A

I GOING PLACES I

t the end of a very suc-
cessful summer, potter
Audrey Shapiro is en-
joying the mixed bless-
ing of being "all sold

out?'
Shapiro says her wares appeal to
a particular group of people who like
pastels and delicate touches. She is
also a producer of "country," items,
which she sells on consignment
through Country Coterie in Traverse
City. Her more modern, free-form
pieces she sends to the Kousky
Gallery in Charlevoix.
Her pottery creations are popular
at the Sholem Aleichem, Temple
Israel, and Ann Arbor art fairs. But,
mostly, she sells directly out of her
home and studio in Farmington Hills,
and "right now I'm always working.
I'm forever trying to catch up. I never
have enough to sell?'
Shapiro attributes the public's
current passion for pottery to a desire
to capture something personal and
handmade in an automated world.
"As long as I continue to produce
functional items, I believe there will
always be a place for my pieces!"
Mugs, small vases, soap dishes
and pencil holders in soft whites with
floral designs line the shelves of her
lower level workshop. A few bowls ap-
proaching the leather hard, "green-
ware" stage are waiting to be fired
and glazed.
When Shapiro talks pottery, she
not only knows her art, but she
understands the science that accom-
panies it. She speaks with authority
about the components of porcelain
and stoneware clays. She has a par-
ticular feel for various glazes, which
she mixes in large tubs in a former
Audrey Shapiro fashions a piece of pottery in her home studio.
laundry room.
The young artist and her hus-
band, Doug Wilkin, built her kiln —
a special oven — which they housed
in a special a shed behind their Far-
mington Hills home.
It is Shapiro's second kiln, she ex-
plains, larger and more functional
than one she had previously. Natural
air flow, with two burners on each
side of the 36 cubic foot "oven;' per-
mit a mixing of the gas and the air.
The flames shoot up the sides of the
kiln. Then the potter slowly opens a
flue on the bottom, which forces the
gas down and in between the baking
pottery, out the flue, and up the
JUDY MARX
chimney.
Special Tb The Jewish News
Shapiro attributes her physics
and chemistry expertise to her
curiosity. At Michigan State Univer-
sity, where she was graduated with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a
concentration in both ceramics and
art education, the fledgling potter
observed that instructors usually fire
the students' wares. But Shapiro
wanted to learn everything about her
craft, and she would go in after class
and watch.
"When I built my first kiln, I

Pot O'Gold

Audrey Shapiro has turned her talent
into a profitable venture

WEEK OF SEPT. 16-22

SPECIAL EVENTS

RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL
Hollygrove, Holly, 10 a.m. to 7
p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and
Labor Day through Sept. 25, 150
entertainers on four stages,
admission.
COMMUNITY HOUSE
380 S. Bates St., Birmingham,
trip to Stratford Festival
Theater, Ontario, for My Fair
Lady, leaving from Community
House on Sunday, admission.
644-5832.

COMEDY

BERKLEY COMEDY CASTLE
2593 Woodward, Berkley, Kip
Adotta, today and Saturday;
Soupy Sales, Tuesday through
Sept. 25, admission. 542-9900.

THEATER

SHAW FESTIVAL

Niagara= - on - the - Lake, Ontario,
You Never Can Tell and
Dangerous Corner, through Oct.
15, Hit the Deck, Peter Pan and
Once in a Lifetime, through Oct.
16; Geneva, through Sept. 24;
The Voysey Inheritance, through
Sept. 25; The Stan Kenton
Reunion, Monday, admission.
.416-468-2172.

RUSSIAN-AMERICAN
STUDIO THEATER
Groves High School Little
Theater, 13 Mile and Evergreen,
Birmingham, A Illok Engraving,
FridaW,through Sunday,
achnissiOn. 354-4717.
BIRMINGHAM THEATER
211 S. Woodward, Birmingham,
Sweet Charity now through Oct.
16, admission. 644-3533.
MUSIC HALL CENTER
350 . Madison
Ave., Detroit,
.
Driv ing Miss Daisy, now through
Sunday, admission. 963 - 7623.
ATTIC THEATER
7339 Third Ave., Detroit, Woody
Guthrie's American Song, now
through Oct. 9 with previews
Wednesday and Thursday,
admission. 875-8284.
COMMUNITY HOUSE
380 S. Bates, Birmingham,
registration for "The Popcorn
Players," theater school for ages
9-13, is open. School begins
Saturday. 644-5832.
READERS THEATER
Jewish COmmunity Center, 6600
W. Maple, West Bloomfield,
Sundays through Oct. 16.

967-4030.

Continued on Page 70

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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