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Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with Potter, Janelle Slone and artist Jeff Bleijerveld.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emily Henry.

And Janelle Slone owns Relic Emporium, a community art studio located in Angola, Indiana.

Janelle is a potter by trade and focuses on making one of a kind relics out of clay.

In addition to creating her own functional wares, Janelle provides space, materials and classes for artists of all levels.

She hopes to inspire others to make art and experience the gratification of creating something themselves.

Janelle, thank you for inviting me today out to Angola.

I am thrilled to be in Relic Emporium and your stuff is so beautiful.

Tell me how you got started.

Really, as an artist in general?

Oh, well, that story would start a long time ago as a as a kiddo before internet.

My sister was one of those naturally born artists, and I looked up to her so I'd follow her around and just drive me nuts.

But I just always tried to be like her.

And then she kind of paved the way through high school.

She met all of the art teachers first, and I went to school at DeKalb and I had a trio of the best art teachers possible, so I was definitely drawn towards clay.

It was just so fun.

I tried to spend as much time in that classroom as possible.

I was the clay crusted kid leaving a trail everywhere I went, but it just was my thing.

It clicked.

It made a lot of sense.

I won a national award in high school, so it made me feel special.

But I. I just fell in love with it.

And then you graduate, and you don't have access to a studio anymore.

So I was just kind of out of luck.

Like most people, that's where they get introduced to the arts and then they they get out of school and you're kind of on your own.

But I was gifted a pottery wheel for Christmas one year, so for a long time all I did was make pots and destroy them.

I had no kiln.

I just kind of practiced on these pots and all different random areas and basements.

And I ended up acquiring a broken kiln and tried to fix it and couldn't.

And then I got another broken kiln and I was able to put the two together and get something that was working which was actually really good training for me because now if anything goes wrong, I know how to fix it.

But that really was a game changer, being able to actually fire my pieces.

There's just persistence.

I just say and just keep going towards the direction you want to go and eventually you get somewhere, you know?

But Clay was my thing.

It was my retreat.

It's just everything I've always loved and it's my passion.

So you you mentioned, you know, you started in high school and that you had a knack for it.

You were you were good at it.

How do you think you have evolved as an artist and as a clay worker?

Well, clay does keep you humble.

You almost have to be a glutton for punishment, because behind every good pot, there's, you know, thousands of fails you just don't get to see.

And there's just so much that you can learn.

And it's one of those things you just never quite arrive at.

But it's so vast of possibilities.

There's I really got into making tile, which is one of my favorite things.

So address plaques and name plates or backsplash is for kitchens.

So I kind of started taking the it's like a stained glass effect on clay kind of murals, like making a giant puzzle and cutting it up and putting it back together.

It's how I like to have fun.

But I was taking that technique and putting it on my mug.

So it, it's similar to the tile work that I do, but it's my kind of trademark motif.

These carved flowers and my mugs and it's all from working with tile it just kind of transitioned into my functional wares.

I read that you are really passionate about making your work also functional.

What is it about the functionality that you feel like is really important?

Well, it's something you can live with and use every day.

It's not just taking up room in somebody's house that they have to dust.

You know, that great coffee mug is how you start your day.

It really does change how it tastes.

It makes food taste better, you know.

So that is one of the great things about Clay is it doesn't take a vast understanding of color theory or technique, really.

It's anybody can make these basic forms and use them for something.

So it's not, like I said, just taking up room.

People take great pride in saying I made that and the salsa in that bowl.

Okay, I'm looking at some of your pieces and some of the flowers and I what is your process?

Do you do you sketch first?

Do you just go right to the piece?

How does that how does it come together?

Well, everything kind of has a different process.

But for a mug, for example, people always say, make me a mug.

It they just they take forever.

I don't mind doing them, but there's so many parts to that process.

So I would throw the cup, let the cup dry out, make the handle, let the handle dry out until they're perfect consistency, put them together.

And then I carve the design, which takes forever because they're one of a kind and kills my hand.

Everything gets glazed with three coats of glaze.

So painting also is it takes a while.

And then I actually inlay a grout into all of the cracks which I've not ever seen another Potter do.

And I kind of grabbed onto that like, this is my, my method.

This is my own version, my take on the mug, which in a world of brilliant minds and potters, I feel like a lot of things have been done and I've yet to find anybody else applying it quite like this.

So I just keep pursuing.

It just evolves over time.

These techniques kind of turn into something else.

This flower motif has changed over the years too.

It started out pretty different.

I kind of have a little museum of the different versions, but the first one I made sitting in the car, while my boys played paint ball for hours, so I just carved flowers.

Just kind of playing like this is kind of neat.

I'm going to keep doing it.

And now I get different flowers and colors and I kind of run them through like batches So, yeah, I'm stuck on the fact that you said you let the part dry out and then do the artwork.

I was envisioning that it would be that the clay would be wet when you did that.

But it's not.

No, that would be so tricky because you'd end up just sticky.

So it's called leather hard when it's a nice carving consistency.

Okay.

And I have all the special tools, nothing else will do.

And when I sit down to carve, I usually pop in a VHS tape and I just sit there all day long.

So it's my process.

Okay.

Now, you mentioned VHS tapes, which which leads me to maybe the thing I want to know the most.

You're your storefront is called Relic Emporium.

What is it about relics that that you love?

Clearly it is.

It is something that you that you want to bring to the world.

So what is it?

Well, I do appreciate just old things that are still serving their purpose, still holding up to the trials of time.

And this place is full of a lot of older things and really cool things.

It just kind of come by by accident or garage sales and they still function and so I still use them, but I feel like that's part of it.

The other part is what's being made at this place.

The pottery, you know, may be dug up and thousands of years from now, they may judge our civilization based off of it.

I don't know.

They'll say is this grout in here?

She was a genius.

But we're we're building the future relics.

So that's what Relic Emporium is all about.

That is really cool.

Do you feel a sort of responsibility when when you feel like you are creating tomorrow's relic?

Is that are those big shoes to fill or again, is it just what you do?

It's just what I do.

You know, and I have had being out here now with the studio and the community and getting feedback on my work, people tell me I love this mug.

People will come back the next day like I couldn't sleep.

I need to come back and get this mug at a show.

So just knowing the people appreciate it.

Like that and even if it's just a mug and their routine knowing that I'm part of their life and appreciated for my contribution.

Yeah, I love what I do.

Do you think you would still be creating even if people didn't show you that kind of appreciation?

Do you feel like that's just your catharsis?

It's just you have to create?

I do.

I since I was little, I need to be in motion.

So that's kind of where the studio came into play.

Like I said, I had younger kids and I had homeschooled them.

They're getting older, going to school, and I'm looking around like What do I do now.

What do I do?

What's next?

You know, so this property became an option, it needed a lot of work.

So that's all I did for a year and a half.

Like, I'm not afraid of hard work.

That's all I know.

So scraping paint and sanding floors and pulling staples.

So it was a lot of work and then it was ready in time for pandemic.

So I was one of the people opening when everyone else was shutting down.

But it just feel like it's so satisfying.

The harder you work on something, the more pride you take away from it.

So I'm happy to pour my heart and soul into this project and all of the future projects to come, because the gratification at the end just feels so rewarding.

Yeah.

What has art taught you about yourself?

Oh, like I said earlier, you have to almost love, punishment.

I, I have broken so many pots I have had whole kiln loads fail.

I keep coming back though it's this persevere and this willingness to work hard and dive deeper.

Explore further, you know, discover something new that I can call my own.

So perseverance I that's what I have learned I definitely possess.

And the creative creative outlook, you know, having younger kids is just I try to be playful and have fun and always just look for something different thanks to them.

Wow.

Well, there's something about walking into your store that makes me feel creative and makes me feel, I don't know, excited about beautiful things.

So thank you for that.

That's what it's all about.

This is a community based studio and it's just been fantastic being able to do what I love and have it be received by the community.

It's really special.

All of the people I've met, my studio members, they're setting up their own studios now.

It's just really special to have all of this connections.

And now I have more people that can speak my language with clay we're kind of building a little community.

So how amazing and all because of art.

Exactly.

It ties people together.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for all the beautiful work you put into the world for all of the relics.

And thanks for taking the time with me today.

Thanks for coming.

It's not every day you get PBS to come to your studio Thanks so much, I appreciate it.

For more information, Find Relic Emporium on Facebook.

I'm joined now by artist Jeff Bleijerveld.

Jeff, thank you for being here.

Your work is so detailed.

I was researching you and looking at all of your stuff.

I thought, man, it takes a really certain kind of personality to to create that kind of art.

When did you start doing your line drawings?

Oh, I started doing the type of line drawing I'm doing now, probably about ten years ago.

I was traveling a lot for work and I would take a notepad with me and some pens and pencils, and sometimes I'd do it in a hotel room, sometimes in an airport.

And it was just kind of something to fill in the time.

And then family started saying, Wow, this is kind of neat.

You should think about selling some of this stuff.

Yeah, absolutely.

So.

Did you always think of yourself as an artist or did you use art as a creative outlet?

On my mother's side of the family especially, there was a lot of artistic influence from my grandfather, from my uncles as well.

My grandfather immigrated from the Netherlands and brought with him all sorts of oil paintings and sketches, and so they were all in their home.

So any time we'd visit our grandparents you know it was like visiting the museum, you know, and kind of seeing all this, this art on the walls.

So that was inspiring uncles as well that got into as well, commercial artists, other things like that as well.

So yeah, all through school I was always really interested in art classes and you know, other students would be scratching their heads trying to figure out what am I going to draw?

And I'd be like, off, you know, just go, Yeah, yeah.

And we'd do it at home and it was a lot of fun.

You mentioned that with all of the familial influence that it was inspiring.

Was it ever intimidating?

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, it could certainly be that as well.

Oil painting, for example, is something I've I've never enjoyed a whole lot.

I've never mastered it either.

So something my grandfather and my uncles, some of my uncles did a lot of oils.

I mess around a little bit with acrylics, and that's about as far as I get into doing that.

But watercolor I've always really enjoyed, it's kind of quick and it's easy.

Some people find it really intimidating and frustrating because it it does things sometimes that you don't want it to do, but, you know, kind of like Bob Ross, they're happy accidents sometimes, you know, that you just kind of go, wow, I didn't know it was going to do that.

That's kind of amazing.

It's so interesting to me that you also dabble in watercolor because as I was looking at your stuff, I thought, This is so like the antithesis of watercolor because of the sort of lack of precision.

Is that why you like it?

Yeah, I like it.

Some people, I mean, just really enjoy it.

I enjoy just the black and the white.

You know, I use India ink and it just makes a real impression.

But then, you know, started adding a little bit of watercolor to it as well.

So for that pen and ink look.

Yeah, yeah.

And, and that's a lot of fun.

I do that especially I take commissions.

I have people want to have a drawing done of a home and a couple of realtors have contacted me that when they're selling somebody's home, be able to do that.

And then especially it's really nice to be able to add a little bit of color to it as well and it's some fun.

So yeah, it is.

They are complete opposites from one another, but when you put them together, it's it's really an impressive outcome.

Now, you mentioned India Ink.

Mm hmm.

Tell me about that.

What is it?

Well, it's a very black ink, and it doesn't fade over time.

So a lot of the technical pens that you might use, you know, are India ink.

So another part of my background in high school, I was sure that I wanted to become an architect and I kind of changed my mind over time.

But at that time, this is before CAD and, you know, a lot of the other things that people do nowadays.

But this was when, you know, you started with pencil and then, you know, you would use India ink to finish off the blueprints.

And so that's when I started a little bit with any ink.

And getting used to it, India ink is really, really great.

The thing that's intimidating about it is that you can't erase it.

So if you put a line somewhere where you didn't want it, you either scrap it and start over again or figure out how to incorporate that line or that squiggle into your drawing and make it work.

Now, one of the things I loved about looking through some of your work was when you would show your inspiration photo and then juxtaposition with with your work.

And it's like incredible how you are able to capture all of those details.

You just must have a mind for detail.

I don't know.

It's yeah.

No, actually, not really.

I'm kind of a personality wise.

I'm kind of like, yeah, close enough.

Sort of.

Yeah, I guess it's maybe maybe if I wasn't that I wouldn't do this because I'd be such a perfectionist.

I would never finish anything.

Yeah.

So.

But, yeah, the inspiration sometimes a lot of the photos I just get off of Flickr or someplace else or pictures that I've taken.

But like I said, a lot of times I would I would be drawing when I'm traveling.

And so I can't take large photos or anything with me.

So I'd actually be drawing off of my iPhone, you know, of some, some picture from something.

So it was a lot of zooming in to try and get the detail and then, you know, translate it to the paper.

But is it cathartic to you to be able to to look at that kind of detail and then recreate it?

Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

It's like when I'm doing it, I'm not thinking about anything else.

It's it's an absolute escape.

And, you know, so that's, you know, really great.

I forget where I am.

And finally, when I can stop and lift my head up and look and it's kind of like, oh, I'm in a hotel room in Guatemala City.

Yeah, that's incredible.

Yeah.

Tell me about your process.

So when you find a photo or any inspiration that you want to draw, do you start with the overall shape or do you do it?

I mean, how do you go about creating these pieces?

A lot of the stuff that I've done has been a lot of birds.

That's my dad's influence.

He was not an artist at all, but he was very interested in birds.

So I've always been interested as well.

I do a lot of birds, but I've done, you know, insects and mammals and and other other things as well.

But yeah, I start off with the kind of pencil, pencil sketch kind of getting the rough form and major shapes on the on the paper.

And then I work until I get a lot of time.

So I get to the eye and almost any animal that I do at all, I start at the eye and I kind of work my way out from there.

What is it about the eyes that sort of then informs the rest of the face?

Yeah, well, if you don't get the eyes right, you might as well just stop.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I think that all of us as human beings, we're kind of drawn to that as well.

Sure.

When we speak to each other, we we look each other in the eye, you know?

So it's kind of a connecting way.

And I think, you know, in art as well, people kind of connect with with the eyes, whether it's a person, whether it's an animal, whatever it might happen to be.

So so yeah, I really want to get that right.

You know, first of all.

And then from there, everything else can be I have some I've done owls.

Owls have got beautiful eyes.

And, you know, if you look at it, you can tell that there's a lot of detail in the eye and around the eye.

And then after that, it's kind of, you know, just sort of whatever.

And it seems to work.

Now, you mentioned also that you do a lot of houses.

Mm hmm.

Which do you prefer?

Even though I've done the architectural stuff in in the past, I really prefer doing animals.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What is it about the animals that you that make that makes you like it more?

Because to me, they seem like completely different forms of art.

Yeah, I think just always an interest in nature.

I spend a lot of time outside hiking and getting out.

I'm an Indiana master naturalist as well.

So, you know, that's kind of part of my interest.

What is interesting is people seem to be interested in owls, but because they're owls, I don't know what it is, but there's something about owl people like owls, you know, I do, too.

But, you know, a lot of times if you go to a show and you're showing things and I've got like an Eastern Meadowlark, you know, that I did a number of years ago and I have prints of it.

I've sold very few because people don't generally see Eastern Meadowlarks a whole lot.

Yeah, but if you've got a cardinal or a blue jay that they've seen in the yard, they're interested in that.

Sure.

But for me, some of it is, you know, being able to take something that I've seen or, you know, something that a lot of people haven't paid attention to and then do my interpretation of it in pen and ink.

And, you know, all of a sudden people say, what is that?

You know, I like that.

It's interesting that you you say that, you know something that people maybe haven't looked very closely at.

I really loved that about your work.

When I looked at maybe a drawing of an owl, for example, I thought, oh, my God, of course, an owl is that detailed and has that much nuance, but you don't really think of it that way.

So it made me step back and think about things a little differently.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah.

Which was.

Which was really cool.

Is there something that you haven't drawn that you intend to tackle or.

Mm hmm.

I'm working more on insects.

Okay.

And doing some of that.

That's kind of fun to be able to try.

I would love to get some horses.

Horses are challenging and difficult, and I think a lot of people would really appreciate those as well.

So I think that would be, you know, a lot of fun.

And talk about the eyes.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have one drawing I've done of a horse, which is basically just the eye and a little bit of the hair around, you know?

And it was fun to be able to do.

Yeah.

What has your art taught you about yourself?

I think what it's taught me is that I'm able to do this and I've got my own style, my own approach, and it's and it's okay.

Part of it maybe, you know, with the, you know, my grandfather or my uncles, you know, who did art and were really amazing.

Um, I look at it now, it's like, but they didn't do the stuff I'm doing.

That's okay.

And I think that's really important.

I mean, I've watched your show a lot, too, and it's kind of like, oh, my goodness, there's, you know, artists who are way over here and way over here and they're doing things that are so different and unique and that's great, you know, kind of figure out what you enjoy doing and then do it.

And, um, you may not find an audience, you know, for everything you do, but there'll be people out there that really appreciate what you're doing.

They'll love it.

Well, I certainly appreciate what you're doing, and I appreciate your time.

What a gift that that your art has given you and now us.

So thank you so much for sitting down with me.

Thank you.

You can find Jeff's work by visiting the gallery in Columbia City.

Our thanks to Janelle Slone and Jeff Bleijerveld.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

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Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.