by Christy Rodriguez de Conte

Laurel Blackthorne helps lead the Tallahassee community in gathering to celebrate the holidays and artists that help lift holiday spirits at Tallahassee Clay Art’s third annual Handmade Holiclay Market on Dec. 3.

Blackthorne speaks of art-making in a way that refreshes and soothes even the most jaded artist. Their complete joy and love for the form of clay-making exudes effortlessly and has seeped into their community-engaged arts spaces in Tallahassee. 

Their ceramics are small-batch hand-made pottery, queer-centered and laced with emotional encouragement. Blackthorne tables their art at local art markets like Tallahassee Clay Arts Markets and their brainchild, Queer Tallahassee Arts Community Market. They display reflective rainbow dishes, palm-perfect mugs, and small trinket dishes with messages that read “Be Brave” or “Be Gay, Do Crime.”

Each piece is original and handmade with love. Blackthorne explains, “I tell people when they buy something from me as a local artist, part of my heart goes with it. This was a piece that is handmade from love. We do this because we love it. And our work is infused with that love, and we want that love to be carried with it.”

Blackthorne said that they want the people who buy their work to feel seen, loved, and comforted. 

Blackthorne came to clay-making later in life. After receiving a BA at Florida State University, Blackthorne chose to stay in Tallahassee and pursue a career away from the arts. Still, they held onto their love for creating and making as a hobby. Fast forward to March 2020, Blackthorne chose to shift from a clay-making hobby into a career in ceramics.

“Life took me in a different direction, but it was during the pandemic. So, what about two years ago, at this point, 2020, that I committed? I was like, nope, I’m doing pottery. This is going to be my life. This is what I’m going to do… So, I’m just in love with it. This is what I do now, and it makes me happy.”  

A return to art making has brought Blackthorne new opportunities to build community and educate through art. They currently teach the art of wheel-throwing and clay-sculpting to kids and adults at Lafayette Arts and Crafts Center and Tallahassee Clay Arts.

Starting in January 2023, Blackthorne’s educational outreach will grow to include kid and adult ceramic classes at LeMoyne Arts. They pride themselves on being community-taught and believe everyone has a right to make beautiful things and connect to oneself in the process.

“The tactile-ness allows you to connect to your body and yourself,” says Blackthorne. “It’s something that is held. You hold your mug because it’s nice and warm, and it brings you comfort. It’s not just the tactile nature of making it, that sort of holding space within yourself and connecting to the clay to make something. But it’s also that the end product also makes that happen. Not just for you, but for others.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Read more about the 3rd Annual Tallahassee Clay Arts Handmade Holiclays Pottery Market.