Art means many things to Louise “Chick” Griffith. It means fellowship with her fellow artists and it means giving back to her community through her participation in the Chautauqua.
It also means family. Four generations enjoy painting, all beginning in Chick’s small Freeport studio. Chick, her daughter Janis Hannon, grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren all paint porcelain china.
Art also means survival. A two-time ovarian cancer survivor, Chick would spend what little time her waning strength would allow painting while recovering from chemotherapy.
“I had cancer a couple of times and this kept me going,” she said. “You’d be surprised what you can do in 20 minutes.”
Part of her wellness now, Chick attributes to her painting. A recent checkup gave Chick a clean, cancer-free bill of health.
When she was at her sickest, she could always come to her home studio and paint, even if only for a few minutes. Before long, she would finish another plate, or teapot.
Surrounded by tiny glass vials of paint, and rows and rows of paintbrushes, Chick holds a small oblong dish in one hand and a narrow bristle brush in the other. As she talks, she adds delicate swirls of pale pink to one corner of the china piece. Forming the petals first, she adds the green background and leaves later. Within those first few minutes, she has already created a single, just opened, rose.
With each firing and layer of paint, these roses take on a depth and richness. Adding to the nostalgia of the piece, sometimes Chick will gild the edges for that golden trim seen so often on antique china pieces.
Chick has three of her own kilns to fire the china after each layer of paint is added.
“Every time you open the kiln it’s like Christmas,” she said.
“Or, Halloween,” her daughter Janis laughed, adding it all depended on what the painted piece looked like once the oven cooled down.
When Chick’s youngest child left for college in 1982, she started taking art lessons to fill her time. She started with oils and acrylics, and tried pastels, but found china to be her favorite medium.
Janis began her art lessons when she was 12, but then high school life got in the way and she didn’t truly come back to painting until a few years ago. An accomplished pastel artist, Janis is enjoying her new art lessons.
“Mom is teaching me china painting,” she said.
Chick’s granddaughter Kara, a student at Freeport Middle school, began painting china when she was only six, finishing a small tea set by herself that is now on display in her Aunt Janis’ house.
“She won’t let you help her,” Chick said, obviously proud of her granddaughter’s independence.
Her grandsons, Jerrod and Malcolm, also paint (but not china) and great-grandkids Chloe, Hannah and Brendon, are now taking lessons.
Chick is a member of the Porcelain Art Association and local president of the Chautauqua. The PAA meets every second Thursday morning at the Freeport Baptist Church. They will soon begin a new joint project, a Chocolate Pot, as a fundraiser.
A Chocolate Pot is a collection of teacups and pot specially designed to serve hot cocoa. The set likens back to the 17th and 18th century when chocolate was the drink of aristocracy.
You can see samples of Chick’s work at the Chautauqua Center in DeFuniak Springs and the Corner Market on Highway 331. She will also have a display set up at the Walton County Fair.
To contact Louise “Chick” Griffith about her art, call (850) 835-4201.
