Dionte Berry
Editor-in-Chief
dberry11@murraystate.edu
Murray, Kentucky, is home to a growing art scene, and artist and educator Anne Beyer has picked the Murray area as a place to grow her art and further her career, creating her own space in the art community.
Beyer is a Michigan native who received her bachelor’s degree in visual art at Albion College in 2010 and went on to do a wood-fired pottery apprenticeship in Albion, Michigan.
“Wood firing is very basic. It’s a type of firing style that’s been around for a long time, and people have been creating ceramic work all over the world with wood,” Beyer said. “That’s kind of how people learned that when you heat up clay it becomes hard, making it ceramic.”
Following her apprenticeship, Beyer did workshops and residencies at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, where she met her partner Wyatt Severs. Then, she received her master’s degree in studio fine arts from Indiana University Bloomington in 2019.
Beyer and Severs settled down in Murray right before the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Beyer was an adjunct professor at Murray State teaching ceramics and art for non-majors during the Fall 2021 semester. She later stepped away from the position in order to pursue her personal career as an artist.
“All that effort [from being an instructor] has been put into designing the wood kiln, my programming and making prototype objects to start a home business,” Beyer said. “It’s pretty much like the studio artist’s version of the American dream, right? You are your own boss, you work for yourself.”
Beyer is laying the foundation on her property for an anagama kiln and soon will start constructing an art studio repurposing the materials from a building she purchased at an auction. An anagama kiln, which translates to “cave kiln,” is an ancient type of Japanese kiln that serves to harden clay into ceramic.
The studio will serve as a production space for both Beyer and Severs, who does woodworking.
Along with housing their own works, it is in Beyer’s five-year plan for the studio to serve as a space to host workshops for kids and adults, residency programs and private studios.
“We got a small business loan that allowed us to purchase a building in Enterprise, Alabama, and we went down there and took it apart by hand,” Beyer said. “It’s a big pain in the butt to put it back together, but we can do it at a fraction of the price and kind of incorporate that story and idea of what if we did repurpose more instead of throwing things away and buying new.”
Before the building was taken apart for its materials, it was a maintenance shop. Now, the building will serve as a woodwork shop. Beyond the central studio, Beyer says she wants to create separate studios and living spaces for apprentices on her property.
Beyer said her apprenticeship program would serve to teach those who are still eager to learn although they may not have any academic affiliations.
Along with the physical presence of a studio, Beyer said she wants to ensure the environment she is creating is inclusive. Beyer plans on focusing on diversity and ensuring equal opportunities for everyone.
“Inclusivity is a big component to it, as well as just understanding that different people have different experiences, and you have to, like, make sure that everyone can be in that experience,” Beyer said.
The art community is a space, like many others in the U.S., made up predominantly of white men. Beyer said in white male dominated environments it can be harder for those who are marginalized to get the same opportunities.
Under the umbrella of inclusivity, Beyer said physical accessibility is also another major focus for her studio.
“Another one that gets really overlooked is accessibility, like, can somebody get a wheelchair somewhere,” Beyer said. “I think that happens a lot to the art community where just really basic things like being able to get a door open with a button is a big deal.”
Beyer also wants the space to be beneficial to students studying studio arts at Murray State.
“I am hoping to be a place where students can land after graduation, because there’s a really great ceramic program at Murray State, and my studio would be a more specific type of learning,” Beyer said. “If somebody goes through the Murray State program and then wants to learn about wood firing or wants to stay, or maybe can’t travel for some reason, I’ll be there.”
Beyer plans to host an open house for the studio April 30 through May 1 on her property in New Concord, Kentucky.