Potter, jeweler share their love for making art

One artist discovered pottery while working on an English degree.
BY AMANDA GARRETT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Lynn Cardwell says she's hooked on pottery and is helping others to learn about her passion.
Cardwell, of Boardman, held a semi-annual open house Sunday afternoon at her studio in the Ward Bakery Building on Mahoning Avenue, giving Mahoning Valley residents a hands-on pottery experience for a 10 fee.
Cardwell helped families make flower vases and leaf-shaped and heart-shaped bowls that she will glaze and fire in the kiln.
Cardwell said she discovered pottery while working on an English degree at Youngstown State University.
"I was one semester away from graduating when I took a pottery class on a whim," said Cardwell, who also plays cello in a classical string quartet. "I was hooked."
Cardwell makes traditional clay pots using a potter's wheel, but she also uses more experimental techniques, such as Raku pottery. Raku is a traditional Japanese form of pottery that is fired and cooled quickly to achieve a glasslike glaze.
Another art
Across the hall from the pottery studio, Cardwell's colleague Marcie Applegate of Boardman demonstrated the process for silver clay jewelry.
Silver clay, developed by Mitsubishi (car company) a few years ago, looks and feels like clay until it is fired in a kiln, Applegate said. Once the silver clay is fired, it has the same appearance as silver jewelry.
The claylike consistency allows artists to form more shapes and textures than would have been possible with traditional silver, Applegate said.
"I prefer to use very organic forms and lines," said Applegate, who also creates glass jewelry.
Cardwell and Applegate also collaborate on projects.
They decorated one of the Penguin statues that were featured in Youngstown in 2004, and they have been selected as one of 35 artists to decorate a Goddess of Speed statue that will be exhibited throughout Trumbull County this summer and then sold at the National Packard Museum in Warren.
agarrett@vindy.com