Potter Teresa Cole and her daughter-in-law, fiber artist Laura Poulette, recently opened their new showroom on 103 Jackson Street behind College Square. Thanks to a cooperative effort between Berea College and Cole, the old warehouse was redeemed to become a working retail space.

Cole, college transform warehouse into showroom

By Andy McDonald

For a potter, a common handful of earth bears the potential to become a beautiful bowl, vase or vessel. So perhaps it should be no surprise that when studio potter Teresa Cole saw an old warehouse on Jackson Street, she didn’t see the windows covered with plywood nor the broken floor. She saw the potential for renewal – a new gallery that could showcase pottery and fiber art.
Cole and her daughter-in-law, fiber artist Laura Poulette, recently opened the doors of their new showroom on 103 Jackson Street, redeeming an old building behind the recently demolished Short Street annex.

Cole said she had reached a decision last summer to relocate from Old Town, and when she learned the annex was to be torn down, she contacted Diane Kerby, who was then in charge of managing college properties.

Pottery by Teresa Cole, formed and fired at her Red Lick studio, sold in Berea.

“She listened to me and thought I was a little crazy for thinking there was a space here that could be a shop front,” said Cole, who in December got approval to move into the property. Then came the hard part: turning a cluttered space into a showroom. The college installed a new floor, and made other improvements to spruce up the storefront. “They just hauled away all the junk, pulled the plywood off the windows, and came in with a spray unit and spray painted everything,” Cole explained.

Under a one-year lease with the college, Berea will pay half the cost for awning and carpet in the showroom, giving Cole and Poulette their retail space, while the college has the chance to make new use of a warehouse that had been relegated to storage.

“If all goes well, I will stay here. This will be my new permanent home in town,” Cole said.
Cole will be working in her pottery studio in Red Lick five days a week, coming in to manage the store Thursdays, Fridays, and alternate Saturdays. Poulette, meanwhile, will manage the store Tuesdays, Wednesdays and alternate Saturdays.

Both Cole and Poulette are alumna of the Berea College Art Department, but the experience of selling her work will be a new venture for Poulette.

“This is Laura’s very first effort at marketing her work,” Cole said. “As a fiber artist, she does everything except weave, and as a fiber artist, that’s the only thing I do is weave. So someday I’ll teach her to weave and she’ll have it all covered,” Cole laughed.

Cole said Poulette’s fiber work is unique to the region since it is very derivative of her upbringing in the Dutch region of eastern Pennsylvania. Many of her designs, Cole said, are familiar to those found on country barns in that region. “It’s very nice to see her painting through all of that now. They’re very beautiful.” Jackson Street isn’t the only place locals may have spotted Cole and Poulette’s work. Those who frequent the Coffee Conspiracy, Berea’s hip new bistro/coffee shop on Chestnut Street, might have seen their work displayed in the shop’s storefront window. Cole said she was thrilled to see Jim and Susan Thomason make new use of such a great location on Chestnut, and she suggested they could use her coffee mugs at the shop. Now, not only is the Coffee Conspiracy selling their tasty brews in Cole’s mugs, they’ve also become something of a booster to local artisans, selling a variety of local work whether it’s Poulette’s fiber work, Cole’s pottery, or the work of local photographers and painters.

As a graduate of the Berea College Art Department, fiber artist Laura Poulette received art training in Kentucky, but her current work is greatly influenced by her upbringing in the Dutch region of eastern Pennsylvania.

“It’s really nice. I think it’s a combination of them creating a coffee shop and then encouraging all the local artists to intermix there in a way that’s beneficial for everybody,” Cole said. “They’re actually selling a lot of wall art there too. They’ve actually sold pieces from their walls.”

Author’s note: Stop by Teresa and Laura’s new shop Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or call (859) 986-0668.