Published: April 13, 2008 01:35 pm            

Artistic ‘Llama Lady’

Elliott chosen as Duncan Art Guild’s artist of the month

DUNCAN — Some of Susan Elliott’s friends call her “Llama Lady,” and she takes it as a compliment. She does love llamas, and has a small herd of them at her rural home, but there are many other facets to the Duncan artist, too.

Elliott has been chosen as the Duncan Art Guild’s artist of the month. Although she began her artistic pursuits many years ago painting in oils, for the past three years, Elliott has turned her talents toward pottery, something she had wanted to do for a long time.

“My husband, Scotty, gave me pottery lessons with George Gilland (an artist and former Marlow Methodist minister now living in Yukon) three years ago as a Christmas gift. I’ve always loved pottery, and was anxious to try it. As it turns out, his gift turned out to be a godsend for the time,” Elliott said.

Just a few weeks after that Christmas, Scotty Elliott was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and the couple’s world turned upside down.

“I needed something creative for the time when I wasn’t at the hospital with him. Pottery turned out to be that outlet, it gave me peace,” Susan Elliott said.

While she was spinning her potter’s wheel, she was also praying — as were many other people in the community — and today, Scotty has recovered and is back at work in his job in real estate for Halliburton.

To honor God and as a symbol of her faith and gratitude for answered prayers, the artist marks each of her pottery creations with a small cross beside her name. A line from a favorite hymn, “Thou art the Potter, I am the clay...” graces the wall of her home studio.

She, too, is employed by Halliburton, as department secretary in manufacturing technology.

“I work so I can buy clay,” she said with a laugh.

Originally from Grandfield, Susan Elliott moved to Duncan after she graduated from high school to be closer to her sister and brother-in-law. She took art lessons and also attended Cameron University for a year, majoring in business. It wasn’t long until she met Scotty, a Duncan native, and the couple was married in 1975. They have two sons: Chris, who lives in Norman, and Coy, who is still at home.

In her pottery and sculpting, Elliott works primarily with a dark reddish-brown clay called Cinco Rojo.

“It doesn’t dry out my hands as some other clays do. I also work with white clay occasionally, depending on what I’m making,” she said.

Although the lump of clay with which she begins varies according to the piece being produced, Elliott has worked her way up to working with 9 pounds of clay at a time. A favorite large piece of pottery standing on her mantle — made by another potter — could take around 30 pounds of clay, she noted, so it takes a bit of experience to be able to manage the larger amounts of clay.

Once a piece of pottery or sculpture is completed, it must stand until it is bone dry before it is kiln-fired the first time. After that, the article is glazed, then fired a second time to complete the desired look.

“I used to paint in oils, but it didn’t thrill me like pottery does. I painted until I had kids, then I had 20 years of ‘nothing’ before I began working with clay,” she said.

“Nothing” wasn’t exactly nothing, however. Elliott worked, raised her children, is active in Bethel Assembly of God where she is on the usher team and shows slides from the video control room, and works with Kairos prison ministry — among other activities.

“In Kairos, a team of women goes into the women’s prison at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud twice a year, in spring and fall, and spends an entire weekend working with the women. We have discussions, fun, food and fellowship. It’s very hard work, but it is most rewarding, too. It’s a life-changing thing,” she said.

When the volunteers are not actually working with the prisoners, they must prepare their activities and materials for the next day, so it is a very intense weekend — so intense that after three years of work with the program, volunteers are required sit out for a year before resuming the work.

Then there are the llamas. Elliott got involved with the shaggy creatures when she went to a llama show “for kicks” eight years ago. Fascinated by the animals, she and her husband bought a baby llama from a neighbor, then decided it needed company, so they acquired several more. Then those llamas had more babies, and the herd grew. For a number of years, the couple participated in llama shows.

“Llamas don’t do well alone, They’re very social — herd animals. They can be habit-forming, too. They’re very calming, sort of a pet therapy. It takes hours to get them brushed out for shows. They’re highly intelligent and good guardian animals around the place, too. They kill coyotes — they’re natural predators to coyotes — and are often used to protect herds of goats, sheep and cattle.

“They’re very gentle animals, though. Some people even take them to nursing homes to entertain the residents. Llamas like to be friendly with people, but they had rather not be touched. If they feel threatened, they can spit at people, but ours are very socialized and don’t spit at us.

“They have to be separated when they’re eating, though. They do spit at each other like children with bad table manners when they’re eating and another llama gets too close. When our llamas get mad, they sometimes spit straight up in the air, as if to say, ‘I’m mad!’ They make their point, all right.

“They are very curious. They will look you over, especially when you’re wearing something new. I had on a pair of boots one day, and they looked me up and down like they were trying to decide what was different. They have their opinions, that’s for sure,” Elliott said.

As she talked, the llamas in her herd approached the fence where she was standing and, one by one, leaned over to plant a “kiss” on her lips, then they continued down the fenceline, touching their soft, velvety muzzles very gently to the lips of a couple of rather leery visitors, too. A llama kiss is like nothing one might imagine — a uniquely pleasant experience — the visitors agreed.

Although the Elliotts no longer show their animals, they still enjoy having the critters around, also sharing their world with an “inside” cat, an “outside” cat and a large dog. The llamas also inspire Susan Elliott’s pottery, as she often creates pieces with llama motifs.

She also makes a wide range of vases, cups, teapots and serving pieces, urns and ginger jars, sculptures and has even created a whimsical tissue box holder that sports blond hair and a carefully made-up face — whatever strikes her fancy. She has won first- and second-place awards in an art show in Waurika.

        

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