For many of us, life is rather simple and predictable.

We live in one general area for nearly our entire life, remain in a comfort zone and perhaps choose not to take bold risks.

Oak Harbor native Andrea Moon does not fit that mold.

The 31-year-old, who was, until recently, living in Marblehead, recently departed for Red Lodge, Montana where she has accepted a fellowship to be an artist-in-residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center.

Oak Harbor native Andrea Moon has accepted a fellowship to be an artist-in-residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana.

Located approximately an hour outside of Billings and just north of the Wyoming border, Red Lodge is a small, picturesque mountain town located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

The Red Lodge Clay Center is an art center that features a studio and a gallery that provide an opportunity for its residents to teach classes, improve their techniques and display their artwork. The facility, which provides housing for its residents, has three full-time people on staff and is constructed, according to its website, to “provide a place for professionally-minded ceramic artists to create new work.”

“It’s an innovative experience,” Moon said. “The community wants you there. It’s a generous place.”

Moon’s first significant influence in art was Jan Pugh, owner of Packer Creek Pottery in Genoa. Moon worked with Pugh for four years as the studio assistant, learning important tasks like operating a kiln as well as growing accustomed to the daily routine that comes with being an artist.

“Jan Pugh – she was my first mentor,” said Moon. “She got me interested in clay and was very helpful.”

Moon, the middle of three children, graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1998 and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Three-Dimensional Studies from Bowling Green State University in 2002. Afterward, she traveled the country extensively.

Her travels have taken her from Bowling Green to Columbia, S.C. to Champaign, Ill., to Lubbock, Tex., where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics & Sculpture from Texas Tech University in 2009. From there, she migrated to Laredo, Tex. before arriving in Gatlinburg, Tenn., where she was until this summer.

While living in Gatlinburg for 12 months as an Artist-in-Residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, she taught clay courses, expanded on her artwork and worked within the non-profit campus as well as the art gallery. While there, Moon received a modest monthly stipend and had housing provided for by the school.

“It’s beautiful there, the gateway to the Smoky Mountains,” she said. “We taught community classes, kids’ classes and national classes. You’re getting people from everywhere – international students, artists, professors, educators. Everybody wants to learn – it’s a respectful kind of atmosphere.”

While in the world of academia, Moon has had a number of jobs, serving as a graduate assistant at the University of South Carolina and as a studio technician at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), among other things. She has also worked as an instructor at middle schools, community centers and art galleries during this time.

For Moon, life as an artist has allowed her to take “the road less traveled” – the opportunity to live a different, non-conforming kind of lifestyle, living in a variety of places throughout the country and experiencing different walks of life.

Her motivation comes from seeking fulfillment and from meaningful and enjoyable experiences, she said.

Moon’s portfolio is comprised of sculpture, drawings and functional ware, specifically pottery. Her works have been on display in a number of art galleries throughout the country, though it is still a work in progress.

“Hopefully, I’ll get in some galleries and receive a monthly check,” she said. “It’s very much a skilled labor.”

For Moon, there is one thing she can always find solace in, and that is knowing that she is doing something she believes strongly in and enjoys.

“It’s a beautiful thing to wake up and do what you love every day,” she said.

For more information on her work, visit www.andreamoon.com.

Oak Harbor native Andrea Moon has accepted a fellowship to be an artist-in-residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed