Talle Johnson has been carving out his own pottery niche for the past 20 months from his studio in Flintstone.

After 40 days of digging pottery and personal items out his Bay St. Louis, Miss., studio in a post-Katrina reality, Johnson knew he needed to find a new place to live.

Johnson decided to return to the Chattanooga area where he had previously lived and learned in the 1970s, including being an adjunct teacher at UTC.

After some broken promises became a major setback caused, he said, by the art, culture and education department with the City of Chattanooga, he decided to develop his own school of ceramics that embraces the clay and the community.

Johnson, originally from Bridgeport, Ala., has been a potter for 35 years. He is trying to grow a community of local potters in a studio that unleashes the frenetic energy of art dur-ing his evening classes.

Flintstone may seem an unlikely place for a local renaissance in pottery, but it was the community that brought Johnson to the area.

“Good-hearted people have been more supportive than art agencies or the City of Chatta-nooga,” he said.

Flintstone resident Beth Rogers helped Johnson with studio space back in September 2007, enabling Johnson to get his pottery wheels spinning again.

“Art offers the opportunity to share possibilities, and share your humanity,” Johnson said.

Johnson has offered classes three nights a week and on Saturdays, developing people’s interest in pottery, from beginners to potential professionals. Two very skilled crafters would be Marian Heintz, who has become his studio manager, and Lolly Durant, another artistic apprentice.

Traditionally, apprentices sweep the floor, according to Johnson. However, his approach is collaborative in responsibilities, from running the gallery, to creating new pieces, to find-ing creative ways to “market” the ceramics, which means occasional trips to Greenlife gro-cery store in Chattanooga which exhibits Johnson and his apprentices’ work for sale.

“I want my students to have exciting hobbies or careers,” Johnson said.

Johnson, who is self-taught in pottery, helps students gain their own identity by teaching them techniques, while allowing students to develop their own style.

The studio is an eclectic menagerie of “refurbished and recycled” necessities, which de-scribes Heintz, attempting a green philosophy amid the hundreds of ceramic pieces called “greenware” that line the walls of the gallery and studio.

While in Bay St. Louis from 1993 to 2005, Johnson had a barter arrangement of free space, which allowed for him to develop an arts program for the community along with teaching ceramics to public school teachers.

“Hurricane Katrina came along and sort of ended that party,” Johnson said. “The hurri-cane was traumatic, but dealing with FEMA was much more horrifying.”

However, Johnson is creating a new pottery party in Flintstone. Some locals didn’t know what to make of the roadside signs mentioning “Kiln Opening Today.”

Curiosity and word of mouth have brought the locals in for kiln openings, which unveil the finished work once the pieces have been glazed and fired.

Getting people involved is the driving force behind his studio.

“Art needs to be active not passive in order to learn to appreciate it,” Johnson said, “ It’s the difference between playing basketball or sitting in the stands watching.”

Johnson’s artwork has been distributed worldwide from a Washington, D.C., gallery that features his pottery. Japanese dignitaries have a deep appreciation of the art form and fre-quently buy his work while in the capital.

Marilynn Lyon distributes his work in Washington, D.C., along with dozens of pieces she keeps in her home, the 2009 Southern Living Home of the Year, and will feature several pieces of Johnson’s creations in the upcoming July article.

Johnson’s work is also available at the Lookout Mountain Gallery, along with his gallery at the Flintstone studio, located at 612 Chattanooga Valley Road in Flintstone.

For more information, contact Johnson at (228) 324-4391 or talle@comcast.net.