THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9410180118
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
ARTIST JENNIFER CANTON will always remember the way her grandmother sat on her stool in her yard, bent over a bushel of green beans, cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth, talking non-stop as she snapped beans.
And that's the way others will see her when Canton transforms that childhood memory into a lifelike clay sculpture of the wiry, tough lady known as Flossie Blackburn.
For the past two years, Canton has been creating animals and people from a ceramiclike clay that gives her creations lifelike characteristics.
And in the last two months, at two local art shows, she has earned awards for her work. Canton recently received a third place for a 22-inch porcelain statue titled ``St. Francis'' at the River Boardwalk Art Show at Smithfield Station. And last month, at the 1994 Juried Exhibition at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Canton received The Thelma Acres Memorial Award for the clay sculpture of her great-grandmother Ida Scott. The work shows Scott sitting on a bale of hay, feeding birds.
But Canton hasn't always sculpted clay.
In fact, she actually disliked the medium while she attended the York Academy of Applied Arts in York, Pa.
Then two years ago, wanting to make her mother a gift, she bought a clay kit: a mother bunny reading to a baby bunny. But Canton said she got frustrated with that project, balled up the clay and put it aside for another time.
``I kept the project around, and one day I got it back out. I went to the store and bought better clay. I threw out the directions and decided to wing it on my own.''
The result was a piece she now calls ``The Babysitter,'' a clay sculpture of a mother rabbit reading to a baby rabbit in each arm.
From there, Canton's fantasy creatures began to emerge - rats dressed as chefs, a door mouse that holds a daisy over its head, a lady rat scavenger that hides things, a piece called ``Heart and Hand'' - a hare on his knees proposing to the lady rabbit. And then there are the litters of baby rats, each one in its own nest.
One larger piece includes a pregnant bunny named Rosebud stringing a garland of rosebuds with a needle.
Once Canton perfected her fantasy works, her husband, John, challenged her to make people.
``He kept encouraging me to do people. And I thought, `No! Because then they would have to look like people.' ''
But eventually, when she felt she needed another challenge, she did move on to people - the people she loved, like her great-grandmother Ida Scott.
In fact, her first people-piece was the one of Scott feeding birds, the work that won Canton a juried award last month.
``I just wanted to bring her back to life. My earliest memory of her is watching her brush her long, grey hair as she sat on the front porch. I'd like to do that some time.''
And no doubt, Canton will someday do it.
Besides teaching clay classes at The Collage in Smithfield, Canton keeps a string of personal projects going. She says the variety of projects keeps her and her work fresh.
``I could teach the fantasy figures to anyone. But as far as the realistic figures, I don't think I could possibly teach that, because I don't know how I do it.''
She just does it - though she confesses to knowing one technique: studying faces and photographs of the people she crafts.
In her home studio at Gatling Pointe South, Canton has taped a photograph of ears to a wall - one model that will be used on a sculpture. There is also a fashion photograph of a girl Canton thinks would make a delicate angel. And lying on a table is a photograph of a crying, newborn baby.
She used that photo to help her create a piece - another work in progress - showing a doctor who's just delivered a baby.
And Canton used herself as a model for a clay doll. She said she kept a mirror close by for quick reference.
``It's the power of observation. I really don't know how I do it, except to say that it's an emotional process. It's more than just forming the clay. I don't really understand it myself.''
In addition to sculpting people and animals, Canton also sews all the outfits for her art work.
It's the one aspect of her work that she enjoys the least, she said.
But for anyone who looks at Canton's finished works, it is obvious that just as much work goes into the costuming of each figure as the figure itself.
Canton's one-of-a-kind creations sell for between $75 and $2,500. Her work can be bought at The Collage and several other art galleries scattered around the Tidewater area.
``It's very hard to price your own work, especially when you're a nobody,'' Canton said.
``But the people who do buy them are already educated in the artistry of dolls - that they are fine-art pieces.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
BRINGING CLAY TO LIFE
[Color photo]
``Smithfield Horsefly'' is one of the whimsical creations that
Jennifer Canton made in her home studio at Gatling Pointe South.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
In addition to making her own creations, artist Jennifer Canton
teaches clay classes at The Collage in Smithfield.
Jennifer Canton has been creating animals and people from a
ceramic-like clay that gives her creations lifelike
characteristics.
This ``Mouse Under An Umbrella'' is a door mouse holding a daisy.
Jennifer Canton's creations sell for between $75 and $2,500.
by CNB