Pots, Potters, and Dipping into a Vital Local Tradition in Seagrove, NC

Historic Jugtown Pottery

Seagrove is the heart of the North Carolina pottery industry. It has a long tradition of locals pulling thick lumpy goo out of the ground and miraculously turning this earth into functional everyday pottery. Jugs, bowls, plates, mugs, crocks, pitchers, all made from local clay and for the most part these wares were fired in wood kilns and glazed with salt, giving a trademark texture, sheen, and color.  Throwing is a mercurial process, which forms the object and firing provides the element of chance that can transform this object into near art or disaster.

These local pot forms reflect their utility and function - practical, humble, and as iconic to Americans as any amphora to the ancient Greeks.  This cottage industry survived here in one way or another for generations, being passed down through families with names that match the local roads, like Busbee, Owen, Moore, and Chrisco.  Production survived on a small rural scale until the post World War II world of mass production and cheap available commercial ceramic ware.  In the 1960s Nancy Sweezy saved and revitalized Jugtown Pottery, one of the renowned local producers connected to the Busbee and Owens families.  Nancy introducing new and non lead glazes and modernized their production.   This resurrection to the nearly done Jugtown seems to have established a solid foundation on which today’s industry stands. 

Larry Moore's Robin's egg blue birdhouses

By industry I speak of some 150 potters all within a 10-mile radius of Seagrove who hang out a “Pottery” shingle.  The variety of pots is mind numbing and stretches the gambit from well-established Art Potters, like Ben Owen III to a fellow we met named Larry Moore who’s brother Charlie, now deceased, used to work at Jugtown for decades and so when Larry lost his life-long job at the chicken factory in 2000 when it closed, he transformed his ancestral home into a potshop. He throws in what was once the kitchen, and the front two rooms function as his showrooms. He throws a tidy pot, something he has been doing his whole life, but only as an occupation for the last dozen years. He also makes clay roosters and dragons and applies glaze with a sense of abandon that would impress any abstract expressionist.  Larry’s shop sits across the street from the entrance to Jugtown, and we just happened to stop in after visiting his well-established neighbor.  We bought a large pot with a vivid splash of color, a birdhouse that hangs like a blue eyeball in a tree ($20), and a vase ($18) all have become our personal treasures.

Wares in the Jugtown shop

At Jugtown we visited with Pam Owens and marveled at the compound of rough-hewn buildings that have been on site since 1901 according to the bronze plaque from the National Register of Historic Buildings.  Jugtown’s pots carry the tradition of ceramics that put Seagrove on the map in the first place.  Their traditional designs and forms don’t venture far from what were always their wares and the accompanying museum proves this point.  Some marvelous pots, well executed and functional.

We went down the road to the next generation of the Owen (without an “s”) clan to one of its brightest stars, Ben Owen III.  Like his father and grandfather who worked at Jugtown, he carries the tradition, but has literally transformed the process of making pots into an art form and a hugely successful commercial enterprise. His is a modern art pottery factory and showroom; well lit and filled with elegant forms, stylish glaze combinations (retaining a few traditional ones as well – cobalt blue and “Jugtown red”).  Ben’s pots are a big business for decorators and collectors around the world and his facility is well maintained and could easily be at home on Madison Avenue.  Not the place for the locals to pick up a pie plate.  This was a big contrast to “The Original Owens” shop we saw the day before, filled with many multiples of every useful form, some hand painted, all competent, but not marketed as art.

Ben Owen showroom

Ben Owen III 

Chrisco's vintage Ford pickup

We returned to the studio/shop of Mack Chrisco after peering in the windows the day before. He has been turning his large capable hands towards the making of functional pottery for decades. It was in his shop that we found a set of dishes that met the needs of a friend back in Brooklyn, and on the eve of his birthday, took 8 plates off his shelves. Notable as well was the 1968 Ford pick up out front, with a rusted patina over every inch. As Mack described it, he has replaced everything in it that can be replaced. It was a beauty.

Bulldog's spectacular glazes on two vases

Our final stop for the day was to the other phenomenon that is taking place among the Seagrove potteries – the newcomers.  These are transplants who have graduate degrees in ceramics from places like Alfred University’s SUNY School of Ceramic Art and Design.  Fred Johnston and Carol Gentithes have already been referenced in this blog, but we also ran into Bruce Gholson and Samantha Henneke who run Bulldog Pottery.  They are Alfred clay people and settled in Seagrove in 1997. The two collaborate on work, the one who throws the pot signs it, and they both share in the glazing process. They have specialized in layering their glazes, and they achieve some startling results with bright greens and ochre hues that remind us of early spring.  We spoke to Bruce for over an hour, purchasing a stunning bud vase and a decorative plate – perfect for serving.  We would have taken Bruce up on his invitation to see his modern corrugated steel home of two cubes, separated by a covered breezeway, but our time was running short and we had an appointment to visit with perhaps the most recognizable potter in the region, Mark Hewitt, along with reconnecting with Rob’s friend from Alfred, Mike Cindric, and meet his wife Susan. 

Mark Hewitt's pots outside his studio

We rushed from Bulldog Pottery to Pittsboro, an hour to the East where we had stayed the previous night at a wonderful B&B.  Running late, we arrived at 6:00pm and Mike and Susan had already arrived.  Mark’s facility sits at the end of a cul de sac just outside of town.  His compound is a series of buildings, house, kiln sheds, pottery showroom barn.  The home is friendly and filled with the most beautiful pots in scales form petite to gigantic.  Mark is a friendly handsome fellow with a British accent and his wife, Carol, has the same warmth, grace without the accent.  We got to know one another over beer and wine, and talked about art and pots and the business related to such things as the sun faded. Before it was totally dark, Mark took us on a tour.  The kiln is massive and nearly fully loaded with pots in anticipation of this week’s firing.  I ask if he knows how many pots are inside and he says 1500. These range from small coffee cups to the four foot architectural creations for which he is known.  These urn-like pots also dot his yard acting as sentinels against the rural landscape.  The potshop is next to the kilns with sparse rows of work sitting on long boards waiting for the last loading the next day.  The earth floor is lumpy and uneven and has hard knobs poking up form the clay like earth. It all seems to be made of clay. We finally see the sale barn, where there are rows of shelves and a few remaining pots after the Catawba Valley Sale and just before the next firing.  These shelves will undoubtedly be filled with new pots in a week’s time as Mark will have two huge sale event weekends in early April.

Mark's pot shop

Large pots with his new circle motif in the kiln
to be fired this weekend. 

We move back inside and share a lively evening of conversation among wonderful people and good food provided by Mike and Susan. The evening concludes with our leaving this remarkable area of North Carolina with the clay soil that has fashioned a pottery industry and a loose band of individuals. It is remarkable that they all use this elastic material to discover self expression, and make a living.  The evening plan is to follow Mike and Susan to their home in Raleigh about three quarters of an hour further East, in what is known as the Research Triangle, to spend our final days with them visiting, seeing art and architecture and rekindling a friendship that began at Alfred nearly four decades ago.

Before leaving the subject of Mark Hewitt, I feel compelled to include something about how he has almost single handedly revitalized the North Carolina pottery trade. This transplanted Brit from Stoke-on-Trent, England moved to this area in 1983, and as he told us over dinner, he ventured into the American landscape with the love of his life, Carol, and a plan to find an area with rich clay deposits that he could use to make pots.  With his degree in geography, they traveled around with large geological maps scanning the countryside before settling in Pittsboro and purchasing a plot a land where he could dig clay and process it into useable material.  He still does that today.  He also established an apprenticeship program, and over the years has had a series of young potters willing to dedicate two years to learn his craft his way. That is traditional of handing down knowledge that has served the region well, as many of his disciples seem to stay around, generating their own forms and building potteries.  This, more than anything else has reinforced the North Carolina ceramics movement. His international reputation and nurturing of young potters has a large part to play in transforming this area into a widely recognized craft mecca for those in search of pots. This continues to include pots of any kind, low brow or high art, making this the place to find them. And that is largely due to Mark’s vision and hard work.  He is an amazing fellow who also makes some damn nice pots. 

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!

Lost and Found in the Mists of the Blue Ridge

The fog in Little Switzerland N.C.

This morning we awoke to the sound of pounding rain. It remained dark well after sun up with a heavy cloud cover in Asheville. This was nothing to compare with the mists that engulfed us as we tried to follow the google map directions to the Folk Art Center. It was one of those adventures with directions that had us climb all the way up the Town Mountain Road, along rail-less drop offs in a thick mist in order to wind our way backwards on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the exhibits and shop of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. There were beautiful examples from the collection of the local craft traditions in weaving, basketry, clay, wood and natural material toys and household objects. It was good to get off the road for a few minutes. We couldn't resist a Bob Meier cup, which quickly seems to have become a favorite for Sarah's ginger tea. 

Tom at his computer with two smaller forms
in the foreground

The next adventure in directions came in trying to follow the shorthand and sign post notes from Tom Spleth. He's the one who moved to a high peak near Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the Blue Ridge range! Well, it was curvy and steep. There were exciting moments, and deep fog.  We pulled over a few times, not for the road, but for the beautiful barns and tobacco shed structures arranged on the lumpy curving land masses.  Of course that was in the clearings. We arrived at Tom's because Tom came to retrieve us from near the post office parking lot of Little Switzerland. It would have been a quick trip if the Parkway was open, but it was closed due to bad weather and ice conditions. 

Tom's hexagonal bowl

Tom was a figure at Alfred when we were there, but one step removed from campus. He was in Alfred Station running a pottery, and already messing with the plaster slip casting that engrossed him for the next 30 years. He is still giving workshops and demonstrations on this technique. It was a marvelous moment when he opened the casual cabinets in his studio to reveal nine or so of these major works. These tall faceted slip castings, some black and white, and some with layers of color, date over the last few years. As it happens, his current fascination is with painting derived from the images of his pots. Painting is a pursuit that he says took hold of his imagination when he was 8 years old. It was during his time at the Kansas Art Institute under the magnetism of Ken Ferguson, that he turned towards ceramics.  We had a fun time seeing the work, hearing his stories, and connecting the dots. 

Tom's cabinet of tall pots

It was a lot easier to get from his place to the Penland School campus for a welcome cup of hot coffee.  The fog crept in, the chill was palpable. Hard to remember that we were so much farther South than our little Gilboa hillside.  The drive back to Asheville was relaxing, and we made dinner of all the food we had left -- with a large salad remaining to get us through tomorrow's lunch.  Our intention is to depart Asheville after picking up a mug we saw on Friday, made by a potter who also works in a coffee shop down by the River Arts district. Then we will drive the 2-3 hours East to Seagrove, the site of Jugtown and many many potteries. Eventually we will check in to our B&B in Pittsboro, a town that is sure to have a small pocket of crafts to share with us on Tuesday.

A Madison County Barn

Gobbling Up Pots

Chad Brown's booth, 5th generation North Carolinian potter

We entered the Hickory Convention Center with the idea that we would touch base with Mark Hewitt first, before the crowds descended. His work is well known beyond the region and we expected hordes of people to swarm. It was hard not to get involved with the pottery in the first booths close to the door, but we raised our eyes and kept walking until we found the Hewitt booth. He was personable, and the work beautiful.  As expected, we bought a pot. We’ll have more time to visit with him and see his studio in a couple days.

 

Our Mark Hewitt pot

Our Jim Whalen pot

Our adventure really began after leaving his booth. We literally spent over 4 hours looking, touching, talking, walking, and yes, buying.  The first two pieces we bought were art pots, defined by their elegance, grace, remarkable aesthetic qualities and sheer perfection of craft. The first was the Mark Hewitt piece, which could be envisioned with a couple lily stems, or filled with cider, or simply standing to be admired.  The second was a piece by Jim Whalen that simply took Sarah’s breath away with its references to Zuni shape and burnished surface. Jim is a seeker, following his own passions and artistic expressions through this most ancient and earthly practice. We hope to make it to his studio before leaving the Asheville area. His process is precise, with a daylong throwing in order to allow the clay to stiffen up and hold this uncanny shape. He slow-dries the piece, burnishing the surfaces and removing all marks of the hand, while preparing the surface for what will be the application of wax in patterns designed to thrill the eye and wake the heart. His final firing is a two-stage process of salt firing and sawdust firing, and still the pot is not done until it is scrubbed, soaked, and coated in tung oil. There is a month’s work in each pot.

Chad Brown's 1 gallon pitcher 

Then we began in earnest looking for functional ware for daily use, picking up mugs, bowls, and objects. We engaged in dialogues with some, and returned more than once to others. It is remarkable how a hand fits with a handle, or doesn’t, and how the attachment of a handle can change the balance in a mug.  The forms and glaze textures of Chad Brown caught us from the moment we walked by his booth, to which we returned, three times. There is a fundamental form in each of his pieces, and his glazes are unassuming, yet their unabashed salt glazed surfaces have that humble grace that saturates the old traditions. In speaking with him, we learned that he is a 5^th generation potter, no surprise there! He threw production ware for ten years before taking his forms out to meet his own need to make pots. He is the embodiment of how the influences of a Mark Hewitt meet the century old practices.

Andrea's booth

We were impressed by a young couple, caught by the colors and finesse, playful experimentation and expression of Andrea Denniston’s work, only to turn and see her partner’s work, astute and clear, functional and fun. We ended up with more of Seth Guzovsky’s pieces than Andrea’s and by the time we got home, wished we had brought several more of Andrea’s with us. We may have to do something about that. She has plans to do graduate work at Syracuse, so perhaps we’ll find her in New York.

With bags of mugs and soy sauce dishes, we continued to enjoy one after another of potters making contemporary face jugs, baked apple dishes, lamp bases, oil and vinegar cruets, and large planters. We admired faceted and crackled surfaces, enjoyed discussing the alligator dry crackled skins of Gene Arnold’s pieces, though we walked away with only two lovely balanced mugs from his Mud Duckpottery. We were choosing mugs for others, friends and our children, and hope that among the many they will find the one.

Three mugs - left & right by Seth Guzovsky,
center mug by Chad Brown

   

Our bowl by Andrea Denniston

In the next two days we expect to see many more possibilities, including a new red alert for oatmeal bowls.

Immersion: Going to the Fair

Early morning drive to the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival

One focus of the North Carolina trip is to attend the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival that attracts over 100 mudslingers and art potters from the region. This annual event is held in the Hickory Convention Center, a spot located in the heart of NC midway between the two pottery hubs of Asheville, in the western part of the state, and Seagrove three hours to the east.  It is also home to the famous Hickory Furniture Mart, a mecca for anyone shopping for discounted brand name American furniture. Where we are told that families can buy home loads of furniture at a fraction of the price and have it shipped to their own doorstep.  We didn’t venture into that territory, but did go to the Convention Center to look at the potters’ wares. 

Mark Hewitt (center) at his booth

The Festival is a typical two-day event, with anxious buyers shelling out a $40 entry fee to attend a preview party on Friday so they can select choice pots from the vendors.  The rest of us come in for $6 on Saturday for a day of looking at pots - to mill about, rummage and marvel at the range of special individuals that spend their hours making clay forms, many using local clay and traditional techniques to express their idea of craft and/or function. There were only a few production potters, of the kind that have old apple crates filled with cups, mugs, plates, pie plates, casseroles and bowls, priced by form and function.  Their work is done within the tradition of hand made but fast and efficient production ware. Much of the work is functional, well made and reasonably cheap. Most of the work is what I would call the North Carolina tradition of potters.  These are individuals who have embraced the techniques developed in the state over generations that manifest in the specific functional forms, local clay bodies and wood fire salt glazes.  A good bit of this burgeoning craft surprisingly came from a British transplant to this area, Mark Hewitt, a 30-year veteran of the region. He has produced his own brand of traditional ware and art pottery and has an active apprentice program.  He employs a few young potters at a time who study his process, learn his technique and absorb the aesthetics and forms in his style. They help with production in the guild tradition. After a few years they strike out on their own, integrating and adapting the Hewitt program and process into their own craft.  We encountered a few of these potters at the Festival including Matt Jones, Alex Matisse, and Seth Guzovsky.  Collectively this energy has gone a long way to revitalize and influence the current interest in North Carolinian ceramics.  Matt Jones was the guest speaker at the event and spoke about being part of a living NC tradition of craft that absorbs the cultural and relational aspect of making along with the beauty of form and the tradition of process.  Matt is known for his blog where he has provoked a spirited dialogue with the kingpin of art pottery promotion, and one time New York gallery owner, Garth Clark.  The two have sparred back and forth to an appreciative audience in both realms, including a few live dialogues in the region last fall. 

Matt Jones booth

From all signs at the Festival, things are going well as the economy picks up just a bit for the region and it’s cohort of craftsmen and women who are willing to work hard and carry on an adventurous spirit. We were struck by the open ended question of what might happen over time, and moved by the dedication of the folks we met in the River Arts studios of Asheville, though it’s hard to see how they can make enough money to pay home and studio rents. Yet, in comparison to the waitresses, fellows working early shifts at Denny’s and the local pub crew, it is heartening that so many are so willing to give it a try.

We thought we might satiate our appetite for pots in this day long feast, but we have seemingly only whetted our appetites, and more finely focused our attention, opened our own dialogues between forms, function, relationships, and culture. It is just a touch strange for us to find ourselves in the “collector” category here, not the “maker” one.

The car rides are speckled with observations of the hills, the vernacular rectangular church structures with white steeples stuck on top, and the deeper matters of what supports the people who are making craft with such intention in these days.  Our route took us to Black Mountain, the town and the Mountain, whose fame in our view comes from the school, which is no longer extant. The village is rife with craft shops and beer pubs, a residue in a way of what was once an active serious art community. Though there was lots of work in the shops, there is no direct lineage left there.

Our dinner at the Stone Bowl

Our evening came to a delicious end (after scarfing down peanut butter sandwiches for lunch in the convention center parking lot), as we found The Stone Bowl, a totally worthy Korean restaurant in South Asheville.  Nice name, hunh? Then we went home and unpacked our pots!