Tops 'n Pots

Everyone in the family gets a turn in the Top Spinner Contest, and all will enjoy the pottery demonstration that Carol Burt will bring to Indiana Artisan Gifts & Gallery during the June 11 gallery walk in the Carmel Arts & Design District.

Back by popular demand, the contest will determine if Fawzi Breidi’s winning 2021 spin — 1 minute, 18 seconds – can be topped. Fishers wood artist Tim Kennedy will provide the hand-turned top for the contest and a handsome plaque for the winner.

Burt, a Muncie potter, began her arts career as a painter, her pieces known to bring a smile to your face.  “I’m known more as a potter than a painter, but the success of my pottery comes from my training as a painter,” she says. “Painting was my first love, and when I realized I could apply those skills to my thrown forms, I ended up with the best of both worlds!”

The recently retired art teacher turns clay into functional and decorative pieces that are sometimes playful, always beautiful and often both. She uses the skills she learned as a painter to decorate her pieces through paints, glazes, carving, sgraffito and more.