A space to create

It's an eccentric space.

There are Congo drums, hanging surfboards, pieces of driftwood and raffia, buoys, paintings, an airplane propeller, weather vein, a motorcycle, ceramics in every stage of construction, wagon wheels, ribbons hanging from the ceiling, painted tiles, a silhouette rooster, aprons and countless tools.

Color bursts from the acrylic beach scenes, glazed ceramics and quirky décor.  

Formerly used as a warehouse, the building at 214 Williams Ave. is now a space to create.

Tuesday night at 5:30, Leslie Wentzell is buried somewhere in the back amidst the knickknacks. Jack Johnson is playing on the stereo, sending a relaxing lull of acoustics echoing towards the high ceilings and back down to the clay-stained worktables.

Wentzell uses the huge space as part studio, part storage, and part tool shop, where her husband, Dave, dabbles in woodworking. She loves having his tools around, because when it comes to art, you never know what you might need to create the perfect effect.

Dave is constantly rearranging the vignettes, the scenes set up on the ledge of the upstairs loft, moving things around, adding this and that.

 You are guaranteed to see something new whenever you visit the studio. It keeps things interesting. It gets the creative juices flowing.

In her own work, Wentzell is inspired by nature's forms: seashells, grasses, driftwood; which reflects through the props and pieces strewn about the studio. She is impressed by their quiet beauty.

In her sculptures, gnarled branches and twisting vines take a feminine form, joining the elements of nature and humanity.

Wentzell and her husband moved to Port St. Joe from Wisconsin in 2006, and made a reality her dream to open an art studio. 

"My direction still isn't 100 percent in my mind," said Wentzell, who opened the studio doors to the public in October 2010, and dubbed it "The Artery". "I feel like I'm always running to catch up."

She is running to catch up with her ideas and visions for the future of The Artery, which she indicated have been in constant flux since her dream of an art studio materialized.

She plans on adding jewelry-making classes and collage classes to the schedule soon and more classes geared towards kids. She just bought a glass kiln and wants to experiment with glass fusing, she wants to have open houses and studio sales, she wants classes geared towards tourists, and the ideas keep flowing.    

For now, she offers classes in clay and acrylics and open studio time for those hoping to continue using their new skills.

"I started offering these classes and (the students have) this new skill, but where are they going to use it?" Wentzell said. "Are they supposed to just wait another month for a class?"

Thus, open studio was born.

"I thought if a few people came, great," she said. "And if it bombed, I'm not out anything."

To her surprise, the classes were very well received.

"I felt like there was a need for this here. It's a place to work where you can feel comfortable," she said. "It's a place where you can be messy. You don't have to worry about ruining your rug at home."

Wentzell was an instructor for the grant-funded Gulf Alliance for Local Arts (GALA) 2011 Summer Arts Program, during which she provided her studio space for the world of clay and world of colors classes that were offered to local kids free of charge.

"It was a lot of fun here this summer," said Wentzell, who hosted the classes five days a week. "It gave the kids exposure to art, and it gave us exposure to the community."

Wentzell said people are hungry for classes like these for their kids.

She has also been trying to harness the seasonality of Port St. Joe, and plans to offer more classes catered to area tourists next summer with projects that can be completed in one class focusing on beach-type themes.

"What I haven't been doing, I don't have a sales space, a gallery space," Wentzell said.

But she hopes to have an open house in early December to display her own work and the work of her students. She has been encouraging her students to think about selling their work.

And maybe the open house will escalate into a quarterly studio sale, she said. 

Wentzell holds an introduction to open studio class on the second Wednesday of every month. On Sept. 14, four students showed up for the class, two brand new faces, Anna Richison and Marlon Newbon, and two others Wentzell has worked with before, Alison Bowling and Marci Watson.

The students mixed in with about seven other open studio regulars, who popped in throughout the night and went straight to work on their projects. 

"(Open studio) is completely drop-in," Wentzell said. "And you only pay for the amount of time you're here."

The Artery offers open studio every Monday and Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET, Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET, and most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. The cost for open studio time is $5 per hour, or patrons can purchase a 10-hour card for $40.

Students must purchase their own clay from the studio, but all glazes, tools and kiln firings are included. 

Reservations can be made by calling or dropping by the studio, or at the No Name Café on Reid Avenue.

First-time student Richison was the first to arrive for the introduction class. She heard about the class from a friend and went to the No Name Café for more information. After seeing some work an employee had done at The Artery, Richison was convinced the class was something she should try.

"She said she had no clay experience and that gave me more incentive," Richison said. "I couldn’t believe they were first time pieces, the finish was so unique. You're kind of a lost soul when you first start."

In her intro class, Wentzell provides specific instruction and guidance for first-time clay workers so they have the necessary tools to create successful projects in open studio.

"If someone off the street came in and I just gave them some clay, they probably wouldn’t be successful," Wentzell said. "There's definitely more one-on-one attention the first night, especially for the novice."

When the rest of the intro students arrived, Wentzell ushered the group over to a corner of the studio filled with finished ceramics pieces and began explaining the different types of structural clay projects, using examples from the shelves. She holds up a textured yellow plate with a green inset as an example of a slab project, a totem pole demonstrates a coil technique, and a gesture towards a shelf of pinch pots provides students with a variety of ideas.

She leaves it up to the students to decide what kind of project they want to tackle first.

Watson is drawn to a fish platter made with a mold, Richison decides to make a plate and is inspired by a rich blue glaze, Newbon decides to make a "championship cup" and Bowling decides to work with coils.

After doling out hunks of clay to each student, Wentzell goes over methods for keeping the clay moist, how to score and slip and assists everyone with the first leg of their projects. As the night goes on, Wentzell buzzes around the studio offering advice and assistance: "You just have to do what the clay likes to do; There's no such thing as a mistake; You're the boss of the clay; Any suggestions I make aesthetically you may disregard, this is YOUR project."

Richison makes a joke about the movie "Ghost" when Wentzell suggests that while the studio has many tools available, some people prefer to work with their hands.

"That's where Patrick Swayze comes in," Richison said.

Three veteran studio artists sit at another table glazing their pieces. They carefully pick from Wentzell's collection of glazes, all tested and fired on small tiles, with names like stormy blue, peacock, old brick, jade pebble and Sahara sand.

Trina Siprell started coming to open studio in January and finds a therapeutic escape in her time spent at The Artery.

Her break through moment came when she learned to squish clay.

"I have learned if I don't like (my piece), I can just squish it up and start fresh," said Siprell, as she glazed her terra-cotta bowl. "That was my breakthrough moment- learning to start over."

Siprell and her friend Holly Atkins, who has attended classes since The Artery opened a year ago, also spends the class aiding the new students and offering suggestions.

"We really help each other out with ideas," Atkins said. "We have a lot of fun."

The atmosphere among the artists is supportive and encouraging. They have inside jokes. They laugh about a yellow ceramic face they call "Robin Williams". Siprell has "a moment" and questions whether or not she is brave enough to add a daring glaze.

Elaine Lerch, a long-time friend of Wentzell, works on a sign for outside what she calls her "Glass Shack," where she keeps a collection of mosaics.

"She's a very talented lady," Lerch said of Wentzell. "She's been able to do what no one else has been able to do- get me comfortable and ease my nerves."