Not Closed on Monday Seagrove and Pittsboro

Snow flurries fell as we stripped the sheets and left our little Red Cottage in West Asheville. One errand before heading East -- to stop in at the coffee shop and see about a mug by Candice Hensley. To Rob's delight, the charming young potter was there selling coffee. They had a good chat, and he happily bought the mug. We found the land just East of Asheville to be beautiful, as the sun came out and lit up the peaks dusted in snow. Everything changed as we passed Hickory, flattening out. Even the church structures seemed to change, the barn roofs too.

Entering Seagrove, N.C.

Before arriving in Seagrove we had gone over websites, and poured over the maps, noting which potteries were open on Monday. Most are not. What we learned upon arriving at the very first pot shop was that a tremendous amount of work is visible in the collective stores. We "met" so many potters we had not seen on the map, nor at the Catawba Valley Pottery Fair, nor via internet searches.  It was a very efficient way of identifying a few more potters whose work interested us. Several sell through the stores, not through their own shops, so it was well worth the stop. And we saved ourselves some time going in and out and seeking potters whose work didn't thrill us.

One of our stops was to see the work of Fred Johnston and Carol Gentithes, who turned out to be SUNY Alfred art school people. It was good to see more of the work, which we did remember from Catawba, and to visit a bit with Fred and Carol, sharing stories and getting to know each other. Fred has an intriguing way of combining decoration with the pot form. His work references historical elements from past cultures and times, like pre-Columbian and Native American imagery. The decoration is really something, it can evoke Miro one minute or Acoma the next but is not at all kitsch  or imitative.

 By the time we left the Seagrove area we had a little gathering of pots wrapped in newspaper on the floor in the back seat of the car: a mug, a vase, a small dish had joined Ms. Hensley's mug. We had looked for bowls, apple baking pots, teapots, and plates. Ah well, there is always tomorrow.  

County Courthouse in Pittsboro N.C.

The road to Pittsboro was a short cut road that went directly from Seagrove to our B&B on West Street. A renovated and renewed, gracious farm house structure, the B&B was a lovely place to land. Large proportions to the rooms and all the necessities provided by a friendly host. We walked into town, ate dinner at Angelina's Kitchen where we both had a vegan "rice bowl" that hit the spot with lentils, collards and carrots mostly from local sources. The County Courthouse beckoned us onto Main Street, where we peeked into the windows of second hand shops and the local second hand book store too. Turns out there's a Woodworking School and a vintage hand-tool shop above the school to see tomorrow!