Ruthanne Weaver

In lieu of an in-person service, I am creating a web presence for my mom and her work. You will have the opportunity to view her work, choose some pieces, and upload stories and pictures. I hope you will return as more content is added over the next couple of weeks.

This gallery represents a lifetime of my mom's pottery. She was constantly trying new ideas with clay and glaze, and she loved to experiment with earthy colors and textures. Here are a couple of stories about my mom and how she interacted with her art through clay and color:

Clay: When I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, I found my mother down by the edge of the Mississippi River, which is literally in our backyard in Brainerd, Minnesota. She was throwing in her "bad" pots that had only been fired once and had not yet been glazed. Because I had been taught not to litter, I asked her why she was doing this. She launched into an explanation about the natural qualities of clay and mud and how she was simply recycling the clay back to the river. Then she said with a naughty laugh, "And I'm confusing people thousands of years from now when they try to attribute my bad pots to an early Mississippi civilization."

Color: I thought it was normal for everyone to grow up with paint swatches on every surface of their living space. My mother was forever searching for the perfect color for a room. It wasn't that she changed her mind about a color, but rather that she needed to find the perfect hue for the space, the light, the time of day, the furniture, and everything else that influenced how the room felt. It might mean several years of experimentation, painting a wall seven or eight times, or refreshing the color of the actual aged lichens on a stone fireplace so they looked more like the living lichens she had seen on a recent hike. In fact, I grew up thinking that most mental health challenges were simply a matter of color and a need for more swatches 😊.

My mom loved functional art, and I invite you to view and choose a few pieces from the gallery. She did not name her work; the pieces were named by the small group that helped me publish this site: my niece, Tessa; my sister-in-law, Carol; and my friends, Tracy and Karina.

There is plenty to choose from, and I would ask that you select five pieces, as I will be giving first choice to close family members. I once asked my mom how she chose the art she purchased, and her advice was simple:

1. It reminds you of something, and/or
2. It simply makes you feel good to look at or touch.

If you would like a piece but don't want to choose one yourself, please select that option in the Google Form. You will also find instructions on how to upload photos and stories.

Amanda J. Weaver
5 Fridges Farm