Middy Potter

Springs and Things

February 18 – March 22, 2014

The current show at WSG gallery is Middy Potter’s ‘Springs and Things’.  Middy is a modern-day Renaissance Man, with a super-fun tool shop and studio.  He studied Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (basically, everything mechanical on a ship) at the University of Michigan and puts his problem-solving skills and curiosity to the test in his newest body of work.

A builder from an early age, he has a wealth of skills to draw from as he starts with disparate objects and forges relationships between them until they take the form of something new and totally unrelated to their original purpose.

I had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with him.  Here’s a bit of our interview:

V: “How did you get into the study of Naval Architecture?”

Middy: “I’ve had a lifelong love of ships. When I was 8 or 9 years old, I  started making ship models.  I built these things in my room – made all the parts from scratch.  I studied a lot of maritime history, with a particular interest in sailing ships of the mid-1800s.  By the time I was age 14, I had a whole fleet of sailing models!”

V: “Were you one of those kids who had to move stuff aside to find your bed at night?”

Middy: (laughs) “No – I had a pretty big bedroom in Annapolis. Sometimes I’d take a model out to the reflecting pond on the mall in DC.”

V: “How did you first find a love for art?”

Middy: “Well, my parents were in the military, so I moved around a lot.  But I was exposed to a lot of cultural learning in the form of museums and history.  One of the blessings about living in Europe is the culture that surrounded us and the fact that it’s a part of everyone’s lives.  Everyone goes to museums – it’s an intricate part of learning.  By the time I was 12 – I’d seen stuff that most adults would never see in their lives.”

V:  “Is there a moment you remember the switch being flipped on for you in terms of needing to ‘make’ and use your hands?

Middy:  “It happens that I took some ceramics classes when I was a kid in Europe. The teacher realized that I just forged ahead in making sculpture with the clay and that she really didn’t need to teach me.  As a 3rd grader I made this big fish standing with its tail folded underneath him with his mouth wide open, painted with multi-colored glazes. I won 1st place in a show of all the kids in Europe!  That was encouraging.”

V:  “Do you have a favorite method or technique to work in?”

Middy:  “I take delight in coming up with new techniques – messing around with materials.”

V: “Any final thoughts?”

Middy:  “It’s important to me to make, create, discover when my daughters visit and my grandchildren visit.  We cook, make stuff in the studio and just enjoy the act of creating things together.”

“Fireworks”, by Middy Potter