Hot Springs pottery Jim Larkin, who with his wife, Barbara, has owned Fox Pass pottery for 40 years, has been named the 2012 Arkansas Living Treasure by the Arkansas Arts Council.
The Arts Council and the Department of Arkansas Heritage will host a free, public reception for Larkin at 5:30 p.m. May 22 at the Hale Bathhouse, 341 Central Ave. in Hot Springs.
The award recognizes an Arkansas artisan for his career, preservation of his traditional craft and efforts educating others. Larkin, 65, has participated in the Arkansas Arts Council’s Arts in Education program, taught ceramics at the National Park Community College, taught at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and Arts and has given classes around Arkansas.
From a news release (read in its entirety on the jump):
“I’ve always been a maker,” he said. “You know how people sometimes say that their most influential book is the Bible? As a kid, mine was W. Ben Hunt’s ‘Big Book of Indian Crafts.’ “