The artwork of Richard Acton will be featured as River City Art Association’s next Artist of the Month.

You can find the work displayed at the Vigo County Public Library during the month of July.

“Get Off My Limb” by Mr. Acton will be among the artwork featured in the library. The mixed media piece received Second Place in the 39th Annual Wabash Valley Art Guild Spring Show in May.

An education at Indiana Stare University in Industrial Arts Teaching; followed by several years teaching at the high school level and finally working in industry has given him a good background knowledge in building and creating innovative objects for their usefulness and attractiveness.  During his working years he used woodworking as a medium of choice due to the practicality and availability of the materials.

It has been only four years since Mr. Acton started creating artwork from the medium of clay.  Classes at John Campbell’s Folk Art School in North Carolina, classes at Indiana State University and classes at Torner Art  Center in Terre Haute has aided in his capacity to create wall hangings made of clay. The technique developed by Mr. Acton is unique since the clay acts as a backdrop to his designed pictures  that are drawn, painted with underglazes and glazes, fired in a kiln and then hung in a frame.  He does not feel that the only use for clay is bowls, cups, platters, etc. but items to hang on walls and admire.

Even though the clay is relatively easy to manipulate it requires the artist to be thoughtful and exact in whatever he wants to achieve.  One piece will take several weeks to create because of the steps it takes to complete the work.  You must decide what you hope the end result will look like, get the clay ready, design your thought, let it dry, underglaze it with your choice of colors, fire it in kiln and then decide how to display the final piece.

Mr. Acton’s work will be on display at Harrison College during the month of August in the River City Art Association Outreach Gallery.

The River City Art Association meets at 6 p.m. every second Tuesday of the month at the Vigo County Public Library.