Dancer-turned-potter Donna Rizzo to exhibit works at Renaissance Center

Release Date: 8/24/2006. Expired: 10/14/2006

Nashville artist Donna Rizzo translates her experience in dance into a unique style of pottery. Some of Rizzo’s works will be displayed in the North Wing Exhibit Case at The Renaissance Center in Dickson Sept. 1-Oct. 14.

An opening reception will be 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

After years of dance and instruction, Rizzo has now turned to clay as another form of artistic expression.

“My choreographing, performing and teaching children have definitely had an impact on my clay world,” Rizzo said. “The themes I used and characters I portrayed in dance are now finding themselves in my ceramic sculptures and functional pottery. Hopefully they reflect the love, joy and playfulness I find in making them.”

Rizzo’s pieces are made of fired earthenware clay that are thrown or hand-built. Each piece has its own personality while still grasping tight to the signature Rizzo style that suggests rhythm and movement.

“Most of my pieces move or suggest movement from rocking horse teapots to children swinging, dolls hanging, dresses evoking rhythms, to southern churches illuminated by candlelight,” she said. “My dance studio has now become a clay one and you may find me there happily improvising and creating one-of-a-kind pieces looking for homes.

Rizzo works will clay at different temperatures using both electric and raku kilns. Each piece dictates how it will be fired and glazed.

In addition to displaying her works, Rizzo will conduct a clay workshop each Saturday in September.

Students will begin with learning the basics or freshen their skills in hand-building, then will individualize with the many approaches to surface design. Students will work with cone 6-04, white earthenware. However, the techniques learned can be applied on any clay body.

This workshop is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturdays, Sept. 2, 9, 16 and 23, and is limited to 10 students. Tuition is $100 for the four-day workshop.

For more information on Donna Rizzo’s exhibit in the North Wing or her workshops, call (615)740-5600. To register for the workshop, call (615)740-5533.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Visual Arts Gallery page for more about the gallery.

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