Carla
T. James-Astaphan |
Tall,
beautiful, and some say as rugged as the island where
she was born, Waitukubili (tall is her body) the
name given to the island of Dominica by the indigenous
people "the
Caribs." Carla began her sojourn into the world
of Art and design in a formal sense when she attended
the New York school of Interior design 1989-90. During
her childhood, Carla played with miniature pottery
from the island of Nevis (of course she did not know
that at the time) brought to Dominica by her great-grandmother,
a native of St. Kitts. She also likes doodling and
at one time did a very intricate wood carving. After
completing a course of study in Interior Design she
returned to St. Kitts where she had been living since
1983. She started her own business as an Interior
Designer/Decorator. In 1993, a pottery course was
offered in St. Kitts
by the Venezuelan Institute for Cultural Cooperation,
and Carla enrolled. This unearthed a new talent.
Thirty-five persons participated and completed the
course and Carla
would continue for many years to seek out other potters. |
Mary Hauss, a Peace Corps Volunteer from California,
who was working in St. Kitts as an art teacher, was
also an accomplished potter. The two ladies worked
together learning from each other, discovering through
elderly potters on the island of Nevis the techniques
of the ancient craft. During those years Carla practiced
in the tradition which was handed down through the
generations by her African and Amerindian ancestors.
The discovery of her work by her girlfriend Dale Isaac,
a Kittitan hat designer, led to an appointment with
Mr. Arthur Leaman, proprietor of the Golden Lemon Hotel
and a former Editor of House and Garden Magazine, Interior
Designer, and Art Collector. Needless to say she was
nervous, she had no idea that playing with clay would
have brought such rewards. Mr. Leaman bought all her
work.
Thus stated her career as a potter. For the next few
years she supplied his two shops with her work. After
a brief working vacation at the Dominica pottery, where
she learned to throw pots on the wheel, her style changed.
She acquired her own equipment and created her own
home-based studio and she continued to interest other
shops in purchasing her pieces. Her stint as Manager
of Kate Design Plantation Picture House gave her the
impetus to explore markets outside of St. Kitts. She
did an attachment with one of the best potteries on
the island of Barbados. On her return to St. Kitts
there was no holding back this young potter. Carla
would tell you that she is basically self-taught or
that the spirits were helping her.
She
has had to depend a lot on her own self-motivation
or being moved by the spirits. Carla had taken part
in numerous exhibitions and expositions. From her own
one-man exhibitions "Images," other local
art and craft group exhibitions in St. Kitts, to arts
and crafts expositions in St. Maarten, Guadeloupe,
Martinique, Barbados, & Grenada, The ultimate experience
as attending the Biennial Ceramics Exposition in Belgium
in 2002. Potters like Mervelle Martineau and Father
Bechand (now deceased) of Dominica, Courtney Devonish
of Anguilla, Adam Azaire of St. Lucia, Elmina Cornelius
and Veronica Skeete (a really nice old lady who is
now crippled) of Nevis and Dennis and Maggie Bell of
Barbados have all assisted in Carla's growth as a potter.
Today Carla's work exhibits her creativity, her commitment
and love of pottery.
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