
DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711050156

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  142 lines

NATIONAL EXPOSURE JAMES CHALKLEY IS RACKING UP A REPUTATION WITH HIS BOLD-COLORED POTTERY.

POTTER JAMES C. CHALKLEY of Suffolk was pleasantly surprised to learn from a friend that a chartreuse plate he created was featured in an upscale home decorating magazine this summer.

It's not that national exposure is new to Chalkley. His work has been featured in other magazines with national distribution, including Metropolitan Magazine, and American Craft and Ceramics Monthly.

He has also been commissioned to do work for the renowned Trellis restaurant in Williamsburg, the Dumbwaiter restaurant in Norfolk and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Chalkley, who is a master teacher at Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth, has had his work included in several private collections around the globe and a set of dinnerware he created is featured in the permanent collection of the Palm Beach County Museum in Florida.

What impressed him is that the posh magazine, Veranda, gave him credit for the work.

Chalkley's plate, which he had sold several months earlier at an art show in Atlanta, Ga., was in the forefront of a room setting illustrating a story on the Thai influence on interior decorating. On the following page was the credit.

Chartreuse, which has had a resurgence in popularity both in fashion and home furnishings in the past year, is one of Chalkley's signature colors. His 1980 Mercedes is also painted that brilliant shade of yellow-green.

The other colors Chalkley uses in his contemporary-style pottery are black and cobalt blue.

The narrow, upper half of a striking, custom-made vase in his small studio office at Tidewater Community College's Visual Arts Center features black and white stripes, while the vivid cobalt blue base appears to have a velvet-like texture.

``The pattern of glazes that I've developed over the years has turned into my signature palette,'' said Chalkley. ``I learned traditional forms and methods, but consider myself a ceramic artist and try to use my personal expression. I have used floral patterns, and sometimes, I'll repeat a pattern from years ago, but there are so many ideas to develop that I try to move on to something that interests me more.''

In addition to creating pottery, Chalkley has a passion for collecting chairs . . . several of which are hung like portraits on the walls and over the door of his studio office. These are only a sample of his vast collection. At last count, there were 57 chairs of various sizes and shapes in his ``chair room'' at home.

``I have an avid interest in chairs that started years ago,'' he said. ``I'm interested in art and interior design, and chairs fit into that realm. Most of my chairs are from the 1930s to '70s. I've sold and traded them, but I keep trying to get better and better examples.''

Machine-age aluminum furnishings by Warren MacArthur and chairs of modern design by Charles Eames are Chalkley's particular favorites.

Chalkley's artwork, as well as his teaching, focuses on production pottery-work made in multiples. Dinnerware, bowl sets, cups, casseroles, and vases are created, glazed and fired.

Although his designs have been described as classic modern with architectural undertones, Chalkley said it is linked to works in the past. Objects that reveal his eclectic taste include a handsome antique wooden clock and other small antiques sandwiched among his office reference books and magazines.

Born in Richmond, Chalkley's early years were lived in a pre-Civil War house filled with antique furnishings in the Shenandoah Valley.

``My father was with Virginia Metal Crafters in Waynesboro and I often went to the foundry,'' he said.

At the age of 11, Chalkley moved to Virginia Beach where he graduated from First Colonial High School in 1972.

``As an art student in high school, I concentrated on drawing and painting,'' he said. ``Pottery wasn't offered and I never considered it a fine art at that point. I felt I would do commercial art, but I never liked that type of structure and I kind of resisted it. I was advised to take craft courses in college.''

For four years, Chalkley was awarded fellowship grants by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He received a bachelor's degree with a major in pottery and a minor in glass-blowing at Virginia Commonwealth University. Later he earned a master's degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y.

``I wanted to teach on a college level and one of my professors was known world-wide as being the best in ceramics,'' Chalkley said. ``Another of my professors created Corning Ware. The 10 students in my graduating class were from all over the world.''

At that time, creating pottery and china as a livelihood was never approached, Chalkley said. After teaching at Old Dominion University for two years, he opened his own studio, ``Chalkley Porcelain'' in 1980 in a warehouse in Virginia Beach. In addition to managing his business, Chalkley taught for 12 years at the Virginia Beach Art Center and had several private students.

``For 20 years, I traveled, went to shows and displayed my work,'' he said. Gradually, I became recognized. Someone may call from New York and need a gift sent to California or Hawaii. I've shipped to Japan, Europe and South America. Serious collectors want to collect handmade pottery.''

Chalkley has his own collection of 67 ribbons and plaques for his work and has won Best In Show twice at the Ghent Arts Festival and at the Stockley Gardens Art Festival in Norfolk.

Although Chalkley is both a painter and designer, he has never aspired to work for a china manufacturer.

``I've never worked that way,'' he said. ``I make functional, everyday pottery, as well as delicate dinnerware. It's not factory-perfect, but mine would be an original design and have more character. I use the same methods for either, but use a different type of clay. Most of my work is done on a potter's wheel and I've also designed pieces that I've made molds of. I use a pretty simple palette of glazes.''

After working for himself for 20 years, Chalkley decided he was ready for a different mode of operation.

``I was invited to teach at TCC, and about the same time, I was looking for a place to live,'' he said. ``I had always lived on the oceanfront and all I knew of Suffolk was Route 58.

``Once I drove out Route 17 and crossed the Nansemond River Bridge, I was sold.''

Chalkley and his wife, Nell, moved with their two-year-old daughter, Haley, to a modern home in northern Suffolk about eight months ago.

``I want to put a studio in my home,'' Chalkley said. ``I used to teach seven days a week, but now I teach four days and then, do whatever I want. My passion for collecting furniture takes up all of my spare time.''

When invited, Chalkley will give lectures about art in general at local high schools. At the Visual Arts Center, he has developed a new program and six 8-week classes will be offered, the first beginning this fall.

Students will draw/design their own forms, create prototypes, produce ware, research glazing and firing methods, and develop finishing techniques for hand-built and wheel-thrown forms, Chalkley said. A final course will emphasize marketing.

``Studio Production Pottery will teach students design skills in order to become a studio potter, if they choose to,'' Chalkley said. MEMO: Chalkley's work is available at Calvin & Lloyd Inc., 140 Granby

St., downtown Norfolk.

For information on Studio Production Pottery classes, call the

Portsmouth campusof Tidewater Community College in Suffolk, 484-2121. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by MICHAEL KESTNER

James Chalkley, whose pottery has been featured in national

magazines, has a collection of chairs that date from the 1930s to

the 1970s that he keeps in a special room in his Suffolk home.

Potter James Chalkley collects chairs, including machine-age

aluminum furnishings by Warren MacArthur.

Chalkley has developed a new program and six 8-week classes that

will be offered at the Visual Arts Center in Portsmouth.