The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Local News

Media Credit: Elise Cohen Customers peruse the low-priced pottery. [Click to enlarge]

"Hi, Walter, this is happenin'! Come on in. Did you bring your wallet? We're having a sale!" This was Kathy Clarke's jubilant greeting to Walter Salzman of Brandon, Vt. as he walked into the Frog Hollow Craft School's Seconds Sale on Saturday, Nov. 3. Clarke, the studio manager only half-jokingly referred to as the "studio goddess," spent the majority of the sale wrapping sold pottery in newspaper to ensure safe travel and doing chores around the ceramic studio. Yet, even so, she always made time to greet familiar faces at the community-oriented event.

The Seconds Sale, an annual tradition at the Craft School, is a sale of so-called seconds, or pieces of pottery deemed slightly imperfect by the artist. The spread this year included a wide variety of mugs, plates, cups, bowls and the odd sculpture, all under $30 with the majority costing less than $10. Standing out from the tables covered in glazed ceramics were selections of hats and scarves by local knitters and a collection of locally-made sterling silver jewelry that sat atop a stand next to the 'Dollar Store' table.

People filed in and out of the cozy and cluttered, yet well-organized, studio in shifts throughout the six-hour sale, all with positive reactions. The studio remained operational during the sale, and Elissa Denton '07 sat at the wheel most of the morning watching the shoppers.

"A lot of people are coming to do their Christmas shopping, and a lot of people have been impressed with a lot of the work and wanted to know more about the person or the art," Denton said. "Pretty much everyone coming in is having a great time. We've had kids come in that just want to watch people 'play in the mud,' too."

The sale was not just for the benefit of the customers, however. Barbara Nelson, the education director at the Craft School, cited the Seconds Sale as an important fundraiser.

"The Seconds Sale is to help pay for the education program here at Frog Hollow," Nelson said. "The tuition that we charge doesn't cover the costs. It covers some of the costs, it maybe covers the instructors, but it doesn't cover the cost of having this ceramic studio and it doesn't cover the heat and the electric and the property taxes and repairs - all those things. We're always struggling to raise money for the things we need."

Continued...

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