RCAA member and Potters Guild member Mary Avrakotos is part of a creation team including Joan Harris, Joe Szutz and Shirley White-Black. Together this team of artists created three sculpture towers called “Woodlands – Seen, Unseen, and Imagined”. The exhibit is currently open by appointment through a link on the Matthaei Botanical Gardens website. Starting August 10th reservations will not be needed.

The title of the whole exhibit at Matthaei Botanical Gardens is “A Garden of Earthy Delights”. It is an installation of ceramic sculptures inspired by the habitats of the Great Lakes and the plants that grow in them. The multi-piece staked tower-like sculptures were created in collaboration with the botanical gardens and the Guild in celebration of the Guild’s 70th anniversary. Thirty-three artists collaborated on eight teams to create 10 sculpture towers.

To visualize and create the sculptures, teams of Potters Guild artists “looked to each habitat’s special plants, animals and landscapes,” explains Mary Avrakotos, Potters Guild spokesperson. The sculptures, which vary from representational to abstract, make use of the full range of ceramic tools and techniques. In the prairie section of the Great Lakes Gardens, for example, Avarkotos says, “visitors will see multiple plant colors, textures and shapes. The sculpture’s pieces reference the shapes of plants and the creatures that live in them found in open fields, on top of flowers, and in grasses growing in the Michigan prairie ecosystems.”

The Ann Arbor Potters Guild was founded in 1949 by nine potters who rented space in an alley near the University fo Michigan. The Guild was incorporated the following year and in 1968 the building at 201 Hill Street-where it is presently housed-was purchased. Today the Guild is home to some 45 artists whose work ranges from sculpture to production pottery. It is thought to be the oldest ceramic  artist cooperative in the country.

The exhibit will be on display at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens through October 3, 2021.