North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Names Lindsey Lambert as Center’s New Director

The board of directors of the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, are pleased to announce the hiring of Lindsey Lambert as the center’s new executive director. He will officially start at the beginning of June.

Lambert is the former director of the Brock Historical Museum and College Archives at Greensboro College, a position he held for over a decade, and he is the current board president of the North Carolina Museums Council (NCMC), an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization comprised of several hundred museum professionals across the state.

Lambert has a BA in History from NCSU and a MA in Public History from Appalachian State University. On NCMC’s board, he has previously served as nominating chair, treasurer, and vice president. He comes to the Pottery Center with a solid array of museum, technical, networking and grant writing skills, as well as a youthful energy and a sound appreciation of pottery and its traditions. Mark Hewitt, current president of the Pottery Center’s board, says, “It is good news that the Pottery Center has someone so capable to direct its activities, and we expect his tenure to coincide with increased visibility for the Pottery Center, its mission, and all the potters of North Carolina.” Lambert was born, raised and still resides in Randolph County.

Of the Pottery Center, Lambert says, “Working collaboratively we can help the Pottery Center to better realize its full potential of promoting public awareness and appreciation of the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery making in North Carolina. In addition to serving as the Pottery Center’s director, I am also becoming a member at the Sustainer level because I support the center’s mission and feel that it is important to support it financially as well as through my work.”

Hewitt also says, “Thanks must be given to the tireless Board members and advisors who wrote grants to Z. Smith Reynolds and the John Hanes Foundation that provided funds for the position. Thanks go also to the members of the search committee for identifying our new director. There are many fine people working on behalf of the Center, and we are delighted to have Lambert leading such a talented and dedicated team.”

Currently on display until July 27 is an exhibit entitled “Big Red: Chrome Red and Other Red Glazes of the North Carolina Piedmont.”

Exhibitions are made possible through the generosity of our membership, the John W. & Anna H. Hanes Foundation, the Mary and Elliott Wood Foundation and the Goodnight Educational Foundation. This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Thank you!

The mission of the North Carolina Pottery Center is to promote public awareness of and appreciation for the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery making in North Carolina. The Center is located at 233 East Avenue in Seagrove, NC. Hours of operation are Tue. – Sat., 10am – 4pm.

For more information, please call 336/873-8430 or visit (www.ncpotterycenter.org).

NC Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Offers Popular Fundraiser – Potter’s Palette 2 – May 4, 2013

Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollack have nothing on the potters of North Carolina. Can you buy an Old Master canvas? I didn’t think so. But you can buy a fabulous painting, on a 12” x 12” canvas, produced by one of the mighty potters of North Carolina!

Work by Mark Hewitt

Not only can you get a great painting to enjoy in your home, but when you bid on one, you’ll also be supporting the North Carolina Pottery Center.

We’re very excited about our upcoming fundraiser, The Potter’s Palette 2, and invite you to mark your calendars and come to the Pottery Center for this exciting auction on Saturday, May 4, 2013, from  4–7pm.

Last year’s event was entertaining, and the canvases were superb. We plan to raise more money and have more fun this year! There will be live music, a buffet, and beer and wine. Many of the painting potters will attend as featured guests.

Eck McCanless working on his piece

Tickets for the event will be $15.00 per person or 2 for $25.00. Don’t miss the excitement!

Potters, in case you didn’t already know, are very creative people, and can paint beautifully, as well as make fabulous pots, so, who knows, you might end up with a painting that becomes an Old Master!

We’ll be posting images of all the canvases and further details online prior the event.

Work by Fred Johnston

Please RSVP by Apr. 30, 2013. Call the Pottery Center at 336/873-8430 (Tue.-Sat., 10am-4pm). All the details and images of works can be see at (www.ncpotterycenter.org).

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Offers Book Reading by Christopher Benfey – Apr. 6, 2013

Join us on Saturday, Apr. 6, 2013, at the NC Pottery Center, in Seagrove, NC, for a book reading by celebrated author Christopher Benfey, professor of English at Mount Holyoke College. His recent memoir, “Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay: Reflections on Art, Family, and Survival,” traces his ancestry and his family’s involvement in the brick-making and pottery traditions of North Carolina, and the pioneering educational institution of Black Mountain College.

Benfey will talk about the issues he raises in this critically acclaimed book, one of the “New York Times’” 100 Notable Books of 2012. Joining him in conversation, after the reading, will be North Carolina potter Mark Hewitt and pottery expert Professor Terry Zug.  A book signing will follow.

In addition to writing many other award-winning books (see below), Benfey has written essays and poems which have appeared in the “New York Review of Books”, the “New Yorker”, and the “Paris Review”, among others. He is also a prolific journalist, serving as the long-time art critic for the online magazine “Slate”, and is a frequent contributor to “The New York Times Book Review”, and “The New Republic”, among many other publications.

Schedule: 1:30 – 3:00 “Exploring North Carolina Pottery” – Talk by Chris Benfey, author of the acclaimed book “Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay: Reflections on Art, Family, and Survival,” followed by a conversation with NC potter Mark Hewitt and UNC Professor Terry Zug. The event is free and open to the public.

A book signing will follow.

Christopher Benfey is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of English and Acting Dean of the Faculty at Mount Holyoke College, where he has taught since 1989. He was educated at the Putney School, Earlham College, Guilford College, and Harvard University (from which he holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature). In 2012, Benfey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies.

A well-known scholar of Emily Dickinson, Benfey is the author of four highly regarded books about the American Gilded Age. These include “A Summer of
Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade”, which won both the 2009 Christian Gauss Award of Phi Beta Kappa and the Ambassador Book Award. He is also the author of “The Double Life of Stephen Crane” (1992); “Degas in New Orleans” (1997); and “The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan” (2003). Benfey’s poems have appeared in “The New Yorker”, the “Paris Review”, and “Ploughshares”.

His family memoir, “Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay” explores strands of Benfey’s family involving brick-making, pottery traditions in North Carolina, and the pioneering educational institution of Black Mountain College. The book was named one of the “100 Notable Books of 2012″ by the “New York Times”. Subtitled “Reflections on Art, Family, and Survival”, the book is a meander through the circumstances that brought Benfey’s extended family to the U.S. and the lives they established for themselves.

Benfey’s mother descends from colonial explorers and Quaker craftsmen; his father, along with his aunt and uncle, the Bauhaus artists Josef and Anni Albers, escaped from Nazi Europe. Both strands of the family settled near the Piedmont of North Carolina, where his maternal grandfather crafted bricks from the area’s red clay, and his uncle and aunt helped establish the Bauhaus-influenced Black Mountain College.

Exhibitions are made possible through the generosity of our membership, the Mary and Elliott Wood Foundation, The John W. and Anna H. Hanes Foundation, and the Goodnight Educational Foundation. This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Thank you!

The mission of the North Carolina Pottery Center is to promote public awareness of and appreciation for the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery making in North Carolina. The Center is located at 233 East Avenue in Seagrove, NC. Hours of operation are Tue. – Sat., 10am – 4pm.

For more information, please call 336/873-8430 or go to (www.ncpotterycenter.org).

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Offers New Potters Directory and Redesigned Website

The North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, is very happy to announce the completion of the new Potters Directory on our redesigned web site (http://www.ncpotterycenter.org/directory.html).

A big thank you goes to our web designer, Kris Julian, who has done an outstanding job. He’ll soon add a mapping function which will show an overview of all the member listings on a Google map with the ability to get directions.  No need to ever get lost finding your favorite pottery again!

Donna Craven Pottery in Asheboro, NC, Presents Holiday Open House – Dec. 15, 2012

The Donna Craven Pottery in Asheboro, NC, will present its annual Holiday Open House on Dec. 15, 2012, from 9am to 5pm. On hand will be wood-fired, salt-glazed, functional and decorative works by Donna Craven.

Craven began working as a journeyman potter in the Seagrove, NC, area in 1996. She sent years working day and night with various artists and studios in the Seagrove community. She built her first groundhog kiln in the spring of 2001 with help from her father and friends and held her first kiln opening later that year.

Craven’s pots are wood-fired and salt glazed. Wood firing gives the pots a rich surface that is a reflection of the earth based materials. The kiln is fired to cone 12 (2450 degrees F) in about sixteen hours with an overnight preheat. The oxygen content of the kiln is “reduced” early on in the process; when the correct temperature is achieved, salt is introduced, and the temperature regained before a crash cooling process.

Craven is well known for her larger pieces that are thrown and coiled with a one-inch extended coil. Her work is grounded in tradition, yet reflect her own influences that produce a combination of strength, simplicity and gracefulness that is undeniably unique. She frequently employs a taped decoration technique using manganese or a combination of crackle slips and ash glaze to achieve her effects.

Donna Craven Pottery is located at 2616 Old Cox Road, just outside of Asheboro, NC.

For info call 336/629-8173 or e-mail to (donnacraven@embarqmail.com).

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Offers Free Admission for American Craft Week – Oct. 5 – 14, 2012

The North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, “for people who love the potter’s craft” is supporting American Craft Week, Oct. 5 – 14, 2012. In honor and recognition of this important statewide craft the Center will have free admission during this time frame.

It is the mission of the North Carolina Pottery Center to promote public awareness and appreciation of the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery-making in North Carolina through educational programs, public services, collection and preservation.

The North Carolina Pottery Center is your first stop in exploring our state’s deep heritage in pottery. Located in Seagrove, one of the state’s key pottery centers, the North Carolina Pottery Center offers a variety of exhibits and activities that will delight the novice and enthusiast alike. Permanent exhibits trace the history of NC Pottery from the Native Americans to the present. Changing exhibits focus on topics of both historic and contemporary work by the state’s potters. Displays and information will help you find your way to the potteries of Seagrove and around the state.

The current exhibit on display during American Craft Week is “The Collector’s Eye II: Seven Perspectives”, which features approximately 140 pots from seven female collectors and contains examples of the very best of their collections. On Saturdays, a local potter gives day-long demonstrations in the Center’s Education Building.

The NCPC is a private nonprofit entity, funded primarily through memberships, grants, admissions, and appropriations.

The Center is open, Tue. – Sat., 10am-4pm. Admission (excluding free special events): $2 – adults, $1 – students 9th through 12th grades, Free – children through 8th grade, free – NCPC members. Handicap accessible. Groups and tours welcomed.

For further information and details call 336/873-8430 or visit (www.NCPotteryCenter.org).

 

 

 

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Has Remarkable Success with Fundraiser

The North Carolina Pottery Center’s recent auction raised over $50,000, almost double last year’s total. One long term supporter of NCPC wrote, “The Pottery Center provided everyone a fun, festive evening and an opportunity to support a state treasure. It was indeed ‘the place’ to be.

Held at Leland Little’s Auction and Estate Sales in Hillsborough, NC, the evening began with patrons selecting a handmade plate donated by a talented North Carolina potter. Next up was a delicious gourmet supper of food prepared by five of the Triangle’s most celebrated chefs, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

The satisfied diners were then invited to bid on pots donated by many of the state’s best-known potters, and spirited rivalries erupted from all sides of the hall, as Leland Little enthusiastically raised the bidding ever-higher on each successive item.

Combined with the Pottery Center’s recent Z. Smith Reynolds grant to help fund an Executive Director’s position, the results from the auction clearly indicate wide appreciation for all that NCPC does to promote awareness of North Carolina’s world-class pottery heritage through exhibitions, education, outreach, and visitor service. Located in Seagrove, NC, just south of Asheboro, NC, it’s a great tourist destination, and serves as the perfect start to a visit of area potteries.

If you’ve never been to the Pottery Center, or haven’t been for a while, perhaps you are sufficiently intrigued to make a trip to Seagrove to visit this sweet museum that is the backbone of this fascinating community of potters.

Thank you to our Auction Sponsors: First Bank, Leland Little Auction and Estate Sales, Shelton Vineyards, Katie B. Morris, Progress Energy, Carolina Arts, Gardner Heating and Air, Kimberly Woodard, Community One, Hans Klaussner Foundation and The Courier Tribune.

The mission of the North Carolina Pottery Center is to promote public awareness of and appreciation for the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery making in North Carolina. The Center is located at 233 East Avenue in Seagrove, NC. Hours of operation are Tue. – Sat., 10am – 4pm.

For more information, please call 336/873-8430 or go to (www.ncpotterycenter.org).

 

 

 

NC Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, is Looking for Some Angels in a Haystack – Could You Be One?

Don’t you just hate it when you think you have your budget all figured out to make it through the next week, month or year – then out of the blue – the car needs a major repair or the air conditioners gives out on the hottest day of the year? What’s the saying – “Stuff Happens!”

The NC Pottery Center needs our help and I think they are worth it. Here’s their problem:

The NC Pottery Center has recently experienced unforeseen maintenance issues and they are asking you as a supporter of the NCPC, or just someone who is looking for a good cause, for your help in paying for lighting repairs at the Center. They hope to raise $2,000 to cover these expenses.

They are asking that you please consider a monetary donation, becoming a new member, increasing your membership level, renewing your membership early, or buying a brick for your business or in memory/honor of someone.

The staff and board of the Pottery Center are working hard to keep the NCPC a viable museum and hope you will consider helping us.

If you can help, please visit their website at (www.ncpotterycenter.org) where you can make a quick online donation, or call then at 336/873-8430 and tell them you want to help. Thanks.

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Offers Firing of the Groundhog Kiln – Mar. 17, 2012

Once again the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, is opening its doors and grounds for the education and benefit of the public. On Saturday, Mar. 17, 2012, Seagrove potter Chad Brown will be firing the groundhog kiln on the pottery center lawn. The event takes approximately 15 hours and uses 2 cords of wood.

Chad Brown is a 5th generation potter; his great-great grandfather was William Henry Chriscoe, whose original log cabin studio resides in the Smithsonian Museum. Brown is an up-and-coming potter to watch on the Seagrove scene. His grandpa, Graham Chriscoe opened his pottery shop when Chad was around 9. He absorbed a great deal from working with his grandparents. He learned his technical skills in the more traditional Seagrove fashion, working for years as a production potter for many studios.

Chad Brown and his niece

“You make two or three hundred of the same shape and you get pretty good at it,” says Brown. He expanded his skills by working as a journeyman potter, traveling from studio to studio and turning the various shapes required.

Brown has participated in numerous wood firings with various potters including Sid Luck, Terry Hunt, David Stuempfle, Mark Hewitt and Donna Craven. “Some of my favorite shapes to make are the same that my great-great grandfather made,” says Brown. “I really like the straight sided whiskey jugs. They made them stand up straight so they could pack more into the wagons. I like the idea of that. I like making big jars. I coil build them. I’m mostly a shape person, form comes before surface. I look at the line of a pot; to me colors and surface, that’s secondary.”

Four years ago Brown began to participate in shows and exhibits while continuing to work as a journeyman potter. “I started to realize that I couldn’t advance further, not enough time. I’d improve then fall back. You get onto a thought and need to stay with it; production pottery was breaking that concentration. I just felt I wasn’t getting as good as I could be.” Brown’s decision to pursue his own pottery full-time was rewarded when he received the “The Award of Excellence” at The Arts in the Park show in Blowing Rock, NC.

Work by Chad Brown

Brown is building a new kiln on his property this year, which will be his own design taking into consideration ideas and information from his firings with other potters and their kilns. Firing the traditional Groundhog Kiln at the North Carolina Pottery Center is not an entirely new experience for Brown. He has helped others in the past but wants to be completely in charge to absorb the complete learning experience of the process and to see what his firing results produce in the kiln. He will then be able to contrast and compare the end product. The pots will be sold at the upcoming Catawba Valley Pottery & Antique show in Hickory, March 23 & 24, 2012, and will also be on display at upcoming exhibits at American Folk in Asheville, NC, and the Campbell House/Moore Arts Council in Southern Pines, NC. The public is welcome to come out to the NCPC on Saturday, Mar. 17 to view the firing and see how the process was done over 200 years ago and still continues today.

Brown demonstrates for the public on Saturdays at the North Carolina Pottery Center and teaches Seagrove Elementary Students with Sid Luck in the Traditional Arts Programs in Schools (TAPS) held at the Center. Mark Hewitt, VP of the Center remarked, “Chad Brown has quietly established his presence as one of the most talented younger potters in Seagrove. We all enjoy Chad’s humor and good nature, and know how much he contributes to the NCPC with his patient, insightful demonstrations and his warm, generous personality. His beautiful pots reflect who he is.”

Opened in 1998 in Seagrove, the NCPC mission is to promote public awareness of North Carolina’s remarkable pottery heritage. The Center welcomes and informs visitors to the Seagrove area, enriching their experience through exhibitions and educational programs, and promoting potters working today across the state. The NCPC is a private nonprofit entity, funded primarily through memberships, grants, admissions, and appropriations.

The Center is open Tuesdays – Saturdays 10am to 4pm. Admission (excluding free special events): $2 – adults, $1 – students 9th through 12th grades, Free – children through 8th grade, free – NCPC members. Handicap accessible. Groups and tours welcomed.

For further information and details call 336/873-8430, e-mail to (info@ncpotterycenter.org) or visit (www.NCPotteryCenter.org).

North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, Offers Two Special Events Related to It’s Current Exhibit – Mar. 10 and Apr. 14, 2012

Plan to join us for two special event days complementing our current exhibit: What’s Upstairs? Seeing the NCPC’s Hidden Treasures.

A frequent complaint of museum-goers is that much of a museum’s collection of objects and artifacts is stored away out of view and is rarely seen by anyone but staff and qualified researchers. Understandably, museum collections can be vast in size and public exhibition space is often large enough to display only a fraction of an institution’s holdings at any one time.

So, for the first time, many objects not previously included in NCPC exhibits have been brought downstairs for visitors’ viewing and enjoyment. In addition, a sample of the Center’s significant collection of art pottery produced by Lee County’s North State Pottery is displayed. In the future, more of the stored objects will be added to the permanent collection exhibit and others will be incorporated into upcoming short term exhibitions.

Back jug unknown from Catwaba Valley and front jug by
Burlon Craig

Open for viewing through Apr. 28, 2012, What’s Upstairs? Seeing the NCPC’s Hidden Treasures will be complemented by two special event days on Mar. 10 and Apr. 14 (noon – 2pm each day). In addition to speakers on each day discussing both personal and institutional collection of North Carolina pottery, experts will be available to identify and discuss visitors’ own North Carolina pottery brought in for identification.

The NCPC will also release a new color catalog on Mar. 10, of Alamance County Historical Stoneware, highlighting in print the first time a large group of these spectacular pots which haven’t been seen together since they emerged from Alamance County kilns about a hundred and sixty years ago. The text is by potter and curator Mark Hewitt.

Face jug from Brown Pottery

On Apr. 14, along with the festivities, two catalogs will be released. The first catalog highlights pieces from the North Carolina Pottery Center’s permanent collection with text by the curator of this exhibit, Steve Compton author and pottery collector. The other catalog being released is a first of its kind, a rare grouping of nineteenth and twentieth century Grave Markers that take many forms and often have names, dates, and epitaphs inscribed on them. The catalog text is by Dr. Charles Zug, author and curator of a number of pottery exhibits

Both events are open to the public and will be educational and entertaining. The catalogs will be for sale and the curators will be signing catalogs and answering questions. We encourage you to bring in old North Carolina pottery pieces to find out more about them. We will also have instructions for donating pottery to the NCPC’S permanent collection, which is a taxable deduction. Light refreshments will be served.

The mission of the North Carolina Pottery Center is to promote public awareness of and appreciation for the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery making in North Carolina.

The Center is located at 233 East Avenue in Seagrove, NC. Hours of operation are Tue. – Sat., 10am – 4pm.

For more information, please call 336/873-8430 or visit (www.ncpotterycenter.org).