PHOTOS COURTESY OF U.S. Embassy Kathmandu, Nepal / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
PRESS RELEASE – Archbold potter Mark Nafziger, along with his wife Joyce Nafziger, recently returned from Bhaktapur, Nepal, after participating in the Arts Envoy program.
Arts Envoy is a cultural exchange program within the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that connects U.S. artists with international audiences for an exchange of skills and knowledge.
Mark, owner of Brush Creek Pottery located inside Sauder Village, said he and Joyce were some of the first potters to be invited to participate in the program.
After accepting an invitation to participate in Arts Envoy in mid-September, Mark and Joyce had two months to prepare for their trip to Nepal.
The couple, along with three-and-a-half suitcases full of pottery materials, arrived in Nepal and began the week-long cultural exchange workshop on Nov. 18.
The workshop took place in Bhaktapur, one of three main cities within the Kathmandu Valley, in a merchant square where locals sell their artisan crafts to tourists. There, Mark and Joyce were introduced to a group of local female artisans — their students for the week.
“I did a little demonstrating… They did a lot of questioning. I was questioning them, it was a back and forth,” Mark explained. “They just jumped right in and started working.”
“The whole week was pretty much an experiment,” Joyce added. “We experimented with new techniques and different clays.”
Mark and Joyce agreed the Nepali potters were eager to learn from them, especially when trying out new design methods. Because selling pottery is the source of income for many of the women, they were eager to learn new methods to make their art more attractive to buyers.
“They really jumped right on it and were excited about the new decorating technique,” Mark said. “These women were not looking to totally move away from tradition, but to add to the tradition and make it a little more applicable to today, a little more marketable. They were excited about the possibilities.”
The couple both learned a lot from their students, too. Throughout the week, Mark and Joyce said they bonded with the group, even when a language barrier was present.
They both expressed the opportunity was a humbling one, with Mark explaining he took away a new appreciation for the resources and supplies accessible to him as an American potter.
“I was really impacted by the fact that as potters, you feel an immediate connection with the struggles across cultures and across the world,” Mark said.
“We all deal with the same issues in just the process itself: the firing, trying to figure out problems that arise, dealing with the materials themselves.
But in comparison with Nepal, if something changes with my materials, I have resources to adapt to those changes to where I can continue doing my work with no problem. For them, they don’t have access to the materials at all.”
“It was both exciting and humbling,” Joyce added. “Just the openness of the women that we were working with and their excitement to learn new things and to share what they know.”
“Not all of them were potters, some of the women worked in other art fields… It was so cool to see the overlap of what Mark taught, what they knew, and their excitement for creating something.”
The program ended in an exhibit showcasing the pieces the women created throughout the week.
Mark and Joyce also attended a reception at the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal’s residence along with their students, spoke at Kathmandu University’s Department of Arts and Design, and were interviewed by the national press.
“Something that struck me was that when we got there, we were treated like something really special,” Mark said. “You got this feeling that everyone was hanging onto every word you said. It was just surreal.”
After the program wrapped up, Mark and Joyce spent a week exploring the rest of Nepal, including seeing Mt. Everest.
The opportunity to become an Arts Envoy, Mark said, was born out of a connection to the U.S. Ambassador of Nepal Dean R. Thompson and his wife, Jane Thompson, who grew up in northwest Ohio.
“About two years ago, Sauder Village was approached by the newly named ambassador to Nepal’s wife, Jane Thompson,” Mark explained.
“When the Thompsons were assigned this new post, they were charged with decorating the residence. It’s called the Art in Embassies program.”
As part of the Art in Embassies program, in 2022 Sauder Village was asked to provide pieces to display inside the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Kathmandu.
Mark was tasked with creating pottery that is now exhibited there, alongside marbles from glass blower Mark Matthews, woven baskets and handmade quilts.
From having his pieces on display at the ambassador’s residence, Mark said, grew the opportunity to become an Arts Envoy.
“We are so thankful to have been invited and the opportunity to participate,” Mark said. “It was such a good experience,” Joyce added. “We’re still having dreams about Nepal.”