I did rescue and I was on a fire truck. Living in Miami, being on the water affected how I lived and how I thought about clay more than the job. TP: Are there any other artists who have influenced your work? MI: That’s really hard to say. I’m still learning new things daily. I was just watching a video about a guy in Australia doing Bonsai workshops, but there’s not one artist in particular who really influenced me other than Charles. For instance, I make these big platters and they are mine—they’re like nobody else’s. I’m really working on them and I love making them. A lot of my time is spent finding my own voice in clay so that people will know that I made that work. It’s really hard to make your art have a look of your own. TP: Do you place more emphasis on form or function? MI: I make everything functional for what it is. When I make a mug, it’s a mug. There’s no question of what it is. You’re not going to get cut and bleed using my mug, and you can put it in a dishwasher or microwave it. It’s safe. It’s the same with my Bonsai pots…they’re really sculptural but functional. TP: Do you have any observations about the state of the arts in Chattanooga? MI: A lot of people enjoy seeing these big pieces of sculpture in Chattanooga, but we really need a place where everybody can go for
Taking Strength from the Mountains
the arts. The city spends all kinds of money to put art out in public, but there is a lack of art education. It’s all divided. Everybody has their little art thing around town but what we need is one big place that is devoted to the arts, like a Creative Arts Guild, where anybody can go. We also need a really good botanical garden. I’m not talking about Reflection Riding; that’s wonderful for what it is, but I’m talking about a place that is enclosed in glass that has all kinds of tropical plants that you will never see anywhere else. Many surrounding cities have a
good one. Growing plants is an art form too. TP: What is your philosophy on life? MI: Be happy. I like to keep things very simple, growing stuff and making pots. There is a quote on the wall in my studio that says, “I’ve found that 99% of my practices and worshiping consists of just going outside, sitting still, shutting up, and listening.” Mark’s pottery can be found here in town at Plum Nelly and Area 61, and his studio/gallery at Rising Fawn is open to the public by appointment. Visit lookoutmountainpottery.com
For some artists, the true value of their work isn’t acknowledged until years— sometimes many years—after their deaths. Such is the case with poet, painter and musician Emma Bell Miles, who spent much of her life on Walden’s Ridge. Born in Illinois in 1879, she died in Red Bank in 1919. The creative Miles struggled with poverty and a troubled marriage but still managed to produce several self-illustrated books. Local author and poet Peggy Douglas has written a two-act play, “Twisted Roots,” about Miles, which will be presented at the Mountain Arts Community Center Aug. 1-3. Described as a “series of dynamic monologues set to traditional Appalachian music,” the play, says Douglas, “strives to find the levity in bittersweet and sometimes tragic family experiences in early 20th-century Appalachia, as well as the richness of its natural world and surrounding culture. The performance invites us to integrate and celebrate the past rather than wear it like a bit and bridle.” — Janis Hashe “Twisted Roots” 7 p.m. Aug. 1, 2; 2 p.m. Aug. 3 Mountain Arts Community Center 809 Kentucky Ave, Signal Mountain. (423) 886-1959, signalmacc.org
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