Caradori Pottery — a shop providing wood-fired pottery, paintings and other mediums of art to the residents of Eau Claire — celebrated its 38th anniversary with a fall show.
A multi-day affair, the pottery show took place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the following Saturday. According to Lu Markquart, the apprentice of the shop’s owner, David Caradori, a meet the artist reception also took place from 5-9 p.m. on Friday.
The stars of this muti-medium show included local artisans Allan Servoss, a painter and color pencil artist, Lori Chilefone, a collage artist, Joseph Maurer, a painter and three potters, Dan Ingersoll, Markquart and Caradori.
Highlights at the show included pottery from Caradori’s most recent wood firing, paintings, colored pencil drawings, collages and various other forms of art. Caradori’s store was set up in its normal fashion but sprinkled with the work of the featured artists.
Markquart said the shop has been a pottery shop for the last 50 years, but Caradori has owned it for the past 38 years and the fall show was a celebration of this fact.
“(The fall show) is an opportunity to feature other artists’ work that we don’t normally have here,” Markquart said.
According to Markquart, Caradori Pottery hasn’t hosted a show in three years prior to the fall show. She said this show was the first opportunity for a few of the featured artists and herself to have their work present at a show in the shop.
“We weren’t sure because it’s been three years and we were worried our mailing list was going to be outdated but it ended up going really well,” Markquart said.
The featured artists weren’t the only creators present at the event and several integral members of the art community admired the work present at the event.
An intricate charcuterie board spurred conversation and attendees sipped wine and nibbled on fresh-baked bread as they ambled about.
Lindamerry Udell, a watercolorist and attendee of the event, said she was present at the show due to being close friends with Caradori and having taken classes with Servoss.
“It’s really wonderful. There’s some wonderful people here,” Udell said. “It’s a great connection and it’s a good network to support.”
Servoss said her husband is a musician and the pair make an effort to attend as many art receptions as they can to support other artists.
Greylan, an attendee of the event, said he attended the show out of love for Caradori and his pottery.
“It’s delightful, the food is amazing,” Greylan said. “I like being friends with people in the art community — they’re interesting and they make beautiful things.”
Greylan said although he isn’t able to make it to every event within the art community, he makes an attempt to attend events and shows if he has connections to the people involved in them.
For more information about Caradori Pottery and to stay up to date on future shows and happenings, check out the shop’s Facebook.
O’Brien can be reached at [email protected].
