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October/November 2013
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Tom had recently retired from
real estate, but never lost interest in working with leather. The
couple created a showroom and
studio at their Lakeland home
and in 2009 Tom traveled to
Texas to “apprentice” with his
former mentor.
Using leather only from the
United States, Tom creates belts
out of the thickest part of the
cowhide which he sells unadorned or customizes with
tooling, conchos, stains and
silver embellishments. A quality belt, he says, should last 1020 years. He also produces
everything from hat bands and
billfolds to chaps and even
saddles. Tom is currently seeking retail outlets for his belts
and working to build up an
inventory for distribution.
Donna focuses on women’s
Tom and Donna Hathaway,
Major Tom Harvey Leatherworks
apparel and accessories, when
she is not busy with her career
as a Distinguished University
Professor at the University of
Tennessee Health Science
Center. Her work tends to
include different leathers, textures and finishes, include an
incredibly soft and supple lambsuede. Garment designs range
from jackets and skirts to formal
dresses and blouses. Frequently
exotic leather—generally reptile—and elk or deerhide are
added to handbags and totes as
an embellishment. The Hathaways jokes that every time
Donna travels, strangers recognize the quality of her work and
offer to buy her bags, generally
right there in the airport.
Discreetly tucked away in
the Lakeland countryside, Major Tom Harvey Leatherworks
customers to clients working in
entertainment industries—think
Hollywood and Nashville,
rodeo, and sports as well as
individuals
wanting
highquality leather goods. Major
Tom Harvey Leatherworks,
MTHLeatherworks.com
With almost fifty years of
experience at the wheel, Agnes
Stark is a true Memphis artistic
treasure. When she signed up
for her first pottery course, she
had extensive experience as
lighting and scenic designer in
theatre, but absolutely none
with clay. She found that she
had a natural touch for creating
with clay and studied ceramics
at both the Memphis College
(then Academy) of Art and
Louisiana State University.
After returning to Memphis
from Baton Rouge, Stark imme-
Agnes Stark, Stark Pottery
diate began creating pottery
using techniques that date back
to 9th century China. Stark
mixes her own clay and glazes
and fires her pieces to 2400
degrees in her kiln located near
the University of Memphis.
Designs are stamped into the
clay and color is brushed on
before being returned to the
kiln. But each piece is unique
because the minerals and chemicals in the glazes will react
differently each time to the
firing process since the clay is
actually engulfed in the flames
(think “fiery furnace”, not
“pizza oven”). According to
Stark, the “fun is the variety of
pieces that you get” with the
same basic materials.
Stark’s work has been
honored though its inclusion in
numerous juried shows and
exhibitions across the MidSouth and around the world,
including the Pink Palace Craft
Fair and Dixon Gallery’s “All
That’s Clay.” Stark was one of
250 artists selected to represent
the United States at the 1978
World Crafts Council in Kyoto,
Japan and then again in 1980 in
Vienna, Austria. More recently,
Page 3
she was profiled by
True Story Pictures
in 2006 as a part of
its series The Arts
Interviews, honoring regional artists.
In addition to her
popular
brown,
white, and blue
dinnerware,
a
design Stark began
creating in the
1960s,
Stark’s
Arlington studio
displays a range of platters,
trays, vases, and other decorative items. She also sells honey
from her own hives and table
linens designed to complement
her pottery by weaver June
Kramer. Stark Pottery’s 2013
Holiday Show will be December 6-8 at the studio on Donelson Road. Agnes Stark Pottery,
www.starkpottery.com
crochets year-round, and tries to
produce a scarf a day. Typically she features five designs each
season, including her popular
button scarf, infinity scarf, and
new three-loop scarf. Scarves
are popular year-round as an
accessory and gift, Quinn states,
not just for warmth. She points
out that she introduced fabric
scarves last spring as a way to
extend the season and also
accommodate women who
work in overly-airconditioned
offices.
Quinn makes up her own
patterns and closely follows
national trends to decide which
new designs to add. She confesses that she doesn’t know
how to read crochet patterns,
but eventually can produce the
result that she wants. Overall,
Quinn finds that traditional fall
colors are the most popular, as
well as neutrals that can be
worn with multiple outfits.
And Quinn’s favorite parts
of her work? The time she
spends with her daughter at
craft fairs and passing her craft
down to her.
Arlington resident Ashley
Quinn’s mother first taught her
how to crochet fourteen years
ago when she was pregnant
with her soon. But it wasn’t
until she had foot surgery ten
years later that Quinn
began
crocheting
scarves as a creative
outlet. From there
Hooked on Yarn
grew as Quinn sold at
area festivals and
expanded into an etsy
store and retail outlets
in Arlington at Classic Trends and Wisteria Tea Room and
Southern Whimsy in
Bartlett.
In order to keep
ahead of her peak Ashley Quinn, Hooked On Yarn
selling months, Quinn