Kerry Wilson teaches Girl Scouts as she paints at Beck's Lutheran Church recently. The scouts made pottery gifts for their families for Christmas, with assistance from Wilson. The scouts will also earn 'Try-It' badges for their efforts.
Bobbie Jamison/The Dispatch
Want to know more?Kerry Wilson teaches pottery at the Robbins Recreation Center from 6-7:30 p.m. every Thursday. Classes are $90 for eight weeks and includes all supplies. For more information on Wilson's pottery go to www.blindpotter.net or call 240-1810.
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As a way to relieve stress with her disorder she began learning how to make pottery.
"I beat up the clay," she said. "It was relaxing."
Wilson, 47, was born in California. After being raised in Texas, she moved to the Carolinas for her children to have a safer environment to grow up in 1988.
While in the Carolinas, she worked in retail and furniture. That all changed in June 1997, when she lost her eyesight. Wilson has peripheral vision, meaning she can see shadows and movement.
After someone suggested Wilson learn pottery to relieve stress, she had to find a person to teach her the basics from scratch.
"I didn't even know what pottery was," Wilson said. "It was all new to me. I liked playing in the mud. It became very relaxing."
She said making pottery was helpful because after she lost her vision she became depressed and did not want to get out of bed. Wilson said creating pottery gave her a reason to get up in the morning.
"I couldn't wait to see what I could create for the day," she said. "I love it."
In a short matter of time, Wilson learned the key to pottery was the feeling.
"It came real easy," she said. "It's all in the way you feel."
In due time, Wilson was sculpturing angels, mermaids, birdhouses, bowls and plates. The bowls and plates ranged from holiday themes and pictures of flowers, turtles, frogs or anything you can imagine, which are hand-painted by Wilson.
She said every piece is made different or with a flaw.
"They're not all perfect, like we are," Wilson said. "They're all unique and one of a kind."
Wilson learned to paint scenery and animals from an artist who taught her how to stroke the curve of the items. She used big barrels to practice on and then learned how to minimize the artwork on pottery pieces.
"They're not all perfect, like we are," Wilson said. "They're all unique and one of a kind."
Wilson learned to paint scenery and animals from an artist who taught her how to stroke the curve of the items. She used big barrels to practice on and then learned how to minimize the artwork on pottery pieces.
Wilson does most of her creations in a room in the back of the house beside her kitchen, which she refers to as the "mud room." The room has more than 3,000 cookie cutters, decorative pieces and stained-glass window pieces of different shapes to help her.
She has numbers on paint bottles to guide her when choosing colors.
All of her art utensils are from houseware items such as a cheese cutter, garlic press, rolling pin and toothbrushes.
She can create up to 20 plates or half a dozen figurines a day depending on if she's preparing for a show or just creating ideas in her head. It's not hard for her to create the pieces of artwork, but it takes time to hand-paint them.
When Wilson is not in her mud room she can be found all over Davidson County teaching classes and doing shows, especially with Arts United for Davidson County. She never imagined after learning to make pottery she would also teach it.
"I enjoy showing people how to do it," she said. "I love working with kids because they have such a wonderful imagination. They're fabulous."
For the past seven years, she has been the artist for the annual chili cookoff trophy toppers sponsored by March of Dimes and 104.1 WTQR and held at Tanglewood Park in Forsyth County.
Last year she spent 14 weeks at Disney World doing shows and teaching. She has also had some artwork displayed at Six Flags Over Texas.
She has artwork on display at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities in Nashville, Tenn.
An ultimate goal for her is to have her work shown at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
What started as a stress reliever led to a passion Wilson never knew she had.
She said none of it would have been possible without the help and support of her husband of nine years, Mark. She said he takes care of all the business for her while she's the artist.
Besides her husband pottery is one is the best things that has happened to Wilson.
"It's definitely a gift," she said. "I enjoy it. I'm always looking for new things to create."
Deneesha Edwards can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 213, or at deneesha.edwards@the-dispatch.com.
Published: Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 8:52 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 9:40 a.m.
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