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Arts & Entertainment

Pottery Flourishes in Retirement

John Fite takes his talents and pottery studio to ARTS@West Cobb.

A “labor of love” could best describe the work, craftsmanship and detailed poured into each piece of pottery and sculpture created by Marietta potter and artisan John Fite.

After years of toiling in and out of his craft professionally while meeting his responsibilities as a father and husband, Fite sees the seeds he has sown over the years bear fruit, though it has taken a while to realize his dream of working full time in the craft.

“God finally kicked my butt into the right place where I can do this for a living,” says Fite of his pottery business.

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Fite grew up in and around military communities as his father, a World War II veteran, worked as a government contractor after leaving the Navy. Much of Fite’s childhood was spent in Fort Smith, AR, just outside Fort Chaffee. The community was a small city of about 40,000 people that lacked the cultural opportunities for exposure to the arts of bigger cities.

Moreover, Fite received no artistic influence from family members. His talent came naturally. Fite recalls drawing wildlife pictures in those early years because it interested him, but he never took his talent too seriously.

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Fite says he was good at math and English in high school and saw how they could help him in getting a job down the road. His artistic endeavors were limited to murals and such with his church, though he received lots of praise for his work.

“I was interested in art but never zeroed in on it,” Fite says.

College was the game changer. In the haste of having to pick a major at the last minute, Fite chose art as an “experimental course load.” Like many freshmen attending Middle Tennessee State University in the 1960s, Fite had intentions of exploring the major for a while but changing it when he figured out what he really wanted to do.

To Fite’s surprise, he stuck with it as he began to learn more of the styles, mediums and techniques artisans use.

But it was a missionary trip that sealed his interest in pursuing something more in the arts. He traveled with his church to small Alaskan Inuit communities, aiding them in finishing their log churches. Fite toured the University of Alaska, where he saw the artistic style and craftsmanship of the native Indian and Eskimo tribesmen. Fite says he was fascinated.

Traveling to Alaska put a fire in Fite’s belly for more exposure. Fite soon enrolled in a study abroad program with the Centro Internazionale de Arte of Rome, Italy. Fite describes the opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime experience studying at a monastery across from the famed Circus Maximus. His studies included contemporary Italian art, sculpture and painting.

Upon his return to MTSU, Fite began studying the pre-Columbian art of Central and South America. Much of the pre-Columbian artwork was pottery, and that soon became Fite’s driving interest.

Fite worked more and more with pottery while in college, finding his groove and individual style. He created pieces that his classmates adored; he eventually sold them to a collector.

“I found that if you did it [pottery) well, it would sell, and that’s always nice to an artist trying to make a living,” Fite says.

Fite says pottery is a production-level craft in which the levels of experience, the understanding and use of materials, and the ability to put pieces together culminate in an artisan’s overall ability. It can take years to master the craft, and even then a potter’s control of his work is limited because the colors and tones of the glaze vary with each firing.

Pottery "is good therapy doing the work, but it’s almost like opening a Christmas present when you open the kiln each time,” Fite says.

Fite worked for years in the sales industry but never lost his love for the arts. He sold his paintings at festivals and fairs while teaching art periodically at several private schools.

He eventually built a potter’s studio in his home, fully equipped with wheels, a kiln, glazes and chemicals. At one point his artwork was sold at the High Museum’s Art Shop on a regular basis.  

In 2009, Fite retired from his sales position and opened his professional studio/gallery at Cobblestone Corner in downtown Kennesaw. Working in his craft full time allowed Fite to experiment and take more creative chances, expanding the range of his work.

But Fite says he is not the one in control–it’s a “supernatural” process in which the internal and external are not always informed or foreseen from the beginning, he says.

“I say, 'I start, God leads.' If I follow … it turns out well,” Fite says.

Currently Fite occupies a studio space with Lauren McBride’s , where he teaches pottery classes to pre-teens, teens and adults. Fite can be contacted about classes or commissioned work at fitejohn@hotmail.com or 678-693-0800.

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