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Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/891238
LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 11.17 141 As a teenager, David Kenton Kring discovered his desire for making art at his family's workwear store in Frankfort. "All these blue-collar men would come in, have a cup of coffee and tell stories," says Kring, 30. "Being part of the millennial generation, it's nice just to take a step back and think about making something with your hands and, at the end of the day, having a cup of coffee out of it." Kring says he draws inspiration from '60s pop art, Da- da-era collaging and artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. He decorates his rustic mugs with images of Squints from The Sandlot, David Bowie, characters from The Big Lebowski and Merle Haggard. (Lexington-based Kring is often in town for art shows, and his mugs are available at Revelry in NuLu.) It takes Kring about two weeks to make a collection of the mugs ($36 each). Working in batches of 20 to 30 mugs, he starts by throwing clay on a pottery wheel to make the base. The following day he attaches handles to each one. "Then I clean 'em up, and they hang out until they're bone dry," he says. Terra sigillata "makes the crackling effect." He fires the mugs for about 12 hours in the kiln at the studio in his home's detached garage. An oxide wash adds some black coloring and "brings out the cracks more." He uses custom rubber stamps and an underglaze stamp pad to imprint designs onto the mugs. "You do it the same way you would scrapbooking, except you roll it onto your pottery," Kring says. — Kaঞe Molck MY METHOD (which have been around for more than 90 years; renowned local sculptor Ed Hamilton is an alum), and scholarships at the University of Louisville's Hite Art Institute. Casbier says Open Studio, which replaced LVA's yearly art auction after 47 years, is a way to bridge the gap between artists and their community. "It's a time to bond with fellow artists," says Britany Baker, a painter with a studio at Art Sanctuary. "Strength in numbers, camaraderie, a sense of belonging — having that support system is vital. e folks that come through are genuinely interested in how the magic happens. "Unlike an art festival where people are mainly shopping for finished pieces, this really focus- es on the process," Baker says.