Page 10-Wednesday, July 21, 1982-The Michigan Daily
HOME TURNS INTO 'COTTA GE INDUSTR Y'
Ceramist's craft is family affair

By JULIE HINDS
For local potter Callie Dean,.par-
ticipating in the city's art fair has tur-
ned into a family affair.
"My house is a factory, a cottage in-
dustry," said Dean, whose entire
family is put to work during the three to
four months leading up to her art fair
appearance. From kitchen to bedroom
to living room, every part of Dean's
house is utilized in her production
process.
DEAN, WHO has been in the art fair
for the past twelve years, makes
everything from ceramic jars, lamps,
and kitchen ware to batik wall hangings
and hand-painted shirts. The theme
that unifies her varied crafts-local
wildflowers-also is inspired by her
house, which is located in a rural area
outside the city.
"I selected this house because it had
a studio aboveground," she explained.
"Moving from the city to the country
changed my whole artistic style.
Everything I did got a lot lighter, freer.
And I was able to look out my window
and find wildflowers to paint."
Dean, a member of the University
Artist and Craftsmen's Guild, said she
has made a commitment to earning her
living in Ann Arbor and thus refuses to
travel the art fair circuit which runs
throughout the state. She does,
however, show her crafts each weekend
at the Farmers Market. Dean also
teaches art to children through city
programs.
"ANN ARBOR has always been a
wonderful place for a street artist,"
Dean said. "It's a discerning com-
munity, it's educated about art."
Dean estimates she makes at least
two-thirds of her yearly income from
her art fair appearance alone.
As an artist working on the street,
however, Dean said she has shied away
from the academic community in the
University's art school. "I'm a produc-

{

Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON
Local artist Callie Dean converts her home, including the laundry room pictured here, into a 'cottage industry' for
her art fair exhibit.

tion potter," she said. "I've com-
promised my art to find what sells.
Being a street artist I could live, rather
than waiting for a breakthrough in a
gallery.""
BEING OUT on the street has its
rewards for Dean, who said she enjoys
meeting customers after spending so
many hours in seclusion producing her
craft.
"A street artist gets to be not only an

artist, but a craftsperson and a
business person. You have to have a
personality and be extroverted," she
added.
Although her art is designed to be
marketable, Dean defends its artistic
merit. "I think it's artistic to make a
beautiful thing that someone will use
for years and years," said Dean, whose
prices range from $5 to $30.
THROUGH THE years, Dean has

noticed an amazing growth in the
commercial aspects of the art fair. "It
has gotten so big, some think too big,
that some people try to make a fast
buck. But those types don't stay around
too long," she said. "People are smart;
they're not going to buy junk."
What started out as a part-time hobby
turned into a full-time career for Dean.
See POTTER'S, Page 15

4

Local groups offer crowds ideas, not art, at fair

4

(Continued from Page 4)
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD).
"WE'RE TRYING to raise money by
asking for donations and selling bum-
per stickers, t-shirts, and buttons," said
group member Corkey Landes.
MADD also hopes its booth will help-
publicize the group's drive to establish
nationwide chapters, Landes added.
University organizations such as the
Public Interest Research Group in
Michigan (PIRGIM) and the School of
Natural Resources Students will also


have booths at the fair.
HANDGUN control, toxic waste
disposal, and utility intervention are
some of the areas in which PIRGIM will
be providing information. The 1982
editions of the Ann Arbor banking sur-
vey, the Washtenaw County Doctors
Directory, and "The Car Book," will
also be available.
"The people who usually come to
radical row or consciousness corner
have a lot of political savvy and are
very interested in the kind of infor-
mation we have to present," said Wen-

dy Rampson, campus coordinator of
the University's PIRGIM chapter.
Students from the School of Natural
Resources (SNR) will be selling t-shirts
and buttons to raise funds for a letter-
writing campaign in support of their
school, which is currently under
budgetary review, according to SNR
sophomore Jeff Cox.
. THE BOOTH will be used, Cox said,
as "a forum for explaining what is hap-
pening (to the school)."
Non-profit organizations interested
"not so much in fundraising as in
presenting increasing awareness of an
issue," are eligible to run booths, said
Vivian Green of the University's Office
of State and Community Relations.
Applications for booths, which are
awarded on a first come, first serve

basis, are accepted beginning March 1,
according to Green.
The booths are restricted from selling
food because vending is not allowed on
University property, but other methods
of fundraising are permitted, Green
said, adding she hoped the fundraising
would be incidental to increasing-com-
munity awareness of an issue.
In addition to offering talk and
literature, some groups take a more
creative approach with their booth.
The Ann Arbor affiliate of Action for
Children's T.V., which favors more
responsibleachildren's programming,
hopes to attract both parents and
children with a puppet show, according
to group member Julie Chamberlin,
who described 'the group's three year
participation in the fair, as "a lot of
fun."

4

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