Peak of Summer

"LOOK OUT FOR THOSE HEADS!!" girls gone wild!

Not much clay work these days. I've spent the last two weeks enjoying the richness that this peak of summer has to offer. As my daughters prepared for their upcoming school year we thought it would be nice to go to the beach if we could. So we got in touch with our old Penland buds, Geoff Calabrese and Andi Steele's and made a trip to their home in Wilmington, NC and some beach time. On the way back from the shore we paid a visit to Mark Hewitt's place in Pittsboro, NC to see the crew fire up the old salt kiln for the 77th time.

Alex Matisse side stoking "the Beast"
Julie Jones waiting for the next stoke and for that annoying potterattzi to get out of her way!

It was Alex's last firing with Mark and Joseph, and Julie's first! We were fortunate to be at Alex's last firing with Matt Jones last year, it's crazy how time flies. Julie Jones was part of my excellent class of 2006 at Penland. After a couple of big bursts of rain and thunder, a lot of side stoking (not me although I was itchin' to help!! I was in my Birks and beach garb!) we headed over to the Pittsboro Market for a light dinner and some great music by some local musicians. Then it was time to roll on towards the NC Pottery Center for the opening of the new show there, "The Historical Pottery of Fayetteville."

the exhibit announcement postcard

a sweet little earthenware bank by well known Fayettville potter, E. A. Poe (1858-1934). Yes, that's Edgar Allen Poe!

One of my faves from the exhibit. A little
Chester Webster pitcher
with birds, leaves, and flowers

Awesome show! Had a great time seeing all my Seagrove "cousins", Bruce, Chris, Meredith, Michael, Jennie, Chad, Vernon, Pam, David, and Blaine, (among others) at the opening. I missed seeing Samantha who was not feeling well. I also had the pleasure of meeting Deborah and David Garner who had a show of their Webster reproductions.

I bought a copy of the fairly new book "The Living Tradition: NC Potters Speak" and was happy to cash in on my gift shop discount as a member of the Center! Full of interviews by Dr. Terry Zug, and Penland School's own Michelle Francis, I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of the potters had autographed my copy! [Bonus! ding, ding, ding!] I would really recommend this great book for your pottery library. If you order it through the NC Pottery Center, you might get an autographed copy as well. And if you join the Center, you will get a discount on anything you order. And if you tell'em I sent ya, I'll get even more of a discount next time I buy some books! JUST KIDDING...Anyway, the book is full of anecdotes and photographs of some of our wonderful "treasures" from the great state of pottery . [hey that sounds like a license plate idea]