Generations Stories of interest to local seniors and wannabes
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WADENA PIONEER JOURNAL & PERHAM FOCUS | Thursday, August 24, 2023
| GENERATIONS | 1
An Ottertail artist 40 years in the making
Shirlee Aho Daulton, 93, has been running the Arthouse for about 35 years since she built the studio on her Rush Lake property. Photos by Elizabeth Vierkant
Shirlee Aho Daulton, 93, has been creating art of and with the natural world Elizabeth Vierkant For Generations If you try something you may have never even thought to try before, you may find your newest life passion. That, at least, seems to be the experience of one area Otter Tail County artist: Shirlee Aho Daulton, the hands and face behind one art studio, The Arthouse. Though Daulton, 93, has been running The Arthouse on Rush Lake in Ottertail for about 35 years as of 2023, her love for art goes back even further. She jokes, however, that she’s lived two different lives, and art was not her first life — nursing was. While working as an registered nurse, she’d never really tried art before despite having a lot of love and appreciation for it. That is, at least, until a friend told her about a painting class. Having never taken art classes, Daulton decided to take a shot in the dark and give painting a try. The rest is history; she couldn’t stop painting. At classroom critiques, the professor would tell Daulton what to change to improve her pieces, and she started getting better and better. “The hardest thing I do is paint; that is the most difficult,” she said, reflecting on her history with art. “Because you’ve got this thing in front of you — this piece of paper — and then you’ve got to figure out what to do with it … (Painting) obsesses me. I get obsessed by the painting. I have to turn it backwards, get it out of the room. It’s ridiculous, but that’s what I do.” Primarily painting landscapes and other forms of nature from references of photos she took herself, she quickly discovered a love for all different kinds of art after this very first venture — from weaving to pottery to print-making. Though all of these art forms are quite different, Daulton’s works tend to share a common theme: nature. When her pieces don’t feature images of plants and other landscapes, they’re often created using materials from the natural environment. She makes prints
Daulton painted the Arthouse herself to draw different visitors in with a nice atmosphere.
(Painting) obsesses me. I get obsessed by the painting. I have to turn it backwards, get it out of the room. It’s ridiculous, but that’s what I do.
Daulton shows off a piece of paper she made out of plants on the screen used to spread and dry pulp.
fired with the raku method gains a very unique aesthetic, blending all the different glaze colors together, while the rest of the pottery left unglazed turns black from - Shirlee Aho Daulton the smoke. Daulton has basically tried it all. Her name, however, is particularly associated with one very specific craft: paper-making. Though this craft is becoming more wellknown in the 21st century, it was much less common of fish, creates artwork fea- right in her backyard. Using 40 years ago when she first turing preserved plants and a kiln and 100-pound pro- gave it a try. While living so much more. pane tank, she fires the in Ames, Iowa, she heard For over 30 years, she’s pottery up to 1,850 degrees about a paper-making class even been making pottery with the goal to melt the and chose to attend. Though using the raku firing tech- glaze painted on before- she enjoyed the class, they nique. All of this is done hand. Every piece that gets used a material known as
bleached cotton linter. “I thought, ‘not for me,’ because I really like the natural things,” she said. However, she quickly learned that nature could also be incorporated into this art. “I had a friend who was getting a fibers degree, and she said, ‘We’re making paper,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ We made it out of nasturtiums and corn husks.” Here, she realized she could use the natural world around her to make paper. She started experimenting with all different kinds of materials — from buckwheat to horsetail to iris and
DALTON: Page 4