Friday, June 1, 2012

Folk Artists at Springs Gallery



Springs Gallery in Yellow Springs is pleased to present the clay folk art and jewelry of John and Nancy Grosella of West Milton, Ohio. The exhibit runs May 30 through August 30, 2012, with an artists’ reception on Friday, June 15, from 6 PM to 9 PM. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

The Grosellas are not your typical artists (whatever that is). As a young girl Nancy and her sister played with modeling clay for hours in their home in Dayton. “She showed me how to form shapes - I loved it!” said Nancy. Her sister later moved to California, making and selling her stoneware art. In 1971, she came home for a visit and taught Nancy to work in stoneware as well. “After three months I was helping her fill her orders,” she said. “We sent porcelain clowns to California and whales to Hawaii. We later made jewelry from polymer clay adding recycled antique jewelry pieces.”

In 1978, Nancy married John Grosella, of Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and found he also had a love of clay. “John’s real passions are American history and painting;” said Nancy, “so he combines his talents by creating terra-cotta buildings, then intricately hand paints them to resemble historical towns,” she said. “We have fun in our little studio in West Milton, ‘playing with clay.’”

photo caption: “April Showers,” terra cotta, paint, 4”H x 3”W x 2”D, John Grosella

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