North Carolina Potters-Pre-Conference Show-A closer look

Walter Ostrom on the leftt and Jim Robinson on the right

Walter Ostrom is a retired ceramics professor from Canada. My memories of Walter Ostrom at the conference is of his excellent talks about pots and aesthetics. Pure love for the craft comes across when he speaks about ceramics. One of many reasons we are looking forward to the upcoming NC Potters Conference in March is because Walter Ostrom will be back in Asheboro on Sunday (March 4) for a morning presentation.  On the right is a hand built vessel by Jim Robinson, who is now working for Rookwood Pottery as their glaze expert in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Jim is well known to many potters because of his excellent article on shino glazes in the "Studio Potter" magazine as well as other clay and glaze articles.

Side View of Walter Ostrom's and Jim Robinson's work

 Below is a close-up of Walter Ostrom's plate. I remember during his demonstration he spoke about his garden. You can see his influence in his flower patterns below.

The two soup tureens below are by Gail Kendall and Lisa Orr. Gail Kendall's ceramic work is on the left, she has recently retired from the University of Nebraska.  On the right is a soup tureen by Texan potter Lisa Orr.  But hey you don't have to put soup in these. You can put anything you want, you could serve jello out of these dishes, wouldn't that be fun!

Gail Kendall on the left and Lisa Orr on the right

Below is a close-up of Gail Kendall's oval covered jar lid that is adorned with a myriad of color and pattern. Every way you look at this piece whether from top down or bottom up, there is something exciting to see.

Lisa Orr's covered jar looks like it is glistening wet with rich color and texture. The gestures and movement in the handles and surface look alive.

The back left is John Leach and the back right is Mary Law, front bowl is by Alleghany Meadows.

John Leach is from the United Kingdom and was a presenter at the 4th Potters Conference. This was before our time. Derrick Sides the director of the Randolph Arts Guild showed us a picture of John Leach and Dorothy Auman together. I believe this was one of the early conferences that was held in the upstairs room at the Art Guild.  We couldn't imagine more then 40 people could fit in that room. Now the conference has grown to a 150 sold out audience.

Mary Law

Mary Law is a potter from California. Gloria and I attended this conference. She was quietly throwing while Jane Hamlyn told us stories about her home in Great Britain and Robin Best from Australia busily worked on making her model, mold, and casting slip.  Mary Law threw a tea bowl and took a very soft rubber rib and went inside the thrown cup and pushed out with the rib. It was beautiful. Now I like to do that to my cups, very nice effect.

Attending these conferences can be pretty intense. There are three well versed and talented potters up on stage, and I want to watch all of them at the same time. But you know that is just not possible. So the only thing you can do is keep going from one potter to the next, then back and forth, trying to take in as much as possible.

Back left is Lorna Meaden and back right is Bruce Cochrane, in the front is Sarah Jaeger.

Below is a close-up up Canadian potter Bruce Cochrane's handle of the above jar. He spoke of being inspired by Chinese Bronzes. His hand building demo was out of this world. The above three, Lorna from Colorado, Sarah from Montana, and Bruce from Canada all were on stage together. All three of us were able to attend this conference together. Front Row! It was a lot of fun to watch these potters work and be able to talk together about it at home in our studio.

You can find out details about the upcoming North Carolina Potters Conference in Asheboro on March 2-4, at the Randolph County Arts Guild website.