Clay Works By Trans Students, Artists On Display In St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Ceramic works by nearly 60 trans and gender nonconforming youth students and artists are on display in an exhibition, “trans / clay / body,” curated by ceramics instructor Dakota-Joan Parkinson at the Morean Center for Clay.

The pieces were created during free ceramics courses and a traditional anagama wood-firing workshop taught by Parkinson at the Morean last year.

It will be on display starting Saturday through April 27 with an opening night celebration with speakers and artists, a potluck and more planned for Saturday evening, 5 to 9 p.m.

Parkinson, a former microbiologist and Arizona native, embraced the arts and her creativity around the same time that she realized she was transgender. She honed her skills largely through workshops and practice, eventually discovering ceramics.

“The wood kiln is what got me interested in pottery and then I went from being interested in pottery to being obsessed with pottery and with this esoteric niche knowledge,” Parkinson told Patch.

When she moved to St. Petersburg for a ceramics residency at the Morean Center for Clay, she hoped to one day offer free classes and a wood-fire workshop for the trans community.

This was eventually made possible last year thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Creative Pinellas. Typically, the wood-fire workshop alone would cost one person anywhere from $300 to $700, she said.

Having “always been a bit of a community builder,” Parkinson is drawn to the communal aspect of the wood-fire kiln.

“In traditional Japanese culture, the anagama firing process requires a collective effort, with the entire village working together to fuel the kiln over days and nights,” she said.

This was evident during the workshop at the Morean, according to Parkinson. “The bonds formed during this process were mirrored in our community of trans youth, whose collaboration resulted in stunning, high-quality pieces that will endure long beyond us all.”

She added, “It brought people together. They bonded around a shared goal and shared labor.”

Clay artist Nela Lamb of St. Petersburg said that both clay as a medium and the wood-fire process speak to the trans and gender nonconforming community.
“In ceramics, we take raw materials — clay, slip, glaze — and shape them into forms that speak to us and portray the story we want to tell,” they told Patch. “As trans people we do the same with the raw materials we’re allotted at birth — we shape them to express our truth.”

Pieces created during the classes were placed in a communal kiln and nine cords of wood were used to keep the fire going over “three-and-a-half days and nights,” Lamb said. During that time, volunteers were “constantly tending to the transformative power of fire. Heat that literally changes what’s been offered up to the flame. And wood that, reduced to ash, provides the energy for transformation and the glaze to coat the clay.”

Prior to the workshop, Court Gape, a Bradenton resident, had never worked with clay. But he were looking for a comfortable way to connect with others in the trans community.

“I feel like there’s been a lot of events focusing on trans people and such and I always want to go to them, but felt like it’s not a space for me and everyone has their own friends there,” he told Patch.

When he saw a post about “trans / clay / body” on social media, he decided to give it a try.

“I thought, you know what? Let go for the art, which I’m passionate about, and if I’m not meeting anyone, at least I have art to focus on,” Gape said.

The workshop “really changed the course of my life,” he added. He discovered a passion for clay arts and now works at The Hive, a St. Petersburg pottery and art studio, where he’s also a member.

“I don’t know where my life would have been without this experience,” Gape said.

He has several pieces in the show — an animal and hand sculptures — as well as a giant sculpture of where he injects testosterone as part of an installation piece.

Lamb also has four pieces in the show, including two hand sculptures, a beaver and a penguin.

Both artists believe it’s an important time for such an exhibit, especially in Florida, where various new laws have targeted transgender people in recent years.

“Despite this, there are still so many trans people and trans communities here,” Gape said. “And they have so much life and so much to give and this showcases what we can do and that we are staying.”

Lamb added, “I hope trans people who come can see the powerful, eternal product of community — what was once clay and were once strangers became ceramic sculptures and friendships that carry on. They can also make their own mark on the interactive pieces we set up for them. I hope the greater public who come are amazed by the diversity of expression and the beauty we create when we are free to be.”