Michael Terra has a way with words and with clay, hence his nickname Mud Poet. Victoria Terra is a mastermind of business, earning the moniker Logistics Goddess. Launching Terra Cottage to sell Michael’s art when they married 34 years ago seemed like a natural for the couple.
After living in New York and Washington, they decided about 12 years ago to make their home in Paducah as part of the city’s LowerTown Artist Relocation Program. Launched in the early 2000s, the urban rejuvenation project provided incentives for artists to purchase homes in the city’s then-blighted LowerTown district. It was a perfect fit for the Terras. Their western Kentucky home serves as a workshop, living space and gallery for their Terra Cottage Ceramics.
“If a sensible accountant goes and looks at one of these buildings, they go, ‘Oh my God, that’s a wreck!’ If an artist looks at a building like that, they go, ‘I can see a thing here. We can work with that,’ ” Michael said of the houses that were for sale in the Relocation Program. “Artists are genetically predisposed to seeing what’s not there.”
More than 60 artists saw the potential Paducah had to offer, making LowerTown “way cool” in the Terras’ estimation. “In our neighborhood, there’re artists from all over the United States. I love our neighborhood,” Victoria said.
The couple has taken that love of neighborhood and spread it throughout the community with fundraisers, donations and philanthropic programs.
• • •
One of the first initiatives the Terras assisted with was the Paducah Empty Bowls Project, where local artists and groups donate handcrafted bowls. Those bowls are then filled with a simple meal at a charity event to raise money for food-related charities. Michael is director of the project, and Victoria said it has raised more than $200,000 in donations over the past 11 years.
“We participated in a lot of [projects before moving to Paducah], and as soon as we decided to move here, Michael said, ‘You know, they don’t have an Empty Bowls Project here. I want to start one,’ ” she said. “So, here we are.”
While the Commonwealth was sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Terras were scratching their heads over creative ways to keep Terra Cottage Ceramics afloat while also helping those in need.
That’s when they decided to temporarily repurpose Michael’s Squints—2- by 3-inch stoneware faces of humans, animals and aliens—into masked-up Socially Responsible Squints. Proceeds from the sales went to Paducah’s Small Business Relief Fund.
Michael then designed an outdoor ceramic wall tile measuring nearly 2 feet by 10 inches with “humankind: Be Both” etched into the plaque.
“The clay we used is designed specifically to be completely impervious to freezing, heat and rain. We’ve created a really easy mounting system, so debris doesn’t get behind it,” Michael said. “We decided that $50 from the sale of each one will go to Doctors Without Borders for all the work that they do in this country and around the world.”
The Terras have taken their philanthropic spirit beyond America’s borders into San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where they are renovating a house to serve as an artist studio and workshop space.
“We love to bring people together, and we love to network. And we love that sense of community, and we love Mexico,” Victoria said. “Our vision is that we’re going to have a teaching studio and … a four-bedroom student rental apartment. We want all of our friends to come down and do workshops and to meet other artists in San Miguel, because San Miguel is a huge artist place.”
The goal is to make it as easy as possible for fellow artists to learn and improve their craft. “One of the things about participating in a workshop is there’re questions of, ‘Where do I stay? How do I feed myself?’ With this particular design concept, people will have a place to stay. We’ll feed them breakfast and lunch every day,” Michael said. “All of the major impediments are taken out, and all they have to do is come and learn something they want to learn from somebody who does it really well in a beautiful setting.”
• • •
While they have a second home in San Miguel, the couple has no plans to leave western Kentucky. “Someday, we might retire there,” Victoria said. “But right now, no. We really like Paducah. We have no desire to leave.”
Their desire is to give back to their community with as much gratitude as possible. “When you step outside of your house and walk down that sidewalk, you had no part in creating that sidewalk, and yet, there it is for you,” Michael said. “When you get into your car and drive down that road, thousands of people in your community—and you have no idea who they are—made it possible for you to do that very thing—to drive down the road and get to where you need to go. You don’t know these people, but every day, they are out there making your life possible.
“So, I think it’s what grownups who live in a community are supposed to do … so that all of the things that we want to live with, all of those things we want around us—whether we use them every day or not—are available to us.”
To learn more about Terra Cottage Ceramics, visit terracottageceramics.com.