Patti Petit
Running Rabbit Pottery
Cleveland, GA
RunningRabbitPottery.com
Patti Petit
867 Peaceful Valley Drive
Cleveland, GA 30528
706-219-2510
ppetit@windstream.net
http://runningrabbitpottery.com
Demonstrating Artist Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts
Exhibitor in Clay Performances II, The Gallery, Chattanooga, TN Nov., Dec., 2007
Work currently in Burton Gallery, Lee Johnson Gallery, Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts, Helen Arts Helen Arts & Heritage Council Gallery
Member: Potters Council, Georgia Clay Council, North Georgia Art Guild, Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts, Helen Arts & Heritage Council
Patti Petit
Artist’s Biography
Art has figured as a “life saver” twice in the artist’s life. As a teenager recovering from a bout of rheumatic fever, she began painting and within the year was exhibiting her work with the Pirate’s Alley Art Assn. in New Orleans. Later she participated in exhibits in the then Delgado Museum of Art in New Orleans and the State Capitol Exhibit in Baton Rouge.
She set aside painting to study journalism in college, later writing and freelancing while working several careers in education and social services. Finally a near breakdown during a long spell of unemployment led her to take up clay. “I just knew my fingers would find the characters in the clay.” She said.
She caught or bought small animals and sculpted in her kitchen which was “big enough to play tennis in.” In time that first piece captured first prize in ribbon and cash at the Mountain Arts Exhibit in Clarkesville, GA. But clay had already captured the artist.
She studied under Jeannie Daves who encouraged her and led her to study with other “nature artists” such as Antonia Reed.
As an experienced teacher, the artist began working with physically and mentally challenged adults from local Mountain Resources organizations. One group of her students produced tiles and participated in the Artists Path Project in Criccith, Wales.
Ultimately she left teaching in this population and currently teaches from her own studio.
She is a demonstrating Artist at the Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts in Tallulah Falls, Georgia. She exhibits with the Georgia Clay Council. Her work is in galleries in North East Georgia.
Artist’s Statement
Most of my work freezes an event or aspect from Nature. It allows me and the viewer to touch an event or item that of itself is ephemeral. Small animals, birds, insects, leaves and flowers intrigue me. Their world is so different, colorful and endangered. I find that these influences shape my work.
My first pieces were actual vignettes of events I witnessed in my own garden. Since then I have moved out to explore leaves as containers and conveyors of food and other items. Further out I began experimenting with colored porcelains to evoke images of spirits rising from the clay surface much as mists take forms as they rise from the mountains.
Beginnings and endings are the only positives in our physical lives. In between we experience many things before we complete our circle. My work still has many places and forms to explore’
