"Cousins in Clay" - Seagrove, North Carolina

Bruce Gholson, Samantha Henneke, Michael Kline, at Michael Kline's Pottery

"The Cousins Are Coming" - May 31 - June 1, 2014 to Seagrove, NC at Bulldog Pottery

Samantha Henneke, Bruce Gholson, Michael Kline

We are putting our finishing touches on making pottery.  Life is super busy here at Bulldog.  We are getting ready for our clay cousins to come to Seagrove. Dan is driving from Illinois, Blair is traveling from Michigan, and Michael will be rolling down from near North Carolina's Roan mountaintop.  

Samantha Henneke, Bruce Gholson, Michael Kline

Back in 2009 we had our first kiln opening here at Bulldog Pottery.  We invited Michael Kline to join us. We wanted to give it a name and Bruce remembered a blog post that Michael wrote on "Sawdust and Dirt" about visiting his clay cousins here in Seagrove. Little did Michael know (or did he?), that his post would lead to an invite to our pottery sale. Since that first sale, we have now partnered with Michael and hold two "Cousins in Clay" pottery events a year.  At the beginning of the summer "Cousins in Clay" is at Bulldog Pottery in Seagrove, NC, and at the end of the summer "Cousins in Clay" is held at Micheal Kline's Pottery close to the Penland Crafts School, in Bakersville NC.

This year we have invited Dan Anderson and Blair Clemo to be our honored "Clay Cousins".  Dan Anderson retired from teaching in 2002 and is very outgoing and involved in the clay community. He curates shows, does workshops, makes lots of pots, and is actively engaged on social networks sharing lots of images.

Blair Clemo is a young, up and coming potter with an amazing touch, and unique flair with clay. We first met Blair when he was a presenter at the Utilitarian Clay Conference at the Arrowmont School of Crafts. Congratulations to Blair, who has accepted a tenure-track ceramics teaching position at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond VA, the #1 rated University Arts program.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

We hold the "Cousins in Clay" event in our breezeway. We always hope for splendid weather, but if need be we will move inside.

"Cousins in Clay",  Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Last year Michael and Bruce gave a duo demo, this year will be different, and we are honored and happy to announce that Blair Clemo will present a demonstration on Saturday at 3:00pm and Dan Anderson will present a demo on Sunday from 1:30pm -2:30pm.

Michael Kline and Bruce Gholson at 2014 "Cousins in Clay"

The whole weekend is filled with good times. Beginning on Saturday Chornis Pou Vasilou will play his Greek bouzouki in the morning.

Chronis Pou Vasilou playing the bouzouki, and Jack Troy's pots 2013, Seagrove, NC 

Blair Clemo will be demonstrating on Saturday beginning at 3:00. The Saturday event winds up at 5:00pm. Blair posted a time-lapse video a few weeks ago on you tube of building one of his covered jars.

Blair Clemo, Seagrove, NC

Sunday - June 1

Sunday is a super fun day as well. Beginning at 10:00am we will be ready for you to join us for more pottery loving times.   At 12:00 the potters potluck begins. Bring a dish to share and sit for awhile with the potters from the region.  This has become a very special time for us.  We invite the local potters to take an afternoon off from their busy schedules to vista, eat, and welcome our out-of-state pottery guests to North Carolina.

Potters Potluck at "Cousins in Clay" on Sunday June 1, 2014, Seagrove, NC

Some of the potters will be bringing their instruments to play music for us as well. Al McCanless will be showing up with his fiddle, and Michael Mahan has said that he will show up with his flute. Eck McCanless mentioned that maybe he will be able to make it as well.

Michael Mahan and Al McCanless at "Cousins in Clay" 2013, Seagrove, NC

At 1:30pm we will break for a 1 hour long demo with pottery master Dan Anderson and I am for one looking forward to seeing Dan behind the wheel.  There is a good podcast interview by Brian Jones of Dan Anderson on the "Jonescast".

Dan Anderson, Seagrove, NC

As Dan winds down his demo maybe we can get an encore from the musicians for a few more tunes.

Chad Brown pottery project to build his first wood kiln, Seagrove, NC

We wanted to let you know about another pottery happening the weekend of the Cousins, which is Chad Brown's "1000 Mugs to Build a Kiln" project.  The mugs are $25 and these can be picked up at his newly purchased property on Chriscoe Road.  You can e-mail him at chadcameronbrown at gmail dot com .

Chad Brown pottery project to build his first wood kiln, Seagrove, NC