Local potter marks 25th year at Arts Fest

When Ian Stainton first attended art school in the '70s, he never thought he would become a potter.

Originally, he wanted to be a painter, but eventually switched into a pottery course and has not regretted it since.

Stainton comes from a small town in England called Shap. In 1978, he found his first job as a potter in Scotland. "When I got there, I had no experience of production throwing or anything, I just had to wing it," he said.

Stainton said it was hard in the beginning of his career. His boss wanted him to produce 160 pots a day when he had never made more than 10 or 20. After a couple of months, Stanton said, "it finally clicked."

"I just like the instantaneous. You stick your hands in the clay, and you're moving it," Stainton said. "Not many other mediums are like that. It's the most versatile medium there is."

Most of Stainton's creations are made in porcelain and fired to 2,300 degrees in a gas kiln and salt kiln.

After seeing a job advertisement in 1992, Stainton moved all the way to central Pennsylvania, and has stayed ever since. His workshop is located in Potters Mills.

In the past, Stainton said he used to go to 17 different art shows in 15 weeks. Now, he only goes to one — the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

With the appeal of the show being close to home, Stainton enjoys coming to Arts Fest. This year's Arts Fest will be Stainton's 25th year attending. Stainton said he sets up his booth in the same spot every year — at the corner of Allen Street and Fairmount.

Aside from freelancing with other companies, Stainton likes to focus on his own creative artworks in his free time.

Recently, he's taken a passion for creating stretch pots. Incorporating unique textures, such as cracks or patterned ridges, on the exterior of his pottery creations is his forte.

"And what you do is, you make a surface, and heat it up and expand the form. The whole surface cracks up," Stainton said. According to ceramicsnetwork.org, rolling powdered clay into a surface, rapidly drying the surface with a torch and then stretching the soft clay slab below the surface helps create dry surface cracks.

He said he likes taking the challenging route when it comes to being creative with his work.

"All my glazes are the most difficult glazes," Stainton said. "But that's what it's all about for me, creativity."

As Arts Fest hits its 52nd year, Stainton said this festival is very important to the community.

"From a humble start to this massive monster, I think it's great. The crowd it brings in is unbelievable," he said.

Despite the perception that Arts Fest prices are expensive, Stainton said the prices for pottery are reasonable.

"Artists, it's a very tough life. We don't make a lot of money," Stanton said. "People go, 'Oh, it's expensive,' but you have no idea what's involved in that. Hotels, travel, making materials, it's an unbelievable amount of bills."

Stainton believes in supporting local artisans, as each item they create is one of a kind.

Throughout the years, Stainton said that his style has changed constantly.

"I find something new and I go with it," Stainton said. "It's a learning process, no matter how long you've been doing it. I've been doing it for 30, 40 years and you still learn stuff. There is still always something to learn."

This story was originally published July 10, 2018 at 1:57 PM.