<\/a>December 03, 1997<\/p>\n\u201cWe can see so much more with our hands,\u201d Arturo DeVitalis recently told me during our telephone interview.<\/p>\n
Arturo is a potter who has been nurturing the gift of working with his hands for the past 25 of his 71 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cA man about in his 60s helped me unload my car at the Art Gallery one day,\u201d he continued. \u201cI noticed the pottery pieces next to this man and remarked how wonderful they were. He told me he was a surgeon. He, too, used his hands to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arturo uses his hands to shape lumps of clay into beautiful fire stoneware pottery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like my pottery to enhance the sharing of food as people sit around a table,\u201d\u00a0 he said. \u201cMy values are hearth and home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he was born in New Jersey, he worked for a while for Texas Instruments in Texas, but moved to the Rochester area where his sister lived. He took a pottery course at the Rochester Art Gallery and knew it was what he wanted to do instead of a \u201cstraight\u201d job.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething led me to it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt still feels right\u2019 to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arturo has two kilns to fire his pots. One is a 15 cubic foot kiln he uses for the first firing. The second is a larger, 65 cubic feet gas kiln for the final firing. The glazes he uses are, of course, lead-free and non-toxic. The colors are deep oranges, blues, tans and rich earth tones.<\/p>\n
Each piece is decorated by carving or brush techniques that highlight that piece\u2019s beauty and function.<\/p>\n
You can feel if Arturo\u2019s pottery is right for you at the Potpourri of Gifts and The Cross Stitch Corner Open House Friday, December 5 from 11:00 AM-8:00 PM; Saturday, December 6 from 11:00-5:00 and Sunday, December 7 from Noon-4:00 PM.<\/p>\n
Arturo will be there to share his creations with you on Saturday morning. Be sure to ask him about the time a wild, 40-pound raccoon nuzzled him under his grey beard.<\/p>\n
The Open House will also feature Connie Flood with her Barbie Doll creations and Barbie make overs and Michelle Stoneham with her American Girl Doll Clothes.<\/p>\n
The proprietress of Potpourri of Gifts, Edie Pasquini, assures me there will be lots of in-store specials, tasty treats and an ornament drawing every hour on Saturday.<\/p>\n
I know about Edie\u2019s tasty treats! That\u2019s why I\u2019ll be there all day Saturday with my children\u2019s book \u201cThe Night Search\u201d to sell and sign. I\u2019m going to donate a portion of my book proceeds to Guiding Eyes for the Blind. This is where Future was bred and trained. Eventually, I\u2019ll be there to train with a new dog.<\/p>\n
Potpourri of Gifts and The Cross Stitch Corner are located at 2256 Walworth-Marion Road. Phone: 315-986-7999.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2018 Up-Date: Alas, Arturo has moved to Florida with a wife. Potpourri of Gifts and the Cross-Stitch Corner are no longer doing business.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Walworthians A collection of telephone interviews published in the Wayne County STAR Newspaper and Wayne County MAIL Newspaper, 1994-209 by Kate Chamberlin Arturo DeVitalis, Potter December 03, 1997 \u201cWe can see so much more with our hands,\u201d Arturo DeVitalis recently told me during our telephone interview. Arturo is a potter who has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1296,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions\/1296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}