrilled with the totems," Knaust said. "I think they will live for years in people's gardens, and they will learn to love them even more."
- Brandy Stark is a artist and freelance writer in St. Petersburg.
IF YOU GO
The Inspiration Interpretation class totem is on display from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the St. Petersburg Clay Company, 420 22nd St. S, St. Petersburg.
Totems have tribal roots
Totem poles originated with indigenous tribes in Alaska and Washington, as well as in tribes in coastal British Columbia. The intricately carved images designate accomplishments, contact with the divine, and the rights and relations of the families that created them.
Anthropologists find totems in many cultures. Totems can be found in hand-carved combs, cave art and masks.
Today, totem poles represent the images and ideas of their crafters.
- Brandy Stark