Always ready with a catchy phrase to make people stop and wonder, artist Patti Fox, has found a home for her water-based clay caricatures that celebrates whimsy and satire together at 21 Fifth Avenue in Shell Lake.
You might remember her when she had her “Play Dirty” studio in the TSU building in Shell Lake’s Industrial Park in 1998, or perhaps you might have seen her if you attended a play or performance during the twenty five years she was involved with Theater in the Woods.
Speaking of clever names, Patti won the New Business Name of the Year from the Milwaukee Journal with her choice of Play Dirty.
As part of the theater group she wrote scripts, painted scenery, helped with costuming and make-up and lights and sound and occasionally performed on stage. It was her “temporary art” phase; art that wasn’t permanent but often lasting.
Now she’s back to her first love, working with clay as she sits creating art in the street-side window that displays some of her finished pot heads.
“I’ve attended clay workshops in New York, Canada, Minnesota and Arizona and always came home inspired. What I’d really like now is to have fellow sculptors interested in sculpting a live model. No, not a nude, but a fully dressed person willing to sit for a while in one position and then turn for a while and continue turning occasionally so we can get the entire 360 degree view without having the sculptors move.”
Even though she put her time in the business world as office manager and industrial buyer for years, she’s left that all behind to pursue clay art.
Her mother was creative in a craft sort of way and Grandma was a bit of a dabbler in art who made lots of aluminum can art “that was awful.”
Back in her original studio she crafted wall pockets that were somewhat reminiscent of Shakespeare’s characters in the play, Midsummer’s Night Dream, made with a face on the front and a straight back that were made to hang against a wall. These were made to be used as planters with various garden plants growing out of the top reminiscent of hair.
Soon she moved on to standard planting pots, but these were embellished with clay frogs and were one of her best selling products along with her gremlins.
It was inevitable that her interest in sculpting people became paramount as she strove to capture the personality, character and emotions of her subject. Working from photos, she loves the diversity and individuality of the human face; sculpting has become her “source of joy.”
Her source of inspiration for her unique ‘hand mugs’ comes from the death of a very good friend and fellow curler, Janet Schleppegrell, who died from breast cancer in 2005. The mug has no handle, but when it’s held, your fingers nestle naturally into the indentation of a small hand on the side of the mug; as if holding the hand of someone dear.
Half of the purchase price of these mugs goes to the Pink Ribbon Advocacy, Inc. to help other women with breast cancer and the mugs are available at Arts in Hand in Spooner, or at her studio on Fifth Avenue. Seeing they’re not the traditional color of breast cancer pink, these cups also bring comfort to others who have lost someone dear or someone who is far away; “Sometimes all you want is to hold your friends hand.”
Being an artist, Patti’s shop hours are:
Mornings (usually);
Often afternoons too;
Frequently weekends;
Sometimes evenings;
Anytime by appointment.
715-520-0232 or pmfox@centurytel.net
Sorry, it’s too late to order a pot head for someone on your Christmas list, but next time you’re in Shell Lake, stop by, look at her work, visit a bit and think of someone that you’d like to see replicated in clay.
Last Update: Nov 11, 2016 8:50 am CST
