Folklorist & Fiber

Kelly Savino

My story...
Creativity, for adults, can be as much about unlearning as it is about learning. Long before we learned to focus on the end product of our experiments, as something to be graded, critiqued, applauded, or monetized, we were driven by pure curiosity and a sense of play. Many of us as children stopped trying to draw, or write creatively, or sing for the joy of it because the result was criticized or corrected by teachers, family and peers. But at some level, our hands and our brains remember making and are comforted and amused by it. Whether we are remembering our own early years, or remembering at some instinctual level the tens of thousands of years of making that helped us evolve, we can tap into a flow if we let go of the pressure to produce something great every time we sit down to create. The poster in my studio says "Make, fail, make, fail, make". My friend calls it "failing forward". I encourage students to enjoy the process, and branch out into their own inquiries, armed with the experience and techniques I can share.

Kelly Savino has a BA in English, an MA in Folklore and Anthropology, and an MFA in Ceramics. She worked as a public sector folklorist in the South, documenting the stories and skills of moonshiners, quilters, coon hunters, boatbuilders, fiddle makers, granny midwives, and Amish farmers. She has been a potter for over 30 years, exploring historical approaches to kiln building and pit firing, sometimes using local clays and materials for pottery and cob built ovens . In recent years, her focus has shifted to fiber arts, including spinning, weaving, and the growing of flax, cotton, madder and indigo in a backyard garden. An enthusiasm for botany, biology and microscopy mesh well with an interest in historical crafting methods. Using foraged, home grown or repurposed materials helps her enjoy the process without getting overly "precious" about her work.