Carolina Arts Reviews the Celebration of Seagrove Potters

A Trip to the 4th Annual Celebration of Seagrove Potters
by Tom Starland
on Carolina Arts Unleashed
...."Well, after a trip to Vista Lights in Columbia, SC, I was lucky to get a day in-between before I hit the road again on my way to Seagrove, NC, a 3 1/2 hour trip North of the Carolina Arts headquarters in Bonneau, SC. When I left home it was 37 degrees and as I headed North is got a little cooler for the first hour, then it eventually started to warm up as the sun began to do its magic. I got to Seagrove just after 10am and the parking lots were pretty jammed at Luck’s Cannery, but people were leaving carrying bags full of pottery. Within a few minutes a space opened up."... 
To Read the rest of this story visit Carolina Arts Unleashed

Celebration of Seagrove Potters at the Lucks Cannery

62 Potteries will be showing at the Celebration of Seagrove Potters

Join us for the

4th Annual Celebration of Seagrove Potters, 2011

Nov.18- Friday evening Gala 6:00pm-9:00pm (tickets in advance $40) - 

You can purchase the tickets on the Celebration's website

Nov.19- Saturday   9:00am-6:00pm

Nov.20- Sunday     10:00-4:00pm

Here is the list of participating potters

Over 100 Seagrove potters, from 62 shops, are participating this year.

Participating shops are: 

    Avery, Ben Owen, Blue Hen, Blue Stone, Bulldog, Cadwell-Hohl, Chad Brown, Chris Luther, Country Pots, Cross Creek, Crystal King, Daniel Johnston, David Stuempfle, Dean & Martin, Dirt Works, Dixieland, Donna Craven, Dover, Eck McCanless, Fat Beagle, Firestone, From the Ground Up, Gingerbread House, Great White Oak Gallery, Hatfield, Hickory Hill, Humble Mill, JLK Jewelry, Johnston & Gentithes, Jugtown, Keith Martindale, King’s, Koepnick, Kovack, Lantern Hill, Latham’s, Luck’s Ware, McCanless, McKay, Michele Hastings & Jeff Brown, Nelda French, Nichols, Old Gap, Ole Fish House, Original Owens, Patrick Rowe, Pebbles, Pottery by Frank Neef, Potts, Ray, Riggs, Rockhouse, Seagrove Stoneware, Studio Touya, The Hutch, Thomas, Tom Gray, Triple C, Turn & Burn, Uwharrie Crystalline, Whynot, and Windsong.

STARworks Mill Worker Homecoming

Open House at STARworks in Star, North Carolina

Tours, Glass & Pottery Demonstrations

Open to the Public

November 12, 9 a.m. - noon

100 Russell Drive in Star

For more information: Call (910) 428-9001

North Carolina Pottery Center - A Thriving Tradition

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove presents:

A Thriving Tradition: 75 years of Collecting North Carolina Pottery

Featuring pots from the Mint Museum's Permanent Collection and local collectors

Opening this Friday November 11, 2011

5:30pm - 7:30pm

Free to the Public

Westmoore Pottery - Hearthside Cooking - November 12

Westmoore Pottery's Hearth where the traditional food cooking will take place

Don't forget that this coming Saturday, November 12, Westmoore Pottery will present “Stepping Back in Time:  Hearthside Cooking.”

Westmoore Pottery will be open from 9am - 5pm on Saturday, November 12. 

 The hearthside cooking demonstrations will run from 11am – 4pm.

Historical cooks Cindy Kepley and Susan Ball will cook foods in the large fireplace at Westmoore Pottery, using historical recipes from the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the dishes Cindy and Susan plan to prepare are Carolina Snowballs, Green “Frogs,” fruit pies, Carrot Fritters, and Chicken Pie.  Sampling of many of the dishes will be allowed as foods finish cooking.

Cindy Kepley and Susan Ball both work at Old Salem Museums and Gardens in Winston-Salem, NC, where they have each held positions in the Museum Education and Children’s Education Departments.  Susan is a museum educator and coordinator of the Five Yesterdays program.  Cindy Kepley works with Historic Trades and is one of the main living-history interpreters for the Miksch House of Old Salem.  Susan and Cindy are both experienced hearth cooks who have been immersed in the world of 18th and early 19th century cooking for many years.  They are energetic presenters of their skills and are remarkably adept at simultaneously cooking and talking to visitors.  Cindy and Susan have been the cooks at previous Hearthside Cookery programs at Westmoore Pottery, with enthusiastic response from visitors.

Cindy Kepley and Susan Ball will use Westmoore’s pottery in their cooking, to demonstrate how various pottery pieces were used in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  Pots used will range from the more common bowls, pitchers, and plates to the lesser known pottery pipkins, skillets, and steep pans. 

We are thrilled to have Cindy and Susan back doing hearthside cookery.  Not only are they extremely knowledgeable and skilled at 18th and early 19th century cooking techniques, they are also just great cooks!

The Hearthside Cooking programs are always among Westmoore Pottery’s most popular special events, and attract a wide and varied audience who learn about a part of history that people sometimes forget about -- the history of foods, cooking skills, and the daily tasks of those who lived long ago.  These programs interest many different types of people – history buffs, cooks, pottery enthusiasts, teachers, and lifetime learners.

Westmoore Pottery will be open from 9am - 5pm on Saturday, November 12.  The hearthside cooking demonstrations will run from 11am – 4pm.  (The last hour of the day is allotted to washing dishes!)  Visitors may come at any point during the day, and come back as often as they like to see the various foods being cooked.  No admission fee will be charged. 

Feel free to just stop in for a short time to watch and learn or to stay all day!  Hope to see you on Saturday.

Mary Farrell

Westmoore Pottery
4622 Busbee Road
Seagrove, NC  27341
910-464-3700

Westmoore Pottery

Tonight- Tues.Nov8-Talks and Potluck at the North Carolina Pottery Center

Presentations at the North Carolina Pottery Center

November 8, 2011 - Tuesday - 6:00pm- ...
At the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, North Carolina, 233 East Avenue
Bring a covered dish for a potluck dinner! Yummmmm

Building Upon: Exchange of Ideas, Culture, Experience

Blue Hen Pottery presents an opportunity to meet Ceramic artists from Tallinn, Estonia; Pepin, WI and Greenville NC at North Carolina Pottery Center.

What do they all have in common? They are threaded together by the history of exchange that emerges from working with common material, clay. 

Many years ago, Richard Spiller, a former professor of East Carolina University ventured out into the unknown of the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Saint Petersburg and Finland. What he found there and how the history unfolded, will be unravelled in his slide presentation.

Some of the friends he made while in Estonia: Urmas Puhkan, The Head of the Ceramics Department and Ingrid Allik, a Professors of Ceramics at the Estonian Academy of Art will sneak us a peek into the academic art education in Estonia and introduce us to their individual work.

The youngest generation of the growing international clay family, the Students of East Carolina University and Estonian Academy of Art will be sharing with us their freshest ideas.

Please welcome these artists to the Seagrove community and join us for this exciting event - a Pot Luck Presentation Night at NCPC Educational Building.

North Carolina Pottery Center : East Carolina University : Estonian Academy of Art

Tuesday, Nov. 8. 6PM - until

NCPC Educational Building

Please bring a covered dish or snack foods to share.

More information on events during this visit can be found at:

Blue Hen Pottery

4th annual Celebration of Seagrove Potters in Seagrove, central NC

It is that time of the year again! The Potters of Seagrove -  the Seagrove Potters that live and make their work in and very near to the town of Seagrove will come together in one location the weekend before Thanksgiving. 

The evening of Friday - November 18th, 2011 - 6:00 pm The Celebration of Seagrove Potters kicks-off Friday evening for a celebratory Gala event. There will be ample time to look at pottery and talk with your favorite potters. Food, drink, and music will be available and later in the evening the collaborative auction is always a thrill.  You can purchase tickets ($40 per person and good for the weekend) to the Gala, on the Celebration of Seagrove Potters website and you can also see the collaborative pieces that will be available. Also all the details about this awesome event will be on the website and if you have any questions there is a contact page too.

Saturday - November 19, 2011 - 9:00 am - 6:00pm begins the Celebration of Seagrove Potters weekend (tickets are $5 at the door). This is always a thrilling and a very exciting time for Pottery Lovers to come and see all of the Seagrove Potters together. Bring your map so you can begin to circle the potteries that you will like to come and visit through out the year. Remember that the potteries in Seagrove are open through all four seasons to greet people, answer questions, and we are looking forward to your visit throughout the year.  Saturday afternoon at the Celebration there will be a silent auction of pottery. There will be demos, kids pottery tables, concession food stands, and more to keep the interest of everyone in your party.  Plan to stay for the whole day, because there is a lot to do and see.

Sunday - November 20, 2011 - 10:00 am-4:00 pm is usually a bit more quiet than Saturday. There is always plenty of pots left to see and buy and like Saturday there will be demos, kids pottery tables, and concession food stands.

The Luck's Cannery is around a mile from town, south on Pottery Highway 705.  

We are looking forward to seeing you.

In the Grove-November

Seagrove Pottery News - "In the Grove" - Published by  Rhonda McCanless 

Lots going in Seagrove during the month of November. Actually there is always something going on in Seagrove, North Carolina. The Seagrove potters don't sit still, always making quality pottery and stirring up some magic.

This is this months "In the Grove" - a monthly newsletter published by Rhonda McCanless of Eck McCanless pottery. You can read this months In the Grove newsletter here on scribed.

  "In the Grove" has a facebook page, which you can follow to find out the latest news. 

Cady Clay Works Annual Wood-Fired Kiln Opening - Nov 5, 2011

John Mellage is the fellow in the ligth blue shirt. A wood kiln can take a small village to help fire.

Around a month ago friends came into town and we toured them around Seagrove,  NC.  John Mellage and Beth Gore of Cady Clay Works were firing their wood kiln and we were lucky enough to be able watch them stoke their kiln for a few mintues.  They are having a very special kiln opening event this weekend.

Cady Clay Works Annual Wood-Fired Kiln Opening

November 5 Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm

"Every wood-fired pot is uniquely decorated by its placement in the kiln, the fly ash deposited on it and the flashing of the flame moving past the piece.  Potters John Mellage and Beth Gore enjoy creating different pieces for every firing, giving up control to the serendipity of the kiln process.  They have been working on this year's designs for four months and are anxious to share them with their pottery collectors!

John and Beth made a lot of "kitchen pots" this year, just in time for fall cooking.  New items are soup mugs and "Kara's shrimp and grits bowl" - a wide, shallow bowl requested by Charleston friends.  Returning favorites are dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, mugs, tumblers, goblets, carafes, mixing bowls and baking dishes.  And casseroles are back!  Lidded pieces are tricky to wood-fire because the melting, runny ash can glue the lid to the pot.  John hasn't made casseroles in a few years because he was discouraged by losing several.  This year he made a point to configure the kiln stacks to create a more protected place for them, with good results.

There are a lot of figural creatures in this year's firing.  John and Beth collaborated on owls and chubby hens, thrown by John and scultped by Beth.  Beth also made hand-built birds and turtles from textured and sculpted slabs of clay.

Additonal pieces include lidded jars made of stoneware and porcelain clays swirled together as the pots are turned on the wheel, garden urns, a wide variety of vases, platters and wall pieces.  Over 600 new pieces will make their debut at the Kiln Opening. 

Hot Cider and refreshments will be available for shoppers, as well as tours of the studio and kiln.  Do your Christmas shopping while supporting North Carolina business!

  

It's hot, dirty, exhausting work.  It's ancient technology.  So why do potters wood-fire?

  "I love clay as a material, and woodfiring makes it possible to show the clay 'bare', as I like it - flashed and lively with subtle color changes." - Nesrin Durin, Netherlands"

Wood is carefully place in the front of the kiln. Wood is the fuel for this kiln.

Friends drop off chili to help Beth feed the folks firing the kiln.