B5
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021
Pottery: ‘It’s coming straight from my hands to yours’
Continued from Page B1
ceramics. By taking every
class in the program, she
learned how to build a kiln,
fi re her own work and more.
Long earned a bache-
lor’s degree in crafts with a
focus in ceramics from the
College for Creative Studies
in 2008. Around that time,
Long worked at the Museum
of Contemporary Art as an
installation assistant and
went on to become an edu-
cation studio technician at
Detroit’s historical Pewabic
Pottery, a ceramic school and
studio that has operated for
over 100 years.
“From Detroit, I was like
‘I got to go bigger. I got to go
big right now.’ So I decided I
was going to apply to some
residencies and I got a resi-
dency in Miami,” she said.
During her year-long res-
idency at Bakehouse Art
Complex, Long loved her
work but didn’t love living in
Miami. She faced challenges
getting art supplies and found
the art market focused more
on paintings and large sculp-
tures rather than ceramics.
Following a visit to Asto-
ria, Long decided to move to
the area.
“I found Astoria felt a
lot like home before I even
moved here,” she said. “It
felt like a good fi t and I
was really fi lling a need …
There weren’t any ceramics
(courses) that were commu-
nity-based, except through
the college.”
Photos by Tristan Paiige
ABOVE: Audrey Long stands inside her studio. LEFT: Long takes a coff ee break.
collaboration. In time, Long
and Trask pondered how
they might shine a spotlight
on underrepresented artists
and played with the idea of
hosting pop-up shops as a
side project.
Collaboration
Before she knew it, she
was running Audrey Long
Ceramics out of a studio
in the Astoria Visual Arts
building. She also began
holding classes to provide
the community with another
creative outlet. In one class,
Long met Kirista Trask, who
happened to be an Asto-
ria Visual Arts resident with
a studio of her own in the
building.
Trask is an abstract
painter who obtained a bach-
elor’s degree in fi ne arts
with a business minor from
the University of Oregon.
She is a seventh-generation
Oregonian who has lived in
towns from Oak Ridge and
Cottage Grove to Eugene
and Astoria.
In 2019, she began tak-
ing classes with Long to
gain a better understanding
of crafting pottery. During
that period, Trask was work-
ing on a grant-funded proj-
ect that documented the sto-
ries of trauma and resilience
from eight generations of
women in her family. With
Long’s help, the pair put
together a dinner table with
a plate for each woman in
Trask’s family.
“Working with another
person and somebody like
(Long) who’s incredibly
skilled and intelligent, artis-
tically, you know, we formed
a real bond right off the bat,”
she said.
The dynamic duo have
been dating since their fi rst
Adaptation
After the U.S. went into
lockdown as COVID-19 out-
breaks sprouted nationwide,
Trask lost her studio, despite
having recently moved
into the new art space. The
owner of the Astoria Visual
Arts building had moved out
of his workshop and off ered
the pair the larger space.
When the opportunity
presented itself, Long and
Trask couldn’t resist. Instead
of a pop-up shop, they
decided to open Cambium
Gallery. Trask is the gal-
lery’s business director.
“I’m 100% sure it was
the right thing for us to do,”
Trask said. “It was like part
need and part dream.”
Long and Trask’s goal for
the gallery is to amplify the
voices and works of artists
who are often overlooked
by the art market. They also
donate 10% of a show’s
sales to an organization that
directly works in the topic or
fi eld represented in the show
— without touching the art-
ist’s payment.
Nowadays, Long spends
her time in the studio throw-
ing clay and adding more
pieces to her collection. She
mostly focuses on creat-
ing functional ceramics for
everyday use, such as mugs,
plates and spoons.
Through her work, Long
says she hopes to remind
people to connect with the
objects they use on a day-
to-day basis, to make those
moments more meaningful
and intentional.
“I make my own glazes, I
fi re my own work. It’s com-
ing straight from my hands to
yours,” Long said. “There’s
something really intimate
about sharing an object with
somebody … It’s almost like
sharing a meal with some-
body that’s not there.”
Ray Garcia is a contrib-
utor to The Astorian, Coast
Weekend and the Center for
Journalism and Liberty.
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