* *
- I think it's one of the best in the Midwest.
I really do.
It has unusually wonderful habitat,
varying from the steep escarpment and bluffs
on the west side,
tapering down lots of fairly small lakes or swampy areas,
down to virtually sandy beaches
along the lakeside.
And I think, all in all,
there may not be a county in the whole state
to rival Door County.
- Door County, Wisconsin has inspired artists for decades,
developing their imagination
and motivating their work.
- Artists have been coming, been drawn to Door County
since 1900s.
As a place, like The Clearing,
Jens Jensen,
wanting to get away from
the city and things like that.
I can only hope that next future generation of artists
can enjoy what we've enjoyed.
- The inspiration is that it is quiet and peaceful.
The winters are long,
but the winters are when
you end up producing quite a bit.
When we first came up here in '76,
there was just a handful of potters and painters,
artists,
and over the years,
the arts have grown and grown.
It's wonderful, I think,
that people are taking a chance
and trying to open a gallery,
and many people have been successful up here.
It's definitely known,
Door County is known for the galleries
and the beautiful area.
- The work of these artists
is displayed in homes across the nation,
and profiled in magazines and newspapers
for all to see.
- I can't imagine what Door County would be like
if it wasn't for people like Roy,
and Roy in particular, and Charlotte,
just doing what they've done
to fight for every little inch they can
to keep it preserved and natural,
and writing about it every week as they do.
- Through the written word
and spectacular nature images,
the Lukeses have educated generations of people
from their Egg Harbor home.
Meanwhile, just 35 miles north of the Lukeses' homestead,
David and Jeanne Aurelius
have delighted their patrons for decades
with their handcrafted pottery
from their Ellison Bay studio.
- They are strongly admired
as Master Potters in the county.
They have an incredible group of friends,
not only friends, but customers
who return on an annual basis,
because their work is
so inspiring and authentic,
and original.
There are so many potters here,
and they each have their talents and their strengths.
The work that Jeanne and Dave do is extremely unique
and extremely respected, and admired,
not only for the design work
but for the quality of the pottery.
- Although the Aureliuses' work
is decidedly different than the Lukeses' endeavors,
there are some similarities.
This is the ultimate love story
featuring two couples
with a tremendous love for each other,
an exceptional love for their craft,
and an immense love for their home,
Door County.
- Learn together, love together,
and in Door County,
so what could be better?
I mean, I sometimes think I retired at 25
and moved to Door County
because we've gotten to do what we wanted to do.
* *
- Funding for Door County Gems was provided in part by Philip
Hendrickson, in memory of Elizabeth Hendrickson,
the Door County Visitor's Bureau,
and the Door County Community Foundation.
- Roy Lukes is a home-grown Wisconsin talent
that has taught in many Door County schools,
and nature's classroom.
The Kewaunee High School graduate
has had over 2,500 articles published
and his images of Door County's habitat
has provided an education for countless people.
- I started in, I think,
October of 1968.
I got the idea for these stories
and I went in to chat with Chan Harris one day,
who was the editor of the Advocate in Sturgeon Bay.
And I said,
"What do you think of me doing a weekly story
for the Advocate on nature?"
He says, "It's not a bad idea.
Let's give it a try for a couple weeks and see how it goes."
- Roy's weekly stories
have become a part of the Door County culture,
but he did not establish his legacy alone.
It was during the summer of 1971
that he developed his best story.
Roy was living at the Ridges lighthouse in Baileys Harbor,
working as a naturalist at the Ridges Sanctuary.
Some days his work was educational in nature,
some days the work was manual labor.
On this day, a chance encounter
with a young lady from Milwaukee on the trails
blossomed into a relationship
that has lasted for over four decades.
- His job that day was building bridges.
He was nailing decking on one of the far bridges.
So he had his paint-stained jeans, or pants on,
he had his old army shirt that he had cut the sleeves off,
and the strings were hanging,
and his hat that had paint stain on...
The knees were out on his jeans,
the paint on his hat.
That's how we met. [chuckles]
Eventually, we got to be friends.
And on New Year's,
he invited me up for New Year's weekend.
We watched the Rose Bowl Parade, and he said,
"Wouldn't it be great if you lived up here all year round?"
And I said, "Where? The Nelson Motel?"
That was the only motel open in the winter.
He said, "No. Here at the Range Light."
I said, "Yeah, but won't the neighbors talk?"
And that's when he asked me to marry him.
On New Year's Day, 1972.
- The relationship bloomed into a great partnership
in all aspect of their life.
Charlotte helped Roy with his work with the Ridges Sanctuary,
along with his writing,
and Roy helped Charlotte with her mushroom research.
- It took me a while to get in the groove,
but I did help with Ridges' stuff pretty much right away,
with newsletters and things like that,
and I realized,
just being with Roy out in the Ridges all summer,
that he knew just about everything.
He knew trees, and he knew a lot about insects and flowers
and birds and animals,
and I finally found something
that he wasn't quite as knowledgeable about,
and that was the mushrooms.
So I decided to use that as my key nature study.
- Charlotte has identified
over 600 types of different mushrooms in Door County
for her nature study
while Roy provides the beautiful imagery.
Over the years, the trips to find mushrooms
have yielded just as many unique stories.
- Anytime we're in the woods with them,
someone is like, "Oh, Roy, hey, I have to ask you a question."
Doesn't matter where we are, who we were with,
somebody knows him anywhere .
And he's so gracious, and will always stop and explain
and talk and make sure they know the correct terms,
or what they're asking about.
And he's the teacher, still.
He'll always be the teacher.
In fact, I call him "sensei" because he's my teacher.
He's my life teacher.
- Their marriage to each other, their work,
and the environment
is dedication at its finest.
Roy, with the help of Charlotte,
has written five nature-inspired books
and published thousands of articles
for Door County publications,
like the Peninsula Pulse .
- Even before he was doing his stories on computer,
when we had an IBM Selectric,
and he would type up the stories,
and I would proofread them.
And now with his stories with the Pulse
that he writes on the computer,
I do the proofreading, and then we work at choosing
which photos are best to go with the story,
and with the Door County Living Magazine , the same thing.
He writes it, and I proofread it,
and then we pick out the best pictures,
and then I use Photoshop to adjust the pictures.
- She's much better at technology than I am,
but we make a lot of use of the computer.
The number of images I've taken:
thousands, I don't know.
But we have them categorized by subject very nicely.
Charlotte does a marvelous job of that,
so we can find these images quite easily.
- I can't imagine
being able to do that week after week
and be so creative, and so enlightening.
It's just amazing.
They're such a special couple.
- It's just so fortunate that Roy had this wonderful talent
ofdoing these weekly letters for the local newspapers,
these nature notes,
and our Charlotte has been such a help to him,
get them sped through, get all the writing done,
and corrections, and she's just been so wonderful herself.
I'm amazed with...
her background as a dental assistant,
how she's locked onto nature,
and how she knows it so well.
And, they're just a great partnership,
and they just have this wonderful affection
for all facets of nature.
- The couple has always shied away from the spotlight,
but in the fall of 2014,
their work was recognized on a grand level.
The couple received
a well-deserved lifetime achievement award
from Wisconsin's Alliance for Land Trust.
- We are just so grateful to be awarded
for doing something that we love to do,
and Roy flunked retirement,
so he's going to continue writing.
He's been writing weekly nature stories
for Door County newspapers for 46 years,
and it's just...
When you study nature, you never stop learning.
You're always exploring and discovering new things,
so we're very thankful
and thank you all for coming out tonight.
[applause]
- I thought it was overwhelming event
and the thing that impressed me
was knowing that so many other people out there in the audience
were doing just as Charlotte and I have been trying to do
for so many years too:
preserving the land,
and working hard to keep it in good shape
and being good stewards,
and teaching others to do the same.
To preserve a lot of these areas
takes a lot of effort, and a lot of people,
and we feel we're just a small part of it.
* *
[slapping clay]
- Before arriving in Door County,
David and Jeanne Aurelius formed a relationship
in college in Iowa.
Their passion for art brought them together,
and led them to an artist colony in California.
This is where their love for each other and their craft
took shape under the direction of Master Potter,
Marguerite Wildenhain.
Her summer school, known as Pond Farm,
was an education in technique and life.
- Marguerite would always say
that you'll have ideas
that will be in your head,
but eventually you'll need to turn to something
for ideas,
for your decorations,
and she would have us drawing from nature.
So we had that background of looking and seeing
and just seeing how the leaf comes out of the stem,
and how the flower comes budding out,
and she just kept emphasizing:
to really look and see what we were drawing.
- She never wanted us to be a clone of her.
Her most important emphasis was:
you have to teach yourself
how to expand your vocabulary
after you're not studying with a Master anymore.
I know that's what we've done here at Clay Bay,
because
when we first came 40 years ago,
our work was kind of,
"Oh, I think I could say it,"
kind of amateurish and embryonic--
that was a word that Marguerite always used.
Embryonic, which meant not fully formed yet.
But, by now, I've created pieces
that I could have never imagined
I would have done
20 years ago.
- One of her favorite things to me that she would say is:
"You can't put God and all the world on an ashtray."
And we were never making ashtrays,
but she was trying to get me
to tone down my decorations a little bit.
[laughs]
But what's funny then too
is that we now make those murals with grade school children,
so I'm putting God and all the world on a bigger scale,
with the help of children.
So, Marguerite, I'm still doing it.
[laughs]
But she was a wonderful influence.
- Soon, this newly married couple
would be influencing others with their work in Door County.
In 1976, they moved to Ellison Bay
where they started their family,
and their business, Clay Bay Pottery.
- Our studio is our house-- I mean our showroom.
Right next door, right behind this porch,
is our house.
There's three bedrooms upstairs, and a nice kitchen,
and living room, dining room.
It's small in comparison to houses these days,
but it's perfect.
We've raised two daughters.
It's just been fine.
- I know Jeanne and I realized that
to be one potter,
you couldn't do what we've done.
And luckily,
Jeanne likes to do certain things I would not like to do,
and vice versa.
You just couldn't have what we have
if you were just a single potter.
I mean:
to run your house, to run a studio, to run a gallery,
to have employees, to do the advertising,
and the design work.
And then, have time to enjoy yourself,
which we've managed to do.
I think it would be impossible.
- Like any new business,
it was rough in the early days.
It certainly took some time to build up a customer base,
but once the Aurelius's earned the support of a few clients,
the word quickly spread
about the quality of the artists' work.
- This glossy, the blue and the green,
that's painted with our glossy white glaze,
and then waxed over the top of that.
- There's probably hardly a home in Door County
that's owned by a local person
that doesn't have a piece of their pottery in it,
whether it's a coffee cup that you drink out of,
your favorite cup every morning,
whether it's a lady vase that has crazy flower hair
that sits on your windowsill,
a platter that you serve your Thanksgiving turkey on,
or a beautiful, just a beautiful "David" vase
sitting on a shelf being admired every day.
And, everybody here loves and respects their work.
And, that will live on.
- The Aurelius's have also left an impression
on many schools in Door County, and beyond.
In fact, their artwork is on display in 21 different schools.
- Our friend, Sonja Juffer in 1994,
called us and said,
would we be willing to work with her school--
or actually, her husband's school--
and make a tile mural with kids,
and I said, "Oh, sure, how many children?"
And she said, "Around 650." [laughs]
And, I said, "Oh, okay."
And, at that point, she was hiring me and David said,
"I think I better go down and help you."
So he came down as a volunteer for the first week,
and made all these tiles.
We brought our slab roller
and that first mural was called
"Nature and the Neighborhood."
And, we had no clue what we were doing.
It was just amazing.
We didn't have them numbered,
but it was just so funny to think
that we thought we knew what we were doing.
Big, tall boys would come up and say,
"Now, is this the leg of the girl, or is that the water?"
And we'd say, "Let's put the girl back together."
And by the time we realized we needed to code everything,
we were ready to jump out a window,
because it was just so difficult.
Since then, it's been totally changed and very organized.
And every tile has a number on the back,
and it all fits back together.
- What I learned is that it takes a whole school,
every person in it, from the students to the teachers
to the superintendent to the custodians,
and all of the community around it,
to have a successful project.
And it helps to have it spearheaded
by talented, creative artists
who are strongly admired in your community,
because people rallied very much to our cause.
- The greatest legacy is to have a student
who could be [clears throat]
having some difficulties in their lives,
and they'll produce this incredible 6 x 6-inch tile.
I remember, I think it was Shady Lane School.
A student came here with an aid,
and you could tell he needed special attention.
Well, we said, "You can make a bird,
"you can make a fish,
you can do something like that."
And he just kept shaking his head.
I said, "Well, what do you want make?"
And he said, "I want to make a car."
I said, "Well, go ahead and make a car."
Well, not only did he make a car,
but he had the hood up and a mechanic working on the engine.
It kind of blew us all away.
- The murals, just like so many of their creations,
are inspired by the Door County landscape
that surrounds their lives.
In an era of mass-produced items,
the Aurelius' work
is truly one of a kind.
- Whenever I work, I try to do the best I can.
And I try to think about that often
when I'm working,
to just say, "Is this the best you can?"
And, "How could you change this?
How could you make it more joyful?"
I like the idea of having people use our work.
We encourage people to use our pieces,
and don't put them on a shelf, use them.
It's like, "I can't use this. This is art."
It's like, well, once you get used to it,
just start using it, because it brings you joy.
- I've never thought of
what we're making will be that legacy
down the road, until a friend said,
"Can you imagine all your work that's in private collections
all over the country?"
And, it really struck me pretty hard,
because I never thought of it like that.
You're just focused in on doing the best you can,
and kind of pushing the boundaries whenever you could,
but it really made me stop to think
that we do.
We bring joy to a lot of people,
and they give us money,
and it's kind of a crazy thing.
- We love what we do,
and it is rewarding,
and it's a joy to just think,
"How am I going to change this?
What am I going do?"
The variety of things that we can make is amazing,
and it just seems like there's so many things I want to do,
and there's not enough time.
So, it's just a good life.
- Too many people don't follow their dreams.
Luckily, I got to.
And living here in Door County,
just sitting here in the showroom,
just looking across at the orchard
and the gorgeous colors.
I think of this as the last 40 years
was my second or third childhood,
because what a joy to have...
You could work hard,
and at the end of the day you can go play outside,
either at a beach or...
Luckily, both Jeanne and I grew up loving nature,
and creating a life together.
And what could be better?
- Funding for Door County Gems was provided in part by
Philip Hendrickson, in memory of Elizabeth Hendrickson,
the Door County Visitor's Bureau,
and the Door County Community Foundation.