Melanie Risch, artist
In 2017, Melanie Risch had not yet found clay. She moved to Yancey County with an English degree from Vassar College to work on an off-grid permaculture homestead. “It was there, while using clay dug locally for a natural building project,” she says, “that I became curious about clay and subsequently signed up for a class. I immediately knew that clay was for me and went on to take Penland classes and assist Penland area potters.”
Nine years later, Risch has used two residencies to continue to evolve her work. In the spring she was a resident artist at Township 10, a retreat near Marshall. “I used only materials I gathered on-site for both my work and the glazes,” she says. “I’ve been digging my own clay for years, but always screened it or added materials to it. I realized how much I love using it in its unprocessed state, rocks and all—embracing the ways in which it’s difficult to work with.” In this residency, she began making her own glazes using locally found materials. “One of my favorite glazes is from invasive Miscanthus grass that I burned and then used the collected ash in my firing,” she says.
Melanie Risch, artist
During the summer she participated in another residency at a community school in a Detroit, Michigan storefront and rowhouse called the Ceramics School. Risch carried clay from the creek behind her Yancey County house to Michigan to fire in the school’s large wood kiln. “I’ve been teaching workshops from my home studio on using local clay and materials which I find extremely fun and rewarding,”
Risch says, describing the residency’s expectation that artists engage with the students and others associated with the Ceramics School.
Back home, Risch continues to work in relationship to the land, making vessels using clay from her backyard in Burnsville. “I came to North Carolina as a gardener and became curious about making more than a garden from the clay beneath my feet,” she says. “I wanted to understand other ancient ways of putting my hands in the soil, and that curiosity led me to pots. I work with local materials and wood firing as a continuation of practices humans have engaged in since before the written word. Working this way makes me feel human in a way I find beautiful.”
Risch has also started a small artist market in Burnsville called Gather that meets every other month outside Hearth Glass and Gallery. (Learn more at GatherArtMarket.com). “I’ve gotten to know so many non-ceramic artists, and it’s contributed to feeling like I’m part of a bigger arts community here in Western North Carolina,” she says. “The market mostly features new emerging artists—my peers and now also my friends. It’s been cool watching us grow together as the new generation of artists in this area.”
See Risch’s work at Mica Gallery, and follow her interests in local materials, gardening, teaching and writing on her website MelanieRisch.net and in her newsletter at MelanieRisch.substack.com.
Mica, located at 37 North Mitchell Avenue in Bakersville, is an artist-run gallery of fine art and contemporary craft open daily through December (closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year’s Eve). Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Sundays when the gallery opens at noon. Follow the gallery at MicaGalleryNC.com, on Facebook at Mica Gallery NC or on Instagram @micagallerync.
