Roving gallery an ideal stage for Meadows

Alleghany Meadows is a modern-day peddler.

The Colorado potter travels from city to city selling ceramic wares out of his travel trailer.

During the summer, when not on the road, he can be found every Saturday in his usual spot at the Aspen Farmers’ Market.

Two unique things about Meadows are his rig – an exquisitely restored 1967 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht – and the marketing concept behind his Art-Stream Nomadic Gallery.

In 2001, the studio potter saw an ad in his local newspaper for a used, 30-foot Airstream trailer.

“It was trashed when I bought it for $3,000,” said Meadows over his cell phone last Saturday, somewhere along Interstate 70 between Glenwood Springs and Denver.

“At first I was thinking about making it into a guest house,” his voice crackled over the phone, “then the idea came to me to make it into a traveling showroom.”

With “a lot of help” from friends, including a master cabinet maker, Meadows transformed the funky old Airstream into an aesthetic mobile gallery.

“I cashed in a lot of favor chips getting it fixed up,” stated Meadows in a 2004 article in The Studio Potter professional journal. “We wanted it to become an institution – but one on the fringe.”

The aluminum exterior was repaired and polished. The interior was completely gutted and refashioned to emulate a warm, homelike space, with cherry wood floors, wooden counters and track lighting.

“The Airstream is a vehicle that is built with great quality and care and attention, and we remodeled it with the craftsmanship in mind,” continued Meadows in the article. “The pots that go in it need to have been made with a similar level of attention and craftsmanship, and be pots that answer to history, that can stand up and be proud and fresh in the face of thousands of years of historic work.”

The vintage roving gallery became the perfect vehicle to showcase the individually crafted utilitarian cups, plates and bowls of Meadows and other functional potters.

“The art world is a funny place,” said Meadows over the phone. “This project has allowed a different kind of publicity for functional potters who are, in a way, on the fringe of society as far as marketing is concerned. This is one solution for helping bring functional pottery into the mainstream.”

Since hitting the road, the Art-Stream Nomadic Gallery has traversed blacktops from Los Angeles to New York, putting contemporary ceramic art on the main streets of America.

Meadows pulls his shiny pottery-laden trailer with a one-ton Ford diesel pick up.

“If I had to pay a driver,” he said, “I wouldn’t make any money at all.”

In Cheyenne, Wyo., this past week, the gallery-on-wheels will be pulling into Helena late Wednesday to take part in the “2006: Archie Bray International” get-together.

During June, more than a dozen of the world’s leading ceramic artists made the pilgrimage to the Bray to work together in its new studio complex.

The international gathering culminates with a three-day public symposium beginning Thursday.

“Clay and Globalization: Impacts on Tradition, Cultural Identity and the Individual Artist” includes presentations and demonstrations by the visiting artists, an exhibition of their work and the opportunity to walk through the Art-Stream Nomadic Gallery.

“This whole project has exceeded all my expectations,” said the traveling potter. “I knew it would be fun, but I didn’t realize the levels to which it would go.”

For more information

“ Read more about the mobile Art-Stream Gallery at its Web site www.art-stream.com; or call (970) 704-9901.

“ Find out more about the Archie Bray Foundation at www.archiebray.org or call (406) 443-3502.

RV Life on Wheels

If you want to learn more about RVing, there is still time to register for the RV Life on Wheels educational gathering set for July 9 to 14 on the University of Idaho Moscow campus.

RVers can choose from a menu of classes on the “how to,” “what to” and “where to” of RVing; technical and mechanical aspects; and lifestyle enhancement.

Cost: $249 per person covers courses, an Idaho Repertory Theatre ticket and evening entertainment. A $130 RV fee includes 30-amp electrical hookups and water services. People who wish to dry camp (no power or water) on campus pay a $25 parking fee. Attendees without RVs stay at nearby motels.

To register or to find out answers to your questions, call toll-free (866) LOW-GOGO (866-569-4646); e-mail peggyw@uidaho.edu; or write to Life on Wheels, UI Conference Services, P.O. Box 443224, Moscow, ID 83844-3224.

For detailed information about courses, check www.rvlifeonwheels.com.