Arts & Literature

Local Makers Find Success in Peachtree Corners, Part 1: “Molding A New Life — Cosa Linda Pottery”

Published

3 years ago

December 10, 2021

Isadora Pennington

Lauren Rios at her pottery wheel. Photos by Isadora Pennington.

Sometimes it takes the unexpected to shake things up and inspire us to pursue our dreams. Whether it’s our children growing up and needing less attention, a sudden job change or a desire to transform grief into growth, there are many reasons why individuals might seek out a career that sparks their passion and gives their life new meaning.

Certainly, the past two years of living through a global pandemic have presented unprecedented challenges and ample opportunities to reconsider the ‘why’ behind our daily lives. So what does it take for an individual to embrace their dreams and not only survive a pandemic, but also to thrive?

Rios in her workshop, Christmas Trees.

I’d like to introduce you to three such makers who have devoted themselves to their crafts, finding joy and meaning through transforming their ideas into products, and hobbies into livelihoods.

Molding A New Life — Cosa Linda Pottery

“I feel like it’s best when you can pick it up and feel it,” said Lauren Rios, a sculptor who has been making mostly functional pottery for her company Cosa Linda Pottery since she debuted in 2019. Working out of her home studio tucked away in a corner of her basement, Rios throws pieces on the wheel and hand sculpts works to sell in local art festivals and via her Etsy shop.

Her wares include bowls, pitchers, berry bowls, vases, dishes and her ever-popular Christmas trees.

Rios has been working with clay since she was a junior in high school. As a shy teenager, the ceramics teacher at her school suggested that she could spend her downtime in the studio. This quickly became a lifeline for Rios, sparking a joy for working with clay and eventually leading to employment under an established functional potter in her hometown.

At home, her parents also continuously nurtured her creativity. “My mom is very artistic,” said Rios, who remembers doing arts and crafts with her mom and home improvement projects with her dad. More comfortable with 3-D work than 2-D art such as drawing, Rios said it was a natural fit for her to work with clay. “I kind of have to visualize the whole thing,” she explained.

Her time working for Alec Karros, an established functional potter and adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, was transformative and inspirational. “I learned so much from him; how to run an efficient studio, how to be safe with the materials, how to pack things so they don’t break and things like that.” During the year or so that she worked under Karros, she gained a tactile feel for functional clay work, something she applies to everything from the thickness of the clay to the finish and the overall shape. Now, after all of these years dabbling in the craft, she is hoping to explore and grow as an artist.

Rios is currently enrolled at Kennesaw State University pursuing a master’s degree in Art and Design with a concentration in Arts Education. In the years since she first experimented with pottery as a teen, she has worked as a Spanish teacher, and is currently employed by Renfroe Academy, a middle school located in Decatur. Before that, she was involved with Pinckneyville Middle School, but found the balance of managing her young children and the classes to be untenable in the long run, forcing her to step back from the craft.

It was when Rios and her family moved to their current home around 2015 and she was able to build out her own studio that she was able to devote more time and energy to pottery. Now that her children are older, she has prioritized discovering her style and developing her skills further through her classes at KSU. Rios spoke of the unique challenge she faces when trying to depart from the rules and workflow that she adapted from working as a functional potter.

“I’m actually doing my whole thesis on busts and self-portraiture,” explained Rios with a laugh, who admits that this kind of work is a total deviation. Beyond making non-functional pieces, it is also a new challenge to make only one of something. “That’s all I know how to do, right? I can’t make one thing; I have to make 12. I don’t know how to not scale.”

All of Rios’ work is food-safe, microwaveable and dishwasher safe. In 2021 she decided to sign up for only one festival, the Peachtree Corners Festival, in order to give herself adequate time to create her pieces for the event. She fulfills orders through her Etsy shop year-round.

One of Rios’ most popular designs is her Christmas tree design. These 3D trees are hand cut and molded, then painted green or left as a sort of natural cream color. Rios says she’s currently experimenting with new colors that she may debut in the future as well. Originally developed for a Christmas in July show in Tucker three years ago, the trees are both charming and timeless.

Rios’ affection for Christmas trees can be traced all the way back to her senior year of high school when her family purchased a home that happened to be located on a Christmas Tree farm.

“At the time the Norway spruce, spruce trees and the white pines were in style, and we would have a choose-and-cut. We did it for maybe two or three years before the trees got too big and then everyone started buying fir trees. The fir trees, they over trim them and they sag, but the Norway spruces grow straight upright and they smell fabulous, though they are very prickly. So I just made a Christmas tree. I wanted to do the traditional way you might draw a Christmas tree and I experimented with ways to make them. I’ve been doing it for three years, I think , and they get better each year.”

Rios shared that while she first began working with clay as a means of expressing her creativity, she has also found it to be therapeutic, albeit a little lonely at times. She plans to eventually meld her two loves, clay and teaching, and begin offering workshops or summer classes. While she’s happy today working solo in her home studio, she does miss being around other creatives. Rios hopes that the future holds more opportunities for sharing in community while developing her work and also passing her knowledge on to the next generation of makers.

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Isadora Pennington

Isadora is a writer, photographer, and designer living in Avondale Estates, GA. She has worked in print for the past decade and has been published in the Atlanta INtown, Oz Magazine, Atlanta Senior Life, and the Reporter Newspapers.

Arts & Literature

Tales From the Farm: Q&A with Local Indie Children’s Author, Katie Morgan Lester

Published

4 weeks ago

January 27, 2025

Shawne Taylor

Middle-aged woman with blonde hair, smiling and wearing a blue shirt. She's standing with a building and a cow behind her, and she's holding copies of the three children's books she's written.

Local children’s author and illustrator, Katie Morgan Lester, recently released a new book — the third in her Morgan Farm Books series. Launched last year, Gracie the Goat is all about the importance of being a good listener. Inspired by Lester’s own pet goat from childhood, it tells the tale of Gracie and her adventures in meeting a new friend.

Gracie the Goat follows two previous titles in the series: Picky Pig Pete and Raymond the Rooster. Each of the books includes simple life lessons, as well as rhyming lines, watercolor illustrations and photos of the real animals the stories are based on — elements that appeal to younger kids as well as early readers.

We recently caught up with the Peachtree Corners author to hear more about her life, the book series and what inspires her work.

How long have you lived in Peachtree Corners?

My husband Mark and I have lived in Peachtree Corners for approximately 20 years. We knew even before having our son Brandon (who is now 17 years old and a junior at Norcross High School), that we loved the area and the people here.

We adore the street we live on with such loving neighbors. We’ve been blessed to be in Peachtree Corners with others providing such a sense of community.

In addition to creating children’s books, I am also a cardio instructor at the local YMCA, and I teach a part time preschool class and an after-school art class at Simpsonwood United Methodist Church.

What led you to want to write children’s books?

I grew up on a South Carolina farm with many types of animals. As a child and throughout my adulthood, I have loved to draw illustrations.

I graduated from Furman University with a studio art degree, [then] worked in advertising and marketing for 20 years but always did artwork as a side business — my favorite things to paint being children’s room décor and murals.

A blonde haired woman in a pink, long sleeve shirt standing next to her teenage son and husband. — from left: Brandon, Katie and Mark; photo courtesy of Katie Morgan Lester

Once I had our son Brandon, I aspired to create a children’s book with my own illustrations to dedicate to him. I slowly began creating a rhyming story and the characters to include. I used the farm I grew up on as the setting, and all of the animal characters in my books are based on real ones from there.

Where did the idea for the series come from?

My maiden name is Morgan and the name of the farm I grew up on is Morgan Farms. The farm is the setting for all of my books. To use Morgan Farm Books as my series name came naturally and keeps me connected to my family roots.

Each book has an important message for children: Picky Pig Pete teaches children to try something new — whether that’s a new food or an activity — and can be a help to [those with picky eaters]. Raymond the Rooster is a great message that friends come in all colors, shapes and sizes. And Gracie the Goat teaches children to be good listeners.

Gracie the Goat children's book by Katie Morgan Lester. Front cover and back cover are shown. The books are sitting on top of a bale of hay in front of a barn. — photo courtesy of Katie Morgan Lester

While each book has its own story and can easily be purchased separately, I felt having a series title would connect my current and future books. It can also give encouragement for those that buy the books to want to continue the series.

How many books do you plan to write and illustrate in the series?

I enjoy writing and illustrating children’s books so much that I would love to continue for years to come. I do not have any specific number of books in mind, but will continue on as long as there are more farm animals and stories to write.

I am currently writing my fourth book. As with the others, I’m pulling out one of the current animals to be the main character and hope to have it completed by the end of 2025. The message for that one will be about emotions.

Please keep checking in with me [at my website] as I’ll begin to provide more information on that book soon!

Three children's books: one about a pig, one about a rooster and one about a goat, sitting on top of a bale of hay in front of a barn. — photo courtesy of Katie Morgan Lester

What ages are your books intended for?

The books are great for baby gifts all the way up to approximately eight years old. With the rhyming in each, the books are perfect for early readers. I do add a little bit of humor to each to make them enjoyable for parents as well.

Where can parents find your books?

The Morgan Farm Books can be purchased directly through me or my website. This allows me to write a personalized, encouraging note to your child(ren) and sign each one.

Website: morganfarmbooks.com/purchase-book

Instagram: instagram.com/morganfarmbooks

Facebook: facebook.com/morganfarmbooks

Combos may be purchased as well, which is a book paired with a small stuffed animal, lovingly packaged as a gift. I’m also available for in-person visits or virtual author/illustrator events featuring the books from my series.

For more information, visit morganfarmbooks.com.

Around Atlanta

The High Museum to Showcase “Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind”

Published

2 months ago

December 12, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Oil on paper artwork by Terry Winters. A large red circle with smaller blue circles on top of it and gold/yellow accents. All of it on a dark brown background.

The special exhibition of the Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will run January 17 through May 25, 2025

In the mid-1970s, artist and Georgia State University professor Medford Johnston, along with his wife and collaborator Loraine, began collecting works by artists who were in the vanguard of contemporary art. Today, they hold one of the finest collections of postwar American drawings and related objects of its kind, now numbering more than 85 works.

In 2025, the High Museum of Art will present Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection, featuring their collected works, which is a promised gift to the museum. Featuring artists such as Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Martin Puryear, Ed Ruscha, Al Taylor, Anne Truitt, Stanley Whitney and Terry Winters, among others, the exhibition will demonstrate how establishing the parameters of an art collection requires infinite patience, focus, discipline and a keen eye.

“The Johnstons have been friends of the High for a very long time. They’ve also built an impressive collection featuring works by many of the 20th century’s most significant abstract artists,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are honored that they have promised to leave their collection to the Museum where it will be preserved for future generations — and we are delighted that they are sharing it with our audiences now, hopefully inspiring the next generation of art collectors and supporters.”

A curated collection

The Johnstons’ story is a testament to, in the words of the High’s Wieland Family Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Michael Rooks, “knowing the difference between what is right and what is almost right” when building a collection.

Although the Johnstons acquired several paintings and objects when they first began collecting in 1972, they quickly narrowed their focus to drawing, primarily by artists working on the frontlines of abstraction in the mid-1960s during a time of great innovation and experimentation.

Ink drawing by Anne Truitt, rectangular lines and shapes made with black ink on off-white background — Anne Truitt (American, born 1921), *Ink Drawing ’59 [11]*, 1959, ink on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Estate of Anne Truitt / The Bridgeman Art Library / Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Rooks added, “Med and Loraine’s collection struck me at once by its single-minded focus on a specific moment in time, which was essentially the time of their contemporaries. The artists in their collection are like close friends to the Johnstons — in fact many are or were. What is equally astonishing about the collection is the Johnstons’ dogged pursuit of quality. Their in-depth knowledge of each artist’s practice combined with their understanding of specific qualities to look for — or more appropriately, to hold out for — will be a revelation to emerging collectors.”

The Johnstons have built their collection with the High in mind as the benefactor of their passion and discernment. For them, their collection “is a labor of love, pursued over more than 50 years, and we are delighted to be able to help the High Museum document and celebrate these important artists working during the same decades as our lives.”

About the exhibit

Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will be presented in the Special Exhibition Galleries on the second level of the High’s Stent Family Wing.

The exhibit is organized by the High Museum of Art and made possible through the generosity of sponsors:

Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Premier Exhibition Series Supporters Mr. Joseph H. Boland, Jr., The Fay S. and W. Barrett Howell Family Foundation, Harry Norman Realtors and wish Foundation
Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporters Robin and Hilton Howell
Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters Loomis Charitable Foundation and Mrs. Harriet H. Warren
Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters Farideh and Al Azadi, Mary and Neil Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, Megan and Garrett Langley, Margot and Danny McCaul, Wade A. Rakes II and Nicholas Miller and Belinda Stanley-Majors and Dwayne Majors.

Support has also been provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund and USI Insurance Services.

About the High Museum of Art

Located in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs.

Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 19,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from prehistory through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper.

The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process.

For more information about the High or to purchase tickets, visit high.org.

Top image: (from the collection) Terry Winters (American, born 1949), Orb, 2020, oil on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Terry Winters, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Around Atlanta

City Springs Theatre Company Presents the Hit Musical Jersey Boys

Published

8 months ago

July 3, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

The megahit musical Jersey Boys is making its regional premiere with the City Springs Theatre Company in a five-week run.

The megahit musical Jersey Boys makes its regional premiere in City Springs Theatre Company’s (CSTC) first-ever, five-week run at the Byers Theatre in Sandy Springs.

Directed by Atlanta’s-own Shane DeLancey, and choreographed by Meg Gillentine, Jersey Boys tells the rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The show details their remarkable journey from the streets to the top of the charts, to their 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Leading the cast of Jersey Boys is Haden Rider as Frankie Valli. Rider is a City Springs Theatre Company veteran, with recent roles in both Legally Blonde (Emmett) and Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik).

Presented by Resurgens Spine Center, Jersey Boys runs from July 12 through August 11, and shines a special spotlight on home-grown talent, as the show’s four leading men are all Atlanta-area residents.

With phenomenal music, memorable characters and great storytelling, Jersey Boys follows the fascinating evolution of four blue-collar kids who became one of the greatest successes in pop-music history.

“City Springs Theatre Company is very proud to be the first in the southeast region to present Jersey Boys,” said CSTC Artistic Director and Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley. “Our audiences have been asking for this particular show since we opened. The production is truly stacked with talent onstage and off, and we’re pulling out all the stops to bring audiences an experience that will rival any previous version of the show.”

Jersey Boys premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005, prior to its 13-year Broadway run, from 2005 to 2017. There have been productions of the show in Las Vegas, UK/Ireland, Toronto, Melbourne, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Dubai and China.

Jersey Boys features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, and lyrics by Bob Crewe.

Individual tickets to see Jersey Boys are on sale now ($42 – $108), with discounts for seniors, students, groups and active and retired military personnel.

CSTC’s Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Call 404-477-4365 or visit CitySpringsTheatre.com for more information.

This production contains adult language and is recommended for mature audiences.

Performance schedule: