 Well, after dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, one Brainerd Lakes area artist is using his pottery skills as therapy. For this week's infocus, our Sarah Winkelman spoke with Kevin Matthews about his inspiration. This is called horserapottery, and it's from the Acoma Indians. Kevin Matthews shows off some of the work he is most well known for around the state of Minnesota, and it all starts off with just a lump of clay. I push the clay down, I push the clay up, I push the clay down. And an old tail behind the horse hair pottery. A gal was unloading a kiln, and her hair, her long hair fell in the kiln while she was unloading it, and the hair made these carbon marks on it. With Native American roots himself, Matthews is honored to continue the tradition. So what I do is make the vessel, take it out of the kiln when it's over a thousand degrees, and lay a horse hair on it, and the hair melts or it singes, and the carbon in the hair leaves the black lines. And so this pot has to be designed in less than 10 seconds. Otherwise the hair, it cools so fast the hair won't melt anymore. With an inspiration for art that started after dealing with trauma situations in his personal life and his career as a firefighter. It relaxed me, and I was working through a lot of things that I needed to work through. By going back to college at Bemidji State and starting to gravitate toward the art classes. I found myself in the studio a lot, and it was relaxing me. After leaving life in the Twin Cities and moving up north, Matthew says the nature allows him to stay calm and focus on his art. Brainerd has really embraced art, which is neat, and it's really been beneficial to be here and be exposed like that. Located right on Washington Street in Brainerd, Matthews is proud to share his art with the community. On the outside, I'm doing the pushing. On the inside, I'm just guiding the clay up. And tries to make each piece just as unique as the last. For this week's In Focus, in Brainerd, Sarah Winckelman, Lakeland News. And Kevin Matthews also has a paint your own pottery business in his shop. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.