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Photo courtesy of Sandra Annonio
Sandra Annonio is one of more than 200 artists who are members of the Shelby County Arts Council and will be showing her work at the upcoming Holiday Artist Market.
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Photo courtesy of Sandra Annonio
Sandra Annonio is one of more than 200 artists who are members of the Shelby County Arts Council and will be showing her work at the upcoming Holiday Artist Market.
The Shelby County Arts Council is gearing up for another year of its annual Holiday Artist Market on Dec. 1, featuring fine arts and crafts from local artists such as jewelry, fabric art, painting, knitted/crocheted accessories, prints and more.
Sandra Annonio, a pottery artist based in Chelsea, is one of many who will be showing and selling their work.
Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Annonio has lived in the Birmingham for the past 17 years. Eight years ago, as her daughters were getting ready to graduate from high school, she set out to find a new project to fill her “empty nest.” That project would become a pottery class at the Shelby County Arts Council.
After two years, she set up an in-home pottery studio, and a couple years later, Annonio took the leap and began showing and selling her work in festivals.
“I would call myself a ‘hobby potter,’” Annonio said. Though she does make money from the sale of her pottery, she works full time at the Shelby County Arts Council as their marketing person, a job that she began shortly after she began taking pottery classes there. The money she makes from selling her art, she said, mainly goes toward buying clay, supplies and paying for her classes at the arts council.
“I love working there because it’s such a creative environment,” she said.
Annonio’s work commonly demonstrates a pottery technique called altering, in which she manipulates the original form into different shapes. Particularly, she enjoys experimenting with making bowls and vases, saying that altering the shapes gives them more personality.
Though her daughters aren’t artitsically inclined in pottery making, they enjoy their mother’s work, especially when it comes time to give a gift.
“A lot of times they will ask me to create something as a special gift,” she said. “Something that they want to give to a friend.”
Annonio knew she had tapped into a hidden talent the moment she sat down at her first pottery wheel and threw her first piece of art.
“The reason I like to throw pottery is because it’s a process,” she said, calling herself a “process oriented” person. “You sit down and you touch the clay and there’s certain steps you have to take.”
What she creates in one sitting, she said, isn’t up to her. “The clay will tell you what it wants to be.”
Annonio calls her pottery “functional art” since her pieces are food and dishwasher safe. Many of her works will be available for sale during the holiday artist market with pieces beginning at $12 and going up to $80. She sells exclusively at festivals, an environment she greatly appreciates because every piece of art is unique.
“I always get so excited when someone purchases a piece of my work,” she said. “It helps validate my love for the craft.”
The Shelby County Artists Council will be having a preview night for the holiday artist market on Nov. 30 at their location on 104 Mildred St. in Columbiana, where customers can come and mingle and talk with the artists and enjoy refreshments.
The holiday market will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., also at the Mildred Street location. Admission is free.
