Art: It’s All in the Family at Sailor Studio

Peek behind the scenes at Sailor Studio in Center Town Gallery in Stone Mountain Village and you’ll see three artists hard at work creating beautiful enamel on copper and stained glass art. You might also see those same creative people, Debbie Thigpen, her daughter Lily Bilsland and her daughter in-law Britni Thigpen making sure their little ones, all five of them, are fed, have a nap and stay out of trouble.

It’s all in a day’s work, grandmother and mothers agree.

The gallery recently opened as part of the SMart. program to revitalize the city of Stone Mountain. When the opportunity came along to have her own business, Debbie who worked under renowned enamellist Margaret Ratcliff for 30 years, asked Lily and Britni if they wanted to join her. They jumped at the chance.

“This art incubator brought us all together,” said Debbie. Her art education began with her mother Wanda Locke, a well-known Stone Mountain artist. As a young child she watched her mother at the easel and worked alongside her gaining experience in oil and mural painting.

Later as a teenager, she apprenticed at Ratcliff’s Studio, which was in Stone Mountain at the time. “While I was in high school, I would spend afternoons learning the classic, formal way. Later, when Lily was high school age, she moved to Ellijay, Georgia, where she had the opportunity to create stained glass windows for a church.

 “I wasn’t happy about it,” said Lily, determined then not to follow in her mother’s artistic footsteps. “I went from a high school with 2,000 students to one with 150.” But the experience turned out to be a great one for mother and daughter, sparking creativity and inspiration.

“I’ve always been imaginative,” said Britni. “Give me a pen and paper, or a fabric swatch — I love the creative process.”  

Today, Lily and Britni produce gallery pieces as well as a new line of wearable art made with enamel and copper. While they are still apprenticing under Debbie and Margaret, who at the age of 87 still operates her own studio in Lilburn, their work has a contemporary look.

“When these two came in, they started breaking the rules of traditional enamel work,” said Debbie. I’d never done it any other way, but they would do things and say, let’s just see what will happen. It turned out the abstract pieces were selling like hotcakes.  

“I sold the first pair of earrings I made, right off my ears,” said Britni.

Balancing work with children isn’t easy and sometimes it would be less stressful without the little ones around, said Lily. But all generations concur; starting Sailor Studio has been the chance of a lifetime.

The Creative Process

Whether it’s a classic design like a dogwood flower or a free-form modern pair of earrings, it begins with a heavy gauge of copper and enamels (finely ground glass). The copper is cut into a shape, and then coated with flux (a clear glass liquid).  The enamel is then applied to the copper using free-hand, stencils, sifting or painting.

The pieces are flash-fired in a kiln at 1500 degrees for about two minutes. It can take up to six enamel applications and firings to develop the designed piece. Afterward, liquid enamel or 14 karat gold is applied by pen or brush, and the piece is fired a last time, polished and cleaned.

Art Shorts

Music for Missions: Decatur Civic Chorus presents 10th Encore Concert, May 8, 7 p.m., United Methodist Men at Lawrenceville Road United Methodist Church, 3142 Lawrenceville Highway. Under direction of Anne Sharpe, the chorus will present a program of choral music. Donations are appreciated.

, Stone Mountain Village, May 14, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Classic car show; a large professional pottery show, food vendors and fun things to do for the kids in the KIDZONE. Huge fireworks salute to Blue Grass and Old Time Musicians and Country Dancers at "dark" just after the street dance. Visit the artists’ studios on Main Street and the shops and restaurants in Stone Mountain Village. Street dance on Main Street in the early evening.

Bonnie & Clyde, The Two Person, Six Gun Musical, ARTStation, 5384 Manor Drive.  May 5, 6, 7,12,13,14, Thurs-Sat., 8 p.m. Sundays 3 p.m. Musical by Will Pomerantz and Andrew Phillip Herron. This fun two-person, rip-roaring musical tells the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Champion Barrow, the infamous duo that led a nationwide crime spree from 1932 until 1934. Tickets $27 for adults and $23 for seniors/students.

About this column: Art is everywhere. Music, visual arts, drama, dance and the literary arts help us express our feelings about the world around us. Every two weeks we will highlight artists to enjoy in the Stone Mountain/Redan community.