5 minute read
Film
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Oscilloscope/Film Camp
Courtney Barnett in “Anonymous Club.”
A peek inside the mind of Courtney Barnett
BY MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN
The Washington Post
The low-key music documentary “Anonymous Club” — ostensibly a portrait of Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett — kind of feels like a movie about someone who doesn’t really want to be in a movie. This is fine, and probably appropriate.
Barnett is known to be publicityshy, to put it euphemistically, so it’s no surprise there aren’t many moments when she sits down in front of filmmaker Danny Cohen’s camera and answers questions. There are, however, snippets here and there of interviews she has given to, say, a radio station or some other media outlet. (Cohen, a friend of the musician, has shot some of Barnett’s music videos and seems to know her well — well enough to have had the good idea to give her a voice recorder on which Barnett maintains a kind of audio diary over the three years during which the film was shot.)
The bulk of the film, which is divided into chapters with such wry titles as “You Must Be Having So Much Fun” and “I Just Can’t Yell Anymore,” consists of Barnett traveling, performing, interacting with fans, working on songs and engaging in such downtime activities as visiting a guitar maker’s studio. She doesn’t talk about relationships at all, or her hopes and dreams all that much, although there are times when someone asks her about, for example, her experience of panic attacks and depression.
Mostly, the insight the film provides into those things comes from her songs, of which there are — blissfully, for her many fans — plentiful examples. At one point, Barnett reads from her website, on which she had invited the public to post how they feel.
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ARTS
BY CRYSTAL SCHELLE
Special to The News-Post
A well-made piece of pottery is a work of art, a combination of balance and beauty. But potters don’t want their work to sit on a shelf. They are meant to be handled and worn and become a part of everyday life.
Visitors to Washington County will be able to see the studios where masters of their craft turn a slab of clay into a vessel that might hold water, a salad, or Mom’s famous Thanksgiving stuffing.
Kirke Martin of Keedysville was flipping through brochures touting tourism trails that run through the county that highlight such businesses as the Ice Cream Trail and Grapes and Grains.
“It occurred to me that we have tons of artists in the county already, and I know a lot of potters, so I thought we could do a trail of potters just in Washington County,” he said recently.
Martin reached out to the ceramic arts community, along with the help of Visit Hagerstown, and created the Pottery Trail, the first of its kind in Maryland.
“We put together 10 potters who are willing to invite the public into their studios, into their gallery space and welcome them to see what they do,” he said.
Studios on the trail are Foxcross Pottery, Sharpsburg; Hunt Prothro, Rohrersville; van Gilder Pottery, Gapland; Tameria Martinez Clay, Boonsboro; Kilnjoy Ceramics and Orchard View Potter, both in Smithsburg; Highfield Pottery, Cascade; and Wright Hand Studio and Twin Moons Potter, both in Hagerstown.
Also on the trail is Martin and his studio, M4 Studios and Gallery, in Keedysville. The native Tennessean fell in love with the feeling of clay while taking a class in as a high school junior in Cranbrook Kingswood School in Michigan and said he “pretty much knew the first week of taking ceramic classes that that’s what I want to do as a living,” he said.
He went on to earn a degree in ceramics at Appalachian Center for Crafts at Tennessee Technological University and apprenticed for American ceramic artist John Glick. He then crossed the pond to work with Micki Schloessingk’s Bridge Pottery in South Wales. Then in 2002, he returned to the States to set up a studio on Maryland’s Eastern Shore before moving to his current location in 2004.
Putting together the Pottery Trail has created a “cohesive unit of potters.” And at its core, it’s about shining a light on all the talented artists who live in Washington County. Of course, Martin hopes people will think of the potters the next time they want a handmade, unusual gift, but first and foremost, he wants the trail to be a celebration of their creativity.
He said he hopes the Pottery Trail will “provide the public with a guide to some really interesting places where people are living passionately about their artwork that they’re making.”
Courtest photo
Kirke Martin, founder of the Pottery Trail.
ON THE POTTERY TRAIL
Foxcross Pottery, 6640 Remsburg Road, Sharpsburg, foxcrosspottery.com, 301-3310820. M4 Studios and Gallery, 4803 Mount Briar Road, Keedysville, instagram.com/ m4studios, 410-739-9016. Hunt Prothro, 20100 Millbrook Road, Rohrersville, 202-494-1045, instagram. com/huntprothro van Gilder Pottery, 20834 Townsend Road, Gapland, vangilderpottery@gmail. com, angilderpottery.com Kilnjoy Ceramics, 22201 Pondsville Road, Smithsburg, kilnjoy.com, 301-991-2360 Tameria Martinez Clay, 21001 Tasker Lane, Boonsboro, 301-524-9510, tameriamartinezclay.com Orchard View Potter, 23319 Barth Spring Lane, Smithsburg, 443-621-1070, facebook.com/orchard.view.pottery Highfield Pottery, 25210 Cascade Road, Cascade, 240-446-9552, allisonseverancepottery.com Wright Hand Studio, 571 Jefferson St., Hagerstown, 800-990-4263, wrighthanddrums. com Twin Moons Potter, 13650 Greencastle Pike, Hagerstown, 301-790-4047, twinmoonspottery.com
Contact studios for hours.
Courtesy photo
Highfield Pottery
