http://www.vermontjournal.com/content/clay-shaper-transforms-gear-shaper
Clay Shaper Transforms Gear Shaper
Submitted by VT Journal on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 9:13am
SPRINGFIELD, VT -A hundred years ago the building set on the edge of Pearl Street, at the back of the newly restored One Hundred River Street complex, was the original home of the Fellows Gear Shaper Factory. Now it is the home of Polly Whitcomb’s Clay Shaper Studio. Polly’s pottery studio occupies 2/5th of the upper story of the building that was built in 1896 when Edwin Fellows, an entrepreneur who created an innovative type of gear shaper, left Jones & Lamson Machine Company in Windsor to co-found the Fellows Gear Shaper Company in Springfield.
Polly, a native Springfielder, moved back to her old hometown this year to be close to family after living away for 50 years. But she also missed the dewiness of Vermont after years at the edge of the desert. The new landlords installed one of the pellet stoves that had been used in the main complex during renovation so Polly’s space will be cozy through the winter, but probably not as cozy as her former studio in New Mexico. She spent the last 16 years in Ribera, a small town about 40 miles from Santa Fe, where she had her studio in an old dance hall next to her adobe house. “Every town in the Southwest has a dance hall,” says Whitcomb. The old buildings are relics of Depression era entertainment, she went on to explain. Polly’s fascination with the charms of older buildings shows in her work.
The connection to the old gear shaper site lies not just with the name of the studio, which Polly chose as a tribute to the history of her new space. The link also exists in Polly’s clay works where she combines the oxidized elements of bygone eras into her clay sculptures. She collected many of these items from the arroyos-- Spanish for a dry gulch or gully, near her old home in New Mexico. "I try to remain open to the possibilities of each old thing I come across. From the heap of these items collected outside my studio I make a selection that combines with clay shapes into a satisfying whole. Each completed piece is different and is partially determined by the nature of the 'find'. The process is a partnership between the elements chosen and what I bring to it. Some pieces fall into place with startling ease, and others need considerable fiddling and redoing. I find beauty in each of the found objects and delight in the contrasts and harmonies between them and the clay. I love the juxtaposition of deteriorating materials that are being eaten away by time and weather, and the seed-like new life of the clay forms,” wrote Whitcomb on the website of the Patina Gallery in Santa Fe.
Polly’s Pearl Street studio is filled with beautiful vases and tiles in inky blues, cactus greens, and shimmering oranges that reflect the intensity of her desert influences. But mainly her interest lies in the sculptures that bring to life the walls of the studio. Her studio is open to those who appreciate art and those who might like to take a piece or two home. Polly is currently putting together a collection of her works in wood and bone, metal and tile she hopes to display soon in the nearby Great Hall.
Edwin Fellows has to be rolling in his grave. This manifestation of cerebral regression to a primordial feat of intellect speaks volumes of Springfield's failure to encourage, retain and attract contemporary industrialists & technologists. Those entrepreneurs that generate the wealth and prosperity all can benefit from.
ReplyDeletePathetic. Absolutely, embarrassingly pathetic.
"contemporary industrialists & technologists"...hm, you mean the sweatshops? They all were sent to China by the contemporary industrialists.
ReplyDeleteWould that be the same sweatshops that funded payrolls that permitted thousands to join the middle class, taught valuable trade skills, paid the mortgages on thousands of homes, put generations thru college, provided generous health insurance, created enough prosperity to have the finest community hospital, most expensive schools, endless community services and attracted trade leaders from around the world?
DeleteYea, those that used to pay union scale in America, that now have sweatshops in a Communist Country...you've got it Jakov
DeleteYeah, those industrialists that used to provide union scale employment to Americans, that are now providing sweatshop wages to Chinese, you have correctly identified them.
DeleteYeah, and those UNION SCALE employees forced the industrialists to keep their companys afloat and competitive by seeking labor elsewhere.....nice going Springfield!
DeleteSpringfield's machine tool industry was doomed long before China became a factor. Try competing against Germany, a country noted for producing quality machinery while your lazy union slobs go out on strike every few years. Oh yeah back then those strikes struck fear in not only the business owners but also in the general populace. Violence or threats of violence are never the answer.
DeleteThe only reason those industrialists were actually good for Springfield was because of the unions, otherwise they would have just been sweatshops here instead of in China. With the power of the unions in America broken, our economy has been broken because what kept all those other small businesses afloat was the fact that the people actually had not only enough money to feed, clothe and shelter their familiers about some left over for discretionary spending.
DeleteWrong! Union wages and ridiculous perks have brought this country to its knees. Look at what the unions did for the auto industry...they bankrupted it and destroyed the state of Michigan. Look at what public unions are doing today getting wages and benefits that are enormous compared to the business world. Most municipalities can not afford all of the pension and healthcare benefits that they have promised public employees in the future. They made those promises on the backs of real workers in order to keep getting voted into office. Now we have a tremendous amount of cities and towns declaring bankruptcy or on the verge of it and raising taxes on the citizens anyway that they can.
DeleteProductive, talented machinists will always be in demand and command premium pay. Proof being current machinist trainee starting pay at GE in Rutland at $26.50/hr without experience!
DeleteOnce OSHA and VOSHA rules where in place, unions only served to protect unskilled, undesirable workers. No employer will abuse or under pay a man earning him money as the labor pool in Vermont is just that poor.
Oh and by the way, there are no CNC lathes, internal grinders, or gear shapers of any market share exported from China.
Its not that the public employees are getting overpaid, its just that the wages in the private sector have shrunk and shriveled up. The industrialists are expecting to hire the top students coming out of high school for their shops, but the pay isn't commensurate with their talents so they are not going in their direction. When Reagan set out to destroy the unions, he didn't think through what the long term reprecussions to the economy would be. America had, and still has to a dwindling degree, the healthiest consumer market on the planet -- that is why the manufacturers in China are selling their products here. If they couldn't sell their products here, they would be making their products here so they could sell them here.
DeleteClueless!
DeleteScranton Mayor Chris Doherty cut everyone's pay -- including his own -- on Friday, saying the state's sixth-largest city is broke because the City Council blocked his proposed tax increase. Doherty, a Democrat, warned nearly 400 police officers, firefighters and public works employees about his doomsday plan, prompting a Lackawanna County judge to order the city to pay full wages to all employees, citing that it is a violation of their contracts. Hours later, the payday envelopes went out, and, despite the judge's order, they were light.
Delete"The kids aren't going to be able to do certain activities this summer — maybe we're not going to be able to go on vacation."
The firefighters' union, along with the police and public works unions, have taken the city to court.
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/156416876/scrantons-public-workers-pay-cut-to-minimum-wage?ft=1&f=1017
Hopefully she receives some type of public assistance in order for her to meet the requirements for the Springfield Pipe Dreamers Regional Development Corporation.
ReplyDeleteSpringfield's future to be propelled by a Play Doh factory? Another sad testament to contemporary Springfield and another sad article trying desperately to deny the town's fate.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you attacking someone that is trying to open a business in Springfield?
DeleteCuz I is an idiot and I don't knows what a business's culd be.
DeleteI wonder if she will be offering custom-made clay pottery bongs?
ReplyDeleteIssued June 28, 2012
ReplyDelete1. By application filed November 15, 2011, as supplemented on April 27, 2012, the Town of Springfield, Vermont (Springfield) and Siemens Westinghouse Technical Services, Inc. (Siemens) (jointly, transferors), and One Hundred River Street, LLC (transferee) seek Commission approval to transfer the license for the Fellows Dam Project No. 9648, from the transferors to transferee. The project is located on the Black River in Windsor County, Vermont.
2. Springfield and One Hundred River Street, LLC originally filed the transfer of license application without Siemens as a co-applicant. On March 15, 2012, Commission staff sent the applicants a letter explaining that their application was deficient without proof that Springfield’s co-licensee, Siemens, agreed to the transfer of license. On April 27, 2012, Siemens filed a letter stating its approval of the transfer of license request.
3. Public notice of the application was issued on May 16, 2012, setting June 16, 2012, as the deadline for filing comments, protests, and motions to intervene. No comments, protests, or motions to intervene were filed.
Where you going with this?
Delete