Underwood and Flinch

One of our most favorite podcast stories to listen too. We can't wait until the next episode!

Mike Bennett Underwood and Flinch. You can download it from itunes.

Lustrous Green Insect

Butterfly on Hyssop

Flower Plate

This plate is part of the "Asthetic Ambitions" Exhibition in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature at the University of Richmond. This exhibition will be on view at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC this fall.

Watermelon

Plum

Cucumber Flower

Chartreuse

Farmers Market in Troy, Star and Asheboro

There a Three Local Farmers Markets nearby that I know of, if you know of any more let us know!

Asheboro Farmers Market is on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 7:00am-1:00pm located in downtown Asheboro, NC 134 Church Street.

The Farmers Market in Troy is every Thursday from 3:00pm-6:00pm located at 417 North Main St in Troy, NC

The Farmers Market in Star is held each Tuesday from 2:30 pm-6:00 pm at the Star Heritage Center right beside the Star Town Hall (directly across the street from Martha's Grill)

Both the Farmers Market in Troy and Star are put on by the Montgomery County Farmers Markets or join their Montgomery Farmers Market facebook page

Summer Day

Summer Image Journaling

A zuchetta from our garden

Happy Summer Solstice!

This summer we want to do something a bit different with our blog. We will post an image, link, or whatever we want. No Rules, just whatever happens. We are not planning on talking or writing much, but maybe a thought here or there, or a description for the photo or link that we choose to post. The images will be random pic(k)s from our yard, studio, travels, or internet surfing. We think it will be fun and a new way to approach our blog for a couple of months.

We will be working towards some exciting events this fall beginning with Mountain Cousins August 26&27, 2011 at Michael Kline's Pottery in Bakersville, NC. On September 10th we will be back at the Mint Museum of Art, in Charlotte, NC. for the annual Potters Market. Our solo exhibition opens on October 7th Raleigh, NC at the Museum of Natural Sciences and we will be back up in Washington D.C. for the Pot Hop and Jam on October 22 and 23 with Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor. Of course we will be at the Celebration Of Seagrove Potters the weekend before Thanksgiving. All in all, a very exciting line up of activity for us.

Bruce is preparing a teepee for our melons. We are going to try growing the melons on this trellis and use a sling to hold them up.

One More Walk Through Looking at Art Pottery

Well, this is the last post about the American Art Pottery Conference that we attended this past April. We picked out a small selection of pieces that intrigued us. There were many other incredible pieces.

We wanted to let you know about an event coming up in July called the Pottery Lovers Reunion, in Zanesville Ohio, from the 7th-10th at the Ramada Inn.

I contacted Maggie Jones of Turtle Island Pottery via Facebook to ask her about the details. I know she will be there at the Ramada Inn. We thought she summed up the pottery event nicely, and this is what she said:

"Pottery Lovers is an event that started over 25 yrs ago when collectors gathered at the hotel to show each other their prized finds. Trading began and soon it became a grand event where folks could wander through the hotels peering into the rooms admiring and trading and selling American Art Pottery. Today there are several contemporary potters also who make wares inspired by these antique collections. Viewing the dealers collections is an education that cannot be attained anywhere else. There are several hotels involved with about 100 rooms as well as outside parking lots and antique shops. The pottery lovers website has details and a schedule of events. Zanesville has a nice museum and many other historical pottery sites to visit."

This sounds like so much fun and we wish we could schedule time to go, but with all of our commitments (Mountain Cousins, Mint's Potters Market, Museum of Natural Science Exhibition, D.C. Pot Hop and Jam, Celebration of Seagrove Potters) coming up in a couple of months we just can't fit it in.

Jacques Sicard for Weller Pottery

Weller Pottery Garden Figures

We had fun looking and getting to know these Weller Garden Figurines. We were told that because of breakage when shipping the only place that you could buy these was from the Weller Pottery showroom. They were mainly displayed in people's yards and because of this fact they are rare today, primarily due to their breakage from lawn mowing, children playing ball, and all of those great things that people do in their yards! These works were displayed near our booth and we walked past them frequently during the AAPA conference.

Weller Pottery was founded in 1872 in Fultonham, Ohio and later moved to Zanesville, Ohio. Our focused knowledge of Weller Pottery is of the luster pottery called Sicardo, named after Jacques Sicard, the glaze chemist and artist who worked for Weller Pottery during the early 1900's. Sicard brought his technology and skill from France after working for Clement Massier, and the Sicard Weller pieces have a strong similarity to the Massier lustre pottery.

Check out Jason Jacques Gallery for images and info about Clement Massier and other European Art Pottery. Awesome resource.

Weller Pottery made many lines of glazed pottery from the the beginning of 1872-1945. There was an Wisconsin Pottery Association Weller Pottery Show back in 2001, they have a list of various lines of pottery that Weller produced and an article about Weller Pottery. There are books that you can read about Weller. Here is a list of them at Just Art Pottery.

This frog is a sprinkler. Notice the propeller on his head and the attachment coming out of his back end. Pretty cool. I want one!

I want one of these too.

The cat is a roof tile or top of a garden wall ornament.

Interesting marbled slip or stain work.

Antique American Art Pottery Show and Sale

A walk through the American Art Pottery Show and Sale.

There were many ceramics pieces to see and look at the AAPA conference. We took many pictures and there are many pictures we wish we had taken. Here are a few samples of some of the pieces that were for sale that weekend.

Contemporary Potters at the American Art Pottery Conference

Above is Bruce and the right side of our display at the American Art Pottery Show and Sale

We were set up in a large conversation room with four other contemporary potters, around 5 antique displays and an awesome display of Weller Garden figurines (new to us). The rest of the antique art pottery dealers were displaying right on the other side of wall inside the ballroom. Bruce and I spent as much time looking at the antique pots as we could, but on Sunday we were both agreeing that we really needed another day to take in all that was there. The selection was amazing and the pottery very inspiring. We will be posting images of some of the wonderful pottery that we saw. But first things first!

There were four other contemporary potteries displaying their artwork. We were set up between Mary Pratt and Eric Olson. Beside Eric was Chris Powell and then beside Chris was Paul Katrich.

Samantha Henneke in front of the left side of the Bulldog Pottery display

Mary Pratt is a potter living in Wisconsin. Her work is hand-thrown and hand-sculpted Art Pottery with a nature theme. She is inspired by her surroundings and loves botanical drawings and scientific depictions of insects. You can learn about her at Pratt Clay Studio.

Mary Pratt with her display of porcelain pots

This is a detail of one of Mary's finely sculpted frogs

Eric Olson is living in Florida now, and on a boat! Eric took some time off from his pottery studio work and sailed around in his boat. He loved it so much that he moved to Florida and has made the boat his home. He rents a studio space and makes his work there as Common Ground Pottery. His companion Lucy, a black skipper dog, came with him and quietly slept behind his booth during the two days. His work is intricately decorated with various nature motifs.

Below is Eric with some of his work.

A close up of several of his intricately decorated pieces.

Paul Katrich is a potter living in New York. He focuses his creative artistic energies on creating luster glazes. His website is full of information about him including you tube videos, magazine articles, and interviews. He generously donated one of his larger vases to the AAPA live auction that went for 1700 dollars.

Paul Katrich and lustre glazed pieces. (photo by Mary Pratt)

On the left is Chris Powell a potter from Ohio. He shared a booth with Dod Stewart who drove up from Mississippi with his collection of Shearwater Pottery. Chris Powell has been working on perfecting his aventurine glaze. From his website Chris Powell writes "After 25 years of working in clay, I am still attracted to strong simple forms with beautiful surfaces and incorporate this passion in my work. From throwing to decoration to glaze work, I strive for excellent craftsmanship that unites form, design, and surface."

Aventurine Bowl by Chris Powell

The American Art Pottery period is an inspiration for all of us potters that displayed at the Art Pottery Show and Sale. The potters drove from Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, New York and North Carolina and all met here in Langhorne, PA. to take part in this event. Pretty cool.

Friday Evening Auction Conducted by Belhorn Auction House

Friday after the book signing there was a live auction to benefit the American Art Pottery Association (AAPA). Peter Gehres of Belhorn Auction Services is the official auctioneer for the AAPA, and conducted the live auction that evening. Bruce and I sadly missed most of the auction. Between our drive from Seagrove to Langhorne, the visit to Trenton City Museum, and setting up for the Show and Sale beginning at 6:00am that morning - we were so exhausted and we cashed it in early. We did hear that the auction went well while attending the AAPA annual membership meeting Sunday morning.

Below is a plate that caught my eye. Very interesting pictorial framing.

A row of pottery and people making their selections

Interesting tile designs always catch our attention