You can bet that each piece of Brenda Lindsey’s pottery is unique, and exceptional. As owner of Excel Handprint Pottery, she offers the finest in artistic and functional pottery, creating each piece individually, with faith and love.  She will show you how she does it at the Pell City Library, on Wednesday, January 18th at noon, as the special guest for the library’s Wild and Wonderful Wednesday series.  She’ll bring along her pottery wheel, and a little clay, so that you can see this artist at work.  She will also bring along some of her finished pieces, all created individually, fired and glazed by Ms. Lindsey to insure that no piece is exactly the same.  And, she will tell her story, as only she can tell it.

Though she was introduced to pottery back in 1980, and completed an apprenticeship with Liz Enyeart, while living in Evanston, Wyoming, she did not turn to pottery as her life’s work until her family moved to Pell City, Alabama in 1984.  As a wife and mother to four children, she sought a way to supplement the family income in a way that would allow her to remain at home to care for them.  She turned to pottery, experimenting and learning as she went.  “I studied everything I could find that might help me learn how to be a potter,” Brenda confides.  “My husband, John, made my first pottery wheel.  It was a kick wheel and each day I would try for hours on end to center pots, praying for God’s help.  The baby played at my side while the other three children were in school.  It was a long and arduous struggle.  I cleaned a neighbor’s house once a week in an effort to afford clay. Gradually my pots took form.  I began to experiment with glazes and eventually found many beautiful and unique ones.  Yet I did not know how to market my pottery.  I prayed constantly that God would open a door for me.”  

Her prayers were answered in 1986, when Tannehill Ironworks, Historical State Park hired her as Resident Potter to do pottery demonstrations for visitors.  They also allowed her to sell her completed creations.  She subsequently became a member of the Alabama Designer Craftmen, and she continued to take enrichment classes and attend workshops in such places as Anderson Ranch and Wood in Aspen, Colorado with Randy Johnston, and at Arrowmont, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to hone her glazing (with master Barbara Tipton) and functional construction skills (with master Jeff Ostrich.)  She conducted workshops and classes throughout Alabama, and in Florida for adults and children including workshops at schools, churches, senior citizen facilities and at the Folk Lore Center in Birmingham.  She was invited to show her work through the Leeds Art Council, the Looney House, Old York, and at various places in the Magic City, Birmingham.  She won First Place (in 1998) and Best of Show (in 1999) at Leeds, Alabama Arts Council, and various other awards in her craft around the state.

Tragedy struck, however, in December of 2000, when her husband, John, was diagnosed with brain cancer.  When he died in April of 2001, she lost a tremendous source of physical, mental and emotional support for her work, a loss she felt deeply.  Even though she remained at Tannehill Ironworks for a few years after her husband’s death, she eventually took off to reassess her future plans.  In the years that followed, she learned to do a variety of crafts.  She studied photograpy, adding original photography to her list of skills.  She worked for several years with Tena Payne, at Earthborn Pottery in Leeds, Alabama as a production potter and pottery class instructor.

“Finally,” says Lindsey, the desire to create and sell my own art began to return.  In the fall of 2009, I dedicated myself to breathing new life into my old business of pottery while adding original photographs to my bundle of wares.”  

Since then, Brenda has demonstrated pottery in schools, held home workshops, and taught classes to individuals and large groups.  She continues to win awards for her work.  Through she has taken instruction via private lessons, workshops, and craft schools, she attributes her success to constant prayer and long hours of daily work.  Though she experiments with various types of pottery, from Raku to freestyle building, her favorite pottery is functional.  All but the Raku pots can be safely used for cooking and serving foods and beverages, and can be used in microwave ovens, conventional ovens, and in dishwashers.

 Says Brenda,  “I hope that you enjoy owning a piece of my pottery, feeling its texture, marveling at its color . . . It is through His power, grace, and giftedness that I am able to make the clay of the earth into something beautiful.”

Meet Brenda Lindsey on Wednesday, January 18th at noon at the Pell City Library.  See her original works of art, and watch her create.  The program is free and open to the public, and is part of the library’s ongoing Wild and Wonderful series.  Enjoy light refreshments afterwards in the library.