MASTERMIND: Aubrey Martinson

Pottery appeals to Aubrey Thornton Martinson for a lot of reasons – beauty, functionality, the challenge of striving for unattainable perfection. She likes its concrete ways to measure success. Is the pot heavy? Is it clunky? People can use the things she makes, and that feels fulfilling.

"I'm really happy still when people tell me, 'I use that mug I bought every day,' or 'That's my ice cream bowl.' " she says. "That is exciting to me."

Martinson, the 30-year-old executive director of the Chelsea Center for the Arts, doesn't throw pots anymore. The studio she and her husband, Chris, set up in their Grass Lake home gave way to renovations, then to their daughter, Lily. The kiln they started building as college students is almost done, and has been for years.

But beneath the layers of Martinson's many roles – mother and wife, administrator, community arts activist - is Aubrey the potter, maker of things that are beautiful, useful, and enriching to people's lives.

Martinson grew up in Pinckney and earned a BFA in visual arts and English from Albion College.
After working in various arts odd-jobs, she spent two years as program director at CCA. On her watch the art program's revenues more than doubled, from $21,275 to $49,993. She left in 2006 to become managing director at the Dance Gallery Foundation in Ann Arbor and had been there a year when the executive director position in Chelsea opened up.

Seven months pregnant and envisioning a future of part-time work, Martinson almost didn't apply for the job. "I knew that this was a more-than-full-time commitment, but it was a really good opportunity for me to connect with something I really love," she said. "I loved the CCA when I worked here before, and I was really invested in it."

She spent her first day of work of work representing both CCA and Dance Gallery at a steering committee meeting for the Washtenaw County Cultural Master Plan.

The Chelsea Center for the Arts was established in 1994.  In 1998 actor Jeff Daniels and his wife, Kathleen, donated the 1920s brick schoolhouse that has become the CCA's home. The center offers art classes, gallery space, music instruction, and a drama program, and  is the only professionally-staffed art center in the county outside of Ann Arbor. Martinson's goal coming in was to make the building an inviting and vibrant place and the organization a good citizen of its community.

"What I've sought most to do is to create a stronger connection with the community at large – and that's with individuals and businesses as well as other organizations," she says. "I felt that that hadn't necessarily been a priority of past leadership, and I wanted to make sure that when somebody walked into the door... they feel at home."

The CCA nurtures a long-standing relationship with the Chelsea Painters, a 25-member group of professional artists who exhibit around the state and host an annual art fair at the Chelsea Community Hospital. The CCA hosts a hands-on project at the Chelsea Painters Fair, and several members of the group have taught or exhibited at the center and served on its board of directors.

The center rents three of its rooms to the Chelsea Children's Cooperative Preschool during the school year. Initially that created a space crunch that  made it hard for Martinson – program director at the time – to do her job. But the relationship, now in its fifth year, has evolved into a nice symbiosis. The preschool uses three rooms on the ground level from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., and in the afternoons that space is used for music lessons.

"They contribute rent; they've done an amazing job renovating the rooms downstairs, some joint programming happens, which is really exciting, and they're just a really cheerful presence in the building during the day, which is normally very quiet," Martinson said. "It would be absolutely silent during the day if they weren't here."

In a brainstorming session with Chelsea District Library adult services librarian Bill Harmer, Martinson helped evolve the ideas that became the Midwest Literary Walk, the Artist in Residence program and a series of songwriting workshops. Library dollars have driven the programs so far, with some staff time and marketing help from the CCA, but  Martinson would like to see her organization become a more equal partner in building and sustaining those events.

She sits on the board that oversees Chelsea's volunteer-run Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights, a weekly summertime happening that draws upwards of 1,000 people to downtown Chelsea on Thursday evenings, part of a collaboration between the CCA and Chelsea Downtown Merchants and the Downtown Development Authority. On July 23, Sounds & Sights will include a concert with Rare Earth and the Howling Diablos – set up in the municipal parking lot behind the Common Grill.

It works in Chelsea, Martinson says, because people are willing to collaborate.

"When I worked in Ann Arbor, people would ask  me, 'What was it like working in Chelsea?' and I honestly would say, 'Well, it's kind of like Sesame Street. Everybody cooperates, and you know everybody when you're walking down the street.'

"...Really, if I was operating this center in a different town, I don't know that I would be as happy with my job. The different initiatives in town have a lot of common ties. There's a common bond through individuals and through organizations, so there's great communication."

Martinson's vision for the CCA keeps expanding, even as its budget, which usually hovers around $350,000, keeps shrinking due to grant cuts. She's always looking for ways to make CCA programs available to more people in more ways.

Last winter the organization launched a scholarship program that distributed $3,600 to 12 students for music lessons and early childhood arts programs. This summer the board will award another $2,000 in scholarships, and it's looking for a funding source for fall semester scholarships.

In the music program, why not complement the private instruction with composition classes and ensembles?  What about developing a recording studio and teaching students the art of recording?

Iron sculptor and CCA board member Rick DeTroyer has been lobbying for a community wood shop where people can come and get their hands dirty. And of course, Martinson would like to see a full-on, functioning pottery studio that can offer open studio time to the community.

"There's just a lot happening, so it's challenging from a programming standpoint to ask, 'What do we have to offer that is going to complement what's already happening and draw enough of an audience that we're going to feel successful - and not feel like we're in competition with other organizations?'"  Martinson says. "...I feel like now we're getting to the point where we're attracting people from out of town. We need to make sure we're inviting our surrounding communities to come in and play with us."