We went to the Carolina Claymatters Guild's annual Barn Sale on Monroe Road in Charlotte on Saturday. It was a beautiful day for a pottery sale. The day started off cool enough for a long-sleeved shirt and the sun was shining brightly. Later in the day it turned warm, but not too hot.
I was impressed with the work I saw. It's amazing that such a wide variety of beautiful pots can all start off with the same lump of clay. I saw my usual pottery buddies there: Jen, Ron, Julie, Amy, Corine, and I finally met Greg and Adrienne in person. I am impressed by their work, as always.
We didn’t have the time to visit with every potter at length and we had to rush by some booths that were crowded but there were a few things that caught our eyes:
- First, we met Robert Hovis, who digs his own clay in Lincoln County – I know some potters do it, but this is the first person I’ve met who does it.
- Debi got quite a kick out of buying a turtle (Amelia’s “symbol” at school) from Deann Segal (Over the Hill Clay Studio in Rock Hill).
- She loved Robin Gail Beckett’s purple glazes (Debi is a maniac for purple and you don’t see a lot of purple glazes for some reason).
- Debi bought our first hand-made plate from Kathy Jones. It was a simple affair, with a nice lip (to keep your peas from running off your plate) in a mostly solid deep green. Just the kind of plate I might make if I could make plates.
- We were both very impressed with Roger Strom’s glazing technique – he sprays on his glazes, with the pot on the wheel which results in a very delicate and beautifully blended banding effect in mostly blue & green – MOST interesting.
- Then we bought a coffee mug from Valerie Hawkins (for my brother-in-law, Mark). Most of her pieces have the white clay body showing on the outside, with very delicate leaf imprints, with black glaze in the little grooves, on the rim and inside. The black & white effect was quite striking.
- I was very impressed by Fred & Debbie Rust’s (Rust Pottery) work, but unfortunately, I didn’t get much time to examine it. The short time I spent in their booth (in the Barn), I was blinded by the light shining in between some beams. I will have to check them out more carefully next time.
- We bought another mug for Mark from Doris Thomas (the Mudd Dabbler). Mark said he wanted big mugs with big handles, which would accommodate his entire hand. Doris has the biggest, most accommodating handles I’ve ever seen. The form of the mug was quite nice and she had glossy glazes in a variety of colors. We chose one that was a blue and dark red/maroon. Turns out, this was Penny’s & Mark’s favorite. I was just thinking, the Mudd Dabbler sounds a bit like a superhero (or super villain) name, doesn’t it?
- Then I saw Gary Rubin’s (Potluck Pottery) booth, down on the end, in the Barn. All of his work was nice, but there was one mug in particular that called to me from across the room. It wasn’t so much the form or the handle (Debi thought the mug was too big) but it was the glaze. It had a matte finish and was mostly a light mottled brown w/ some other glazes lightly applied (brushed on I would guess) in just a couple of strategic locations for a dramatic effect. I didn’t buy it, but I should have. I don’t think Clayworks has a brown, matte finished glaze like that – bummer.
We picked up a brochure for the Carolina Pottery Festival at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds on 11/10. Hopefully we can go to that and see some of these potters and more.
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