Remembering Cousins in Clay 2010

We want to share with you some more images from the "Cousins in Clay" weekend. We had such a great time with our teacher from Alfred, Val Cushing and his wife Elsie, and our friend from the mountains, Michael Kline. There were so many wonderful people that came out for the event. We shared the weekend with our devoted friends/collectors and we met and had conversations with new ones. We know it has been more then a month and it is wild just how time flows onwards, but the four of us (Bruce and I, Ed, and Gloria) are still sharing stories about the Cousin's weekend.

There have been a couple of other blog posts about this weekend that have great images and talk a bit about their trip here to Bulldog Pottery. Please take time to visit their blogs and check out their "Cousins" post. One of the blogs is Dean Martin Pottery. Jeffrey and Stephanie are potters living around 10 miles from us. Tom Starland wrote a great post on Carolina Arts Unleashed and is incredibly supportive of the Arts here in North Carolina and his home state of South Carolina. Michael Kline wrote a post on Sawdust and Dirt here and here.

The event started off with Micheal Kline coming early Thursday morning to help us clean up a bit and get ready for company. On Friday during the sweltering heat we erected two tents. There are many parts to this tent. Numbers can start becoming mushy in 90 plus degree heat.
Two 10' x 20' tents gives us a lot of space to show and spread our work out for good viewing. A week or so before "Cousins" Bruce was talking to Micheal on the phone and was trying to answer his questions about the set up, and Bruce replied "Two tents" a few times. I was listening to Bruce trying to clearly enunciate "Two Tents" a few more times, and then he broke out into laughter when he realized that Michael was making a joke about if we are "Too Tense". This gave Bruce and I quite a few more chuckles.

We were working night and day to glaze our vases. We are really excited about the new matte crystalline color combinations that came out in the last two kilns. Tom Starland took a few really nice examples of the vases and posted them on his blog Carolina Arts Unleashed.
Maxwell had a new playmate and was trying to coax Micheal in for a bit of red ball toss. Though recently Maxwell is liking the game of red ball tease more.
Val and Elsie drove in to Seagrove on Friday evening to set up and be ready for the big weekend.
Micheal had packed his car full of pots and took this opportunity to set up as well. Bruce and I began to bring out our work and set up too, I glazed around 12 insect wall pieces and brought those up on Saturday. Bruce had to wire them as they sold. We are always pushing the limits on time. Bruce was still finishing grinding and polishing vases Saturday morning. Nothing like pushing the edge. We call pottery an extreme sport. We may not be roaring down a mountain slope at 100 miles per hour, but sometimes we feel like it in our minds.
Saturday we had collectors visiting all day to look at the selection of work we all had. It is a wonderful feeling to have interested and stimulating people giving us support and encouragement. It it the whole other side to making Art -- people enjoying it.
Patrick (the fellow in the sunglasses below) came for the weekend to help Val and Elsie with the sales and details. Harriet Spleth also spent the two days here catching up with Val and Elsie her long time friends from Alfred. We were so happy to meet Harriet and get to know her. She is a painter and has been working with digital imaging. Check out Harriet Spleth's work at her website . We really like her still-lifes.

When thinking back about the weekend it was so much about conversations, stories, and comradeship. We were very happy to see Peter Lenzo for the weekend. He came up from Columbia, SC to enjoy the outdoors and good company.
Tom Starland (the fellow in the blue shirt below), came to visit as well. He dropped off his Carolina Arts monthly newspaper, and we have just have to say how excited we were when we found out that they had put all of our pottery images on the front cover!! Wow!! Carolina Arts is edited and published by Tom and Linda Starland out of Bonneau, South Carolina. Bruce and I have been following the paper since we moved here to Seagrove in 1997. Tom delivers the paper to various galleries and Art institutions around South and North Carolina. You can find them in the NC and SC welcome centers, at some libraries, Art Centers, Art Guilds, and the Galleries that advertise in his Carolina Arts newspaper. Linda and Tom post the monthly articles online as well. They also maintain a blog called Carolina Arts Unleashed where they have recently written about the upcoming events in and around Seagrove. Linda and Tom put the write up about Cousins in Clay on the Carolina Arts website here.

We saw quite a few pots go to new homes on Saturday and Sunday.
Micheal (in the green) is discussing his work with some clients. There is plenty of opportunity to talk with us all weekend long about the pottery.
On Sunday we had more opportunities to sit down and catch up. Harriet Spleth took this image of Val, Bruce, Patrick, and Elsie discussing something that I wish I had been able to listen to.
I love this picture below of Elsie and Val. Elsie is wearing a dress that she made with a colorful leaf pattern by Kaffe Fassett Studio. We had some wonderful talks with them about their love of nature and wildlife. I was walking with Elsie, when she stopped in mid conversation to look up towards the trees and say the name of a bird, and point out to me its song.

Here I am with Elsie.
The rest of these images were taken by Harriet Spleth on Sunday. Here is Ed & Gloria. They helped out so much with the logistics and moral support in preparing for this weekend. We could not have done it without their energy, spirit, and food making.
Ben Owen came by on Sunday and visited with us for awhile as well.
Jeffrey and Stephanie Martin came too and we had a great conversation with Elsie. She talked about some of Alfred University's history.
Last but not least. We must of taken 20 of these. It was pretty funny. We started at the beginning of the tent and moved back. Taking the photos in front of every ones pots.