Our exhibition in the Nature Art Gallery

Bruce Gholson, Gloria Henneke, Samantha Henneke, Ed Henneke at our exhibition in the Nature Art Gallery

There still is time to go see the show in Raleigh!  Our exhibition will be up until October 30, 2011.

It was like a family reunion for us Friday evening at our opening in the Nature Art Gallery. The Nature Art Gallery is in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This was our fourth show there.  It was great to see the staff again, most have been present for all four of our exhibitions there, starting in 2004. 

Our first and second show was when the whole up stair's space was dedicated to rotating exhibitions.  Now 1/2 of the space is dedicated to the monthly exhibitions and the other 1/2 has a permanent gallery where you can buy a variety of Art. All of the shows have been memorable and all of the shows we have made something a little different.  Having a goal like this to strive for I believe has many advantages for us.  We tend to try something a little bit more involved, draw something new, and explore an idea that we have been wanting to do.  

We finally have uploaded individual images of all of the pieces that are in the show on our Bulldog Pottery flickr site. 

Life at the Bulldog homestead has been full of all kinds of activity. We are on our way to D.C. today for Pot Hop (Home Show Pottery Sale) and Jam with Massachusetts's potters Sam Taylor and Mark Shapiro. All four of us together will be giving demonstrations at the Hinckley Pottery Studios on Saturday evening. If you would like info about this event check out Hinckley Pottery's website. If you would like more info about where we will selling our work call (336_302_3469).

We will be dropping off our painting to the North Carolina Pottery Center today on our way out. There will be a special fund raiser coming up very soon at the Umstead Hotel in Cary, NC. You can read all about it at the North Carolina Pottery Center's website. 

We glazed two kilns full of crystalline vases for this weekend in D.C.  Some came out very sweet indeed, and we will have many other pots as well.

Below are images of our opening night.

This is the sign for the exhibition at the entrance to the Museum Store

When you walk into the Museum Store look up, and you will see where the exhibition space is.

Gallery director Karen Bethune talking with Bruce Gholson.   Karen is the one that arranged the work so wonderfully.

Another, Best shirt ever. Steve has some of the best most awesome shirts 

We were happy with the number of people that came to see our work It was great.

This is a good view of the space and our pots arranged on the pedestals.

Jim Davis is a book maker. He will be in a show at the Ackland  Museum Store, you can read about the event on facebook or follow the Ackland Museum Store's tumblr blog.

When you walk into the NC Museum of Natural Science, and begin the journey through the exhibits you will find out all kinds of information about North Carolina and our natural resources here.

Its Teamwork - Pot Hop and Jam - D.C. Road Trip

Pot Hop and Jam, "it's teamwork"

Friday morning before we left for our opening at the Natural Science Museum in Raleigh, we sat around the table busy as bees putting stamps and labels onto our Pot Hop and Jam postcards.  We hustled them down to the post office, which was a good thing, because we later found out that on Monday the post office was going to be closed.  We are going to be in D.C. with out pots and friends for a home show on October 22 and 23 with Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor, two great potters from Massachusetts.  On Saturday night all four of us will give a demo from 6:30-10:30 at Hinckley Pottery. The demo is $40 in advance and $45 at the door. If you are in the area come by to see us!  That would be so much fun.  We did this last year and had a blast. Here are a couple of blog posts from last years Pot Hop and Jam

Pot Hop in Washington D.C.

Pot Jam in D.C. at Hinckley Pottery

We are still working on those images that I took of the work we have on display in the Nature Art Gallery. I will make a post here when they are all up on flickr. It is amazing how time consuming sorting, editing, organizing all of those images can be.  

Gloria had family here this past weekend, and we toured around on Saturday to see some of the potteries. We had a blast.  We don't get the opportunity to get around to see the Seagrove potteries all that often.  Just too busy working in our own studio and taking care of our pottery shop.  But wow let me tell you it is fun and worth doing.  After taking everyone around on Saturday, while we were driving back we counted up how many different potteries we visited. We saw 9 potteries, and I commented "Just think there are around 50 more to see, when are you coming back?"

Below is our postcard for the Pot Hop and Jam in Washington, D.C., Oct. 22nd & 23rd

Send us your address if you wish to receive our future postcards

Pot Jam in D.C. at Hinckley Pottery

We started the evening off on top of Nancy Oneill's apartment building Saturday evening before going over to Hinckley Pottery. Nancy has been taking classes there and is now making the glazes for Hinckley. Hinckley Pottery is located downtown Washington D.C. and is a place where you can sign up for 10 week 2.5 hour classes during the year. There are 5 different instructors besides Jill Hinckley, and classes can be taken during the week with children's classes offered as well. Hinkley Pottery has been there for around 20 years, you can read about Jill Hinckley here (also if you click on the other instructors faces you can read about them too). Her partner Susan is the other 1/2 of Hinckley.

The crowd for the Pot Jam numbered around 45, and all were enthusiastic about pottery and seemed to enjoyed the 4 demos that we gave simultaneously. People went from wheel to wheel to see what we were making, all of us doing something different.

I think the four of us enjoyed giving the demonstrations as much as they enjoyed watching them. I will have to admit that it was a challenge for me because this was the first time throwing in front of so many people. I have had a lot of practice talking with Bruce in our studio here at home while throwing, but not so much in front of an audience.

Sam Taylor's Hands

Mark's Hands

Samantha's Hands

Bruce's Hands

Bruce's and Sam's Hands

This was Sam's idea.

Mark just finished editing a new book that will be coming out in August about Karen Karnes.

Can't wait to get our copy.

Pot Hop in Washington DC

Bruce Gholson, Sam Taylor, Mark Shapiro, Samantha Henneke

We had a great time this past weekend. Met new and wonderful people. It was such a thrill for Bruce and I. We have seen Mark's and Sam's work for years and it was a treat to meet the artists behind the pots. We brought home some of their work for our collection. Bruce is holding one of Mark's mugs in his hands. We had to slow down our visits to Sam and Mark next door because we kept wanting to bring something new back with us.

Below is our work displayed in the home of our hosts, Cass Johnson and Matt Radford. They were incredibly generous, and we thank them muchly for their warm hospitality. They had this amazing garden, and now that I am home I thought I had taken more pictures of it, but I only have a few. I was totally taken by their beautiful roses, and they had such a sweet scent. I sat in their garden and relaxed for quite a while examining our pots making future creative decisions.

We passed out Seagrove maps and found many people excited about visiting us and the other potteries in the future. There were many that have heard of Seagrove and wondered if it was the center? Well, we are all the center of our own universe I think, and well yes frankly we are very near the geographic center of North Carolina. There is a marker around 5 miles south of us in Star.

We set up a table in Cass and Matt's garden. I like how our crystalline looks in the day light.

Here I am (below) in their living room. A beautiful baby grand that was refurbished and put back together. Thinking back, I should of tried sitting at it, but I'm not sure why I did not. One of these days I will pull out my electric piano from its case. Not quite the exquisite piece of furniture that Matt and Cass have. I played the piano when I was a kid and Ed and Gloria replaced our piano with an electric one when I went to college. I love listening to music and picking out the piano chords.

Here are a few of our pots out in the garden.

Wonderful windows that lets the light in and views of the garden.

We hopped on down to Sam's and Mark's place frequently, where their host was Mark's sister, Judy and husband Rick. Sam has a wonderful selection of t-shirts. We recognized the creator of the images on Sam's shirts as an artist by the name of Ray Troll. We need to get some new fishy, skull, and fossil shirts for Bruce. Marks and Sam's pots were interspersed with each others on the shelves, it was a great mix.

Here is a selection of Mark's work. Another slender Tall bottle maker. They remind me of Cycladic Sculpture.

There are more pictures on our Bulldog Pottery Facebook page if you would like to see some more images.
We were at Hinckley Pottery Saturday night for simultaneous demos. More pictures to come in next post.

Pot Hop and Jam & Hinckley Pottery & Washington DC

We have a glaze kiln firing right now with a few pieces decorated with fish and insects. On Friday we are off to Washington DC for Pot Hop and Jam - a joint home show with Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor. There is a Pot Jam -- four potters demonstrating--scheduled for Saturday evening at Hinckley Pottery. We are looking forward to visiting the big city and meeting new people. If you are in the area we hope you will be able to come out and see us. If you have any questions or need detail directions please give us a call or e-mail us and we will call you. Our e-mail is bulldog at bulldogpottery.com

When we get back it will be full throttle onwards to Cousins in Clay on June 5 and 6!

Here is some of the info for the demo Saturday. Visit Hinckley Pottery's website for more info and directions.

Four Potter Improv at Hinckley Pottery in Washington DC on May 15-8:00pm-10:30pm

Sam Taylor, Mark Shapiro, Bruce Gholson, Samantha Henneke

North meets South, glaze meets slip, eight hands meet clay, you meet the diverse approaches of these nationally recognized clay artists as they simultaneously take on some of their favorite pots. What will emerge is unpredictable but guaranteed to be illuminating and fun and filled with stimulating discussion.

Fee: $30.00 in advance nonrefundable, $35.00 at the door.

Call 202-745-7055 for more information. Or email us at info@hinckleypottery.com.