Think Outside the Box : Exhibtion at Cedar Creek Gallery

Opening on October 3 : Cedar Creek Gallery kicks off their 42nd Annual Fall Pottery and Glass Festival with the exhibition "Think out the Box". Samantha sent three of her porcelain glaze paintings to be included in the exhibition. The Pottery and Glass Festival continues throughout this weekend and the following weekend as well.

Here are the times for the Cedar Creek Fall Festival. Looks like a lot of fun!

Friday Night Gala, October 2, 6pm – 10pm
Saturday & Sunday, October 3 & 4, 10am – 6pm
Saturday & Sunday, October 10 & 11, 10am – 6pm

Ceramics : Southeast in Columbia, SC

Here is an upcoming exhibition that we will both be a part of. It takes place in Columbia, SC at the McMaster Gallery in the Art Department at the University of South Carolina. Click on the image for a closer look of the details.

Art of Tea at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland

Art of Tea at VisArts, Rockville, Maryland on October 25 from 1-4 pm

Bruce's Fossil Fish Teapot and Two Yunomis will be part of the festivities at this years "Art of Tea" at VisARTS in Rockville, Maryland. The Art of Tea is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Center for Visual Arts. VisArts welcomes you to join them for their "Art of Tea" Tea Party at their Art Center in the heart of Rockville on October 25 from 1 -4 pm. Hang out and meet with other pottery enthusiasts and eat tasty treats on this fun filled afternoon with teapots made by skilled potters from all over the United States. The VisARTS has served the Metropolitan Washington DC area for more than 20 years. There will be many different teapots to purchase at this fundraising event: from funk sculptural teapots to traditional functional teapots, there is a teapot for every taste. There is more information on how to purchase tickets to the Teapot Party on the VisARTS website, as well as images of the teapots that will be at the show. Also visit their Art of Tea Blog where they post images of the teapots, and the list of participating artists.

Craft in America and the NCPC Partner for a Unique Fundraiser

Fund Raiser for the North Carolina Pottery Center! It is truely Grassroots effort. This will be a wonderful event which will affirm the continuing importance of North Carolina in shaping the ceramic heritage of America. To celebrate this event, there will be a series of simultaneous “viewing parties” in towns and cities across the state, with key patrons of the Pottery Center hosting these parties, inviting friends, pottery enthusiasts, and NCPC supporters, to view the broadcast and eat dessert. Most of the Pottery Guilds around the state, all the way from the coast to the mountains, will also be hosting parties to benefit NCPC, inviting guild members and pottery lovers in their respective communities. It is a truly grassroots effort. In addition, the Umstead Hotel in Cary has very kindly offered to host a Gala viewing party in Cary that night. The evening has been described as, “A big collective hug for all North Carolina potters and pottery lovers!” Our goal for this fundraising campaign is to raise $100,000, with $50,000 for the Umstead event, and $50,000 from all the other statewide events combined. As an incentive, Mark Hewitt has offered to give the person who raises the most money at their viewing party (with the exception of the Umstead event), one of his fabulous garden planters! This is a great opportunity for North Carolina potters and pottery lovers to come together and support the North Carolina Pottery Center, so please contact NCPC, or look at the list below, to find out exactly where you can attend one of these parties. GALA EVENT The Umstead Hotel and Spa, Cary, NC http://www.theumstead.com/ Please contact NCPC for more information. PATRON PARTIES These are being held in Edenton, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Asheboro, Winston-Salem (Triad), Charlotte and Pittsboro. Please contact NCPC for more information. GUILD PARTIES Coastal Carolina Clay Guild, Wilmington, NC . Contact: Hiroshi Sueyoshi suey1@earthlink.net North Carolina Pottery Collectors Guild, Raleigh, NC Contact: Susan Myers rfkps@mindspring.com Durham Clayworks, Durham, NC Contact: Emily Cox emilycox@untamedclay.com Triangle Potters Guild, Raleigh, NC. Contact: Triangle Potters Guild wanderland@att.net Seagrove, Seagrove, NC Contact: Jennie Lorette Keatts jennie@jlkjewelry.com Carolina Claymatters in conjunction with Carolina Clay Connection Contact: Jinny Hargrave CarolinaClay@aol.com and Sylvia Coppolasylviacoppola@gmail.com UNC Asheville. Contact: Brent Skidmore bskidmor@unca.edu Potters of the Roan, Bakersville/Penland area. Contact: Gaye Smith potteryggs@mac.com and Michael Kline michaeljkline@gmail.com

2nd Celebration of Seagrove Potters -- Booth Locations

Bruce gets a Bingo! B7, pretty much the same spot as last year

A few nights ago there was a Celebration of Seagrove Potters meeting. We talked a bit about stuff, and then formed a line to pick booth locations. Bulldog will be set up at nearly the same location that we were for last years Celebration. Everything is going smoothly this year, and excitement is growing for this years Annual Celebration at the Luck's Cannery. A date was set for building clean-up, auction collaborations were discussed, and Bonnie showed new Celebration bags that will be available for purchase.

The North Carolina Pottery Center will have a booth as well, and will have two educational talks on Saturday afternoon. A lot goes into planning for the Celebration, and the potters are all working together to make our event a success. There will be a few food vendors and boy scouts selling biscuits, places for people to sit and rest, demonstrations in the afternoon for the visitors, and a $1 - $10 booth, only for children. The proceeds from these sales will be donated to the art program at Seagrove Elementary School and Westmoore Elementary school. The Seagrove Potters supply this booth with low cost items for the "children only" to choose from.

All of this has been a true learning experience, and there are always new things to consider coming around the corner. Nothing is ever perfect, and there are always issues to tweak and to improve on, in order to run the Celebration more smoothly.

We think the idea of drawing numbers for booth placement is one example of how the Celebration is working in the best interests of the Seagrove Potters. This is a more equitable way of operating our event than seniority privileges and featured potters. No one is stuck in the corner because of some political problem with the promoter. We, the Seagrove Potters, are the promoters of this event.

The women behind the table are Mary (From the Ground Up), Jennie (JLK Jewelry) and Susan Greene. Thank you for keeping all of this so organized and well done!

Below: From L to R: Cross Creek, Latham, Bulldog, Windsong, Country Pots

The Meeting

Bonnie from Great White Oak Gallery

Back L - R: Turn and Burn, Chad Brown, Touya, Johnston and Genthsis,

Front Center: Zehmer

From L-R Turn and Burn, Johnston & Genthesis, Caldwell-Hohl, Lufkin, Touya

From L-R: Touya, Turn and Burn, Johnston and Genthesis, Caldwell-Hohl, Lufkin, Kovack, Dixieland

From L - R Old Gap, Dover, Hatfield, Thomas, Dirt Works

Nothing Like.....

David Stuempfle took this picture of us at the Mints Potters Market Invitational. He had a booth across from us.

There is nothing like an event such as the Potters Market to totally exhaust ourselves. We have been catching up on sleep, watching BattleStar (we are in the middle of Season Three and we don't know who the Final Five are yet, but have fun guessing), and some quality time with Maxwell, Ed and Gloria.

I have images that I am working on that we both took on Saturday to show you. Better late than never, but I will post them soon. There was a Celebration of Seagrove Potters meeting the other night where we all drew numbers for our booth placement out of a bowl. That post to come soon too. Bruce and I have been running, well actually we have been walking around, trying to catch up on this and that. We have a teapot and cups to ship to an auction in DC for Art of Tea at VisArts, an exhibition in Columbia, South Carolina that we needed to get info and images of work too, and a couple of pieces to deliver to Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoore for the upcoming "box" exhibition.

Ed and Gloria went to the Zoo to Doo (auction at the North Carolina Zoo) this past Saturday night, bid and won some awesome sculptures that Mike Durham (artist from Asheboro) made. I will post images of these too. We just have to share them with you. They make us smile every time we walk out our door.

Pottery life is very busy.

New Work Fresh from Bulldog Pottery Studios

We are busy, busy and more busy. We were up until 2:30 am last night. I was glazing for one more La La kiln load. Crazy but we get into this roll where we want as much to choose from to take to the Potters Market Invitational and to have here in our shop in Seagrove.

Here are a few pieces that I have been documenting today and wanted to share with you before I go back to packing. I have found that it is worth the extra hours onto getting ready for an event like this to document some of the work that comes out. I wish I had time to take more images but I figure some our better than none.

The Invitational Potters Market starts at 10:00 am Saturday morning and ends around 4:00 pm. It will be on the lawn of the Mint Museum of Art on Randolph Rd in Charlotte, NC. For the list of potters that will be there and more info follow this link.

Results from recent kiln firing

Here are the pieces that I unloaded today. We call them our La La colors. My niece was into the Telatubbies when she was a baby and she had a yellow one named La La. At the time I was working out some of these colors and came up with the yellow green glaze that I called La La Green after her yellow Telatubbie. The colors remind me of that show. They also remind me of jelly beans or Easter. I had a multi color pinkish Easter Basket that my folks would put pink, chartreuse or yellow crinkly stuff inside and lay candy in there. These colors bring back fond memories for me. Have you ever watched a Telatubbie show? Pretty strange. What is up with those giant rabbits? Pretty wild stuff.

Glazing Away... and Away

We are working night and day to get ready for this weekend in Charlotte. We will have our shop open here as well. Ed and Gloria will stay back home to manage the fort and take care of Maxwell. Between target practice and dove season Maxwell has been a mess this past weekend. He put himself in his kennel all day yesterday shaking and miserable.
Last night we loaded a kiln with four of Bruce's red clay pitchers and vases. He also glazed up two fossil fish wall glazed paintings. My la la kiln is still hot so I will unload that this afternoon. Pictures to come soon.

Some Glazed Ceramic Results

Here are some pieces that Samantha finished. These wall glaze paintings still need to be fitted with wood on the back so they are ready to hang.
Here are some vases that are waiting upside down to have their pedestals cut off, and then a final grinding and polishing.
This is one of Bruce's agate mugs with a fossil fish drawn on.

Glazing Away

Bruce is working on glazing his agate mugs and cups. Some of these have his fossil fish drawn on. We will be unloading this kiln tomorrow. It took as a couple days longer to get our kiln loaded. We will start working on another today. Ed is helping wash the pottery. We can have a lot of dust on it after the bisque and we like to have them clean before we glaze. Right now he is working on my pieces that will get the La La colors. These are our transparent greens, pinks, and yellows. It has been awhile since I have glazed this way. I warmed up when I glazed the tea bowls for the Three Cups of Tea fundraiser.

Below, Samantha's glazing area. Somehow I will need to make room here to glaze today. I will push back as much as I can and stack. The crystalline glazes are mixed in small batches and we brush all of those glazes on. My La La happy colors I have mixed up in a larger quantity. Which you would think would be a bit faster and I guess in some ways it is, but this particular glaze drips in application, and can be fussy. I also like to glaze the inside of the cup and foot with different colors as well. I am excited to see a grouping of this work again. I will load our Paragon on the days that we are not loading our Skutt kiln. I sure comes in handy to have two electric kilns. I think we will be getting one more kiln with vases in before September 12th. We are excitedly looking forward to going to the Mint for this years Potters Market.

Silent Auction to benefit the Mint Museum

Potters Market Invitational Kicks Off with Silent Auction

Delhom Service League sponsors annual fundraiser to benefit The Mint Museum

Charlotte, N. C. (August 27, 2009) The Delhom Service League, an affiliate group of The Mint Museum, will hold a sealed bid auction of a unique luxury lamp during the two weeks leading up its annual Potters Market Invitational. The auction, which opens August 28 and runs through September 12 at the Mint Museum of Art, will allow buyers to bid on a beautiful addition for their home and also support the Delhom Service League.

Bruce Gholson and Samantha Henneke, owners of Bulldog Pottery in Seagrove, N.C., designed the lamp’s base. The lamp was generously donated by Scott Cornelius Design Studio Ltd. of New York City and the lamp shade was donated by Neal Johnson Ltd. of Charlotte. Bidding on the lamp will end at 3:00 p.m. on September 12, 2009.

The 5^th Annual Potters Market Invitational will be held Saturday, September 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the lawn of the Mint Museum of Art. Widely regarded as one of the most popular pottery sales in the region, the event benefits the Mintís decorative arts collection. Tickets are $10 for adults ($8 after 2:00 p.m.). Ticket sales begin on the day of the event at 9:30 a.m. and include admission to the Mint.

Exemplifying the region’s rich craft heritage, the Potters Market features 40 of North Carolinas best potters from the state’s most important pottery-producing areas: Seagrove, Piedmont, Catawba Valley and the mountains, including Penland and Asheville. For many potters who do not sell outside of galleries and kiln openings, the Potters Market is a rare event. For more information, visit www.mintmuseum.org or call (704) 337-2000.

Vases with glaze and Vases without glaze

We unloaded an assortment yesterday of our vases with a variety of crystalline and flowing glaze colors.

In the images below Bruce is working on another grouping of vases. The rings need to be fitted and glued on the bottom and then put in a dish to catch the excess glaze that comes off. Bruce will be cutting of the rings from the vases soon and polishing the bottoms. We were happy with the most of what came out of the kiln yesterday and look forward to glazing the next round of vases. I am working on my glaze paintings and Bruce will be glazing his agate mugs and cups. The plan is to get a kiln load in tomorrow but probably the day after tomorrow is more realistic.

Finishing Touches on the Teapots

We are putting the finishing touches on our teapots. Hopefully these will be dry and glazed by next Saturday. Bruce has been throwing agate clay these past few weeks.


These are my (Samantha) teapots. I am planning on glazing these with my la la colors.