photo by Alex Maness

Although she spent her early life drawing and painting, Molly Lithgo found her passion for pottery 10 years ago. “Marrying these two disciplines” into marketable art made perfect sense to the inspired businesswoman who now runs a commercial studio on South Cedar Street.

Lithgo, 48, began making earthenware pots when her husband, Jim Rientjes, known for his contemporary furniture, took a pottery class at Cultural Arts Center. She recalls Jim coming home and promising, “Molly, you would really like this.” He was right.

“I did love it,” she says. “I also saw it as a very feasible way to merge my formal training with something I could make a living at. I see it as a way of making art accessible to anyone and everyone. That’s why I make things that are affordable.” Her work starts at $5 and increases for larger pieces.

“Everything is functional - it’s meant to be used,” Lithgo says. “Everything’s one of a kind.” To that end, she may make a set of dishes that matches with a theme or color scheme, “but they won’t all be the same.”

After Lithgo throws and trims her pots, she paints designs with slips and under-glazes. When her pieces come out of the bisque fire, she glazes again. “I can predict what I want it to look like just from having done this process over several years,” she says.

Lithgo often carves into her glazes before firing to add texture and to reveal the base clay or a lower glaze. Seashells are one of her most useful tools, she says, because “they fit my hand better.” The inspiration for her textures and designs also comes from nature; she features flowers and birds and has painted fish on past pots. “I’m a colorist: I do a lot of earth tones, but some of my pieces are very bright,” she adds.

Lithgo is one of about 70 potters who will participate in this year’s Triad Area Pottery Festival. Potters will demonstrate wheel throwing and hand-building techniques, says Gerry Alfano, city beautiful coordinator for Greensboro’s Parks and Recreation Department. The festival also provides a chance for customers to meet the artists, and, Alfano adds, “Our potters are really neat folks.”
A Greensboro native, Lithgo has a degree in fine arts and drawing and painting from Atlanta College of Art, and a master of fine arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “As far back as I can remember, that’s what I was interested in,” Lithgo says.

Now also a teacher herself, Lithgo instructs a colored-pencil drawing class at Forsyth Technical Community College, a path that instills valuable lessons: “So many people are taught by someone along the way ‘you’re not doing it right,’ ” Lithgo says.

“Someone who has a passion to create, you just do it and go with your gut. People who create have to remember there is not only one way to achieve a goal that you have. You have to do what works for you.” 

Speaking of art…

What artists have influenced you the most?
Chuck Close - he’s a contemporary painter. I really respond to his whole body of work. Kathy Triplett - she’s a potter. She does a lot of public art and commission work. Cynthia Bringle - she’s got to be the No. 1 influence. Her teaching method is a focus on technical learning: how to see so that you can develop your own work and make it stronger.

How do you handle failure?
If it flops while I’m throwing it, I throw it in the recycling bin. It’s part of the process.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned as you’ve pursued art?
Listen to your gut.

What are your goals for the next five years?
My work has always gone through transition. I expect it will continue to do that. If you are paying attention to what’s happening in your work, everything you do leads you to something else.

What do you enjoy about teaching your students?
I enjoy talking with them about what they’re doing, sharing with them what I see that can make it stronger and better, and also pointing out what makes it good.