Cousins in Clay in the Mountains of NC

We are looking forward to the 5th annual "Cousins in Clay" Mountains! Every year, we, along with Michael Kline, host two "Cousins in Clay" events. One at the beginning of the summer (weekend after Memorial Day) at our Bulldog Pottery studios in Seagrove, NC and one at the end of the summer at Michael Kline's Pottery in Bakersville, NC. This year the Mountain Clay Cousins will be on Labor Day Weekend, September 5-6, 2015.  

Two artists we admire, Justin and Brooke Rothshank, will be our guest cousins at the Labor Day weekend show and sale.  Justin makes pottery with layered surfaces of decals and glazes that integrate well together on his functional pottery forms, and Brooke paints miniature images that are amazing in detail.

We set up our pottery under white tents on the hill top of Michael's and Stacey''s property under beautiful oak trees very near his workshop and sales gallery.  This year his wife Stacey Lane, a jeweler, will have her work for sale in Michael's gallery along with Brooke Rothshank's paintings. Michael is a short drive (around 10 minutes) from the famous Penland Craft school.  It is always a treat to take our work to the NC Mountains!

We are also busily getting ready for the 11th Annual Potters Market Invitational at the Mint Museum Randolph, September 12th, in Charlotte, NC!  This is a wonderful event that we are proud to be invited to participate in along with 40 other potters.  Stay tuned for the next blog post to read more specifics about the Mint Museum's PMI.

Introducing the Cousins!

Bill Brouillard with majoilica platters

Introducing this year's "Cousins in Clay" Artists

May 30-31, 2015

Bill Brouillard, Adam Field, Doug Peltzman, Henry Crissman

#CousinsinClay

With hosts Bruce Gholson and Samantha Henneke with Michael Kline.

at Bulldog Pottery

3306 US Hwy 220 Alt

Seagrove, NC 27341

Instagram is a great place to follow the potters. Click on their names to see their Instagram photos.

We have been posting regularly on our Cousins in Clay Facebook page. Follow us on Facebook!

Pottery Demos!

On Saturday, May 30 beginning at 3:00pm Adam and Doug will demonstrate together and on Sunday, May 31, Bill Brouillard will demonstrate at 1:30pm.

                                                                           Bill Brouillard

Bill Brouillard teaches at the Cleveland Art Institute in Cleveland, Ohio.  He won the Cleveland Art Prize- 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Arts 2009 and has exhibited in many national art shows.  Read an overview about Bill and watch a 3 minute video about William Brouillard. Sit back... and meet Bill before coming to "Cousins in Clay". Bill will bring a selection of his majolica, porcelain, and wood-fired pottery works to this year's "Cousins in Clay".

Bill Brouillard, honored clay cousin for "Cousins in Clay", Seagrove, NC, Bulldog Pottery

Adam Field

Adam Field is presently a long term resident at Archie Bray in Helena, Montana.  He is a full-time studio potter making intricately carved porcelain pottery, and Onggi storage jars for fermenting.  During the past month we have watched Adam make some of the pottery that he will be bringing to Cousins in Clay on instagram.  He has recently focused on creating a body of work from porcelain slipped stoneware. We are looking forward to seeing his finished pieces.  Potter Jennifer Allen has an insightful interview of Adam on Jen Allen Ceramics Blog. You can also watch Adam Field You-Tube channel where you can see his Onggi pottery and porcelain carving techniques.

Adam Field, honored clay cousin for "Cousins in Clay", Seagrove, NC, Bulldog Pottery

Doug Peltzman

Doug Peltzman is a full-time  potter from Dover Plains, New York. He works with drawn pattern designs on white and black porcelain. We were introduced to Doug's work at the Arrowmont Utilitarian Clay that took place a few years ago.  There is a wonderful interview of Doug on Jen Allen Ceramics Blog, read about Doug, and check out his instagram images to find out about his studio work and inspirations.

Doug Peltzman, honored clay cousin for "Cousins in Clay", Seagrove, NC, Bulldog Pottery

Henry Crissman 

Henry Crissman recently graduated with his MFA from Alfred University in Alfred, New York. We met Henry last summer while we attended Alfred's Summer School for 2 weeks.  We talked with him about bringing his traveling Mobile Anagama Wood-Fired Kiln to "Cousins in Clay" and he said yes, We are super excited to have Henry here for the weekend.  The pieces below were glazed with one of his puddle glazes. Alfred's landscape is famous for its shale clay and Henry thought "Hey I can glaze my pieces with the puddles around the university." And so it began... Henry tested many puddles on campus and came up with some unique puddle glazed surfaces [Bruce's favorite is Puddle #5 with the grit left in].  Visit Henry's website to see Henry's recent projects, also here is a you-tube video of his Mobile Anagama Company MFA thesis show.

Henry Crissman, honored clay cousin for "Cousins in Clay", Seagrove, NC, Bulldog Pottery

Micheal Kline

Micheal Kline of course will be coming too! We are looking forward to seeing our Mountain Cousin again.  We were lucky to join Michael and Kyle Carpenter this past March for lunch at the White Duck Taco in Asheville. We Spent a wonderful afternoon together talking about life and clay. Michael has been working on new inlay decoration. We are super excited to see the pieces in person! Michael's blog Sawdust and Dirt is always a favorite of ours to read.

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

Samantha Henneke

Samantha Henneke has been working on pieces glazed similar to the mug below. We call it our Moka glaze pottery because of the hues similar to coffee, chocolate, cream, and the brindled color pattern of our past dog Moka. Samantha has been enjoying this spring/summer weather and is excited to be taking her camera out to capture the life in the undergrowth.

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

Bruce Gholson 

Bruce Gholson is planning to have a series of his shino fish mugs and cups for this year's "Cousins in Clay". We will also have a wonderful grouping of vases with our crystalline matte glazed surfaces. 

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

You can always visit Bulldog Pottery: Gholson/Henneke year round! Our pottery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-5:00 and we are here most Sundays and Mondays.  It is a good idea to call if you are making a special trip to see us. We diligently open up our pottery shop everyday, but there is always a chance that we may have to be away due to something coming up.

                                                              See you at "Cousins in Clay"!

"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

News Alert - Watertower cleaning for "Cousins in Clay"

Water tower landmark for Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

It was a chilly weekend, and neither winter ice, or snow would stop the Montgomery County water tower from being cleaned and spruced up for "Cousins in Clay" this year, at Bulldog Pottery in Seagrove on May 31 - June 1, 2014.

During the past couple of weeks, intermittently through the snowy and rainy weather, our water tower has been prepped, cleaned, and now is being painted.  This has become the landmark for our pottery ever since its construction in 2002.  Sometimes it's such an enormous landmark, that folks can miss it when turning onto our gravel driveway right beside it's massive metal legs.

One of our honored guests, "Clay Cousin" Daniel Anderson from Illinois, has been long inspired by water towers. Water towers are wonderful structures, and are awesome inspirational architectural forms.  Daniel Anderson has done this form so very well, it has become an icon that is identified with him when done in clay.  He will be here at Bulldog Pottery early this summer, along with Blair Clemo and Michael Kline.  We are looking forward to "Cousins in Clay"!

Water tower landmark for Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Water tower landmark for Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Dan Anderson, Water tower Covered Jar, Illinois

Hilltown6 Pottery Tour - Massachusetts

Tomorrow and Sunday, July 30 and 31, 2011 the Hilltown6 Pottery Tour takes place in Massachusetts. Two of the potters that are part of this tour are our D.C. Pot Hop and Jam buddies, Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor. 

This year we will meet up again with Mark and Sam at a home sale in Washington D.C., October 22&23, 2011 on Cathedral Ave.

The Hilltown6 Pottery Tour includes the following ceramic artists : Mark Shapiro, Sam Taylor, Robbie Heidinger, Erix Smith, Constance Talbot, Hiroshi Nakayama, Michael McCarthy, and Christy Knox.  You can find out more about these artists at the Hilltown6 Pottery website and also check out their Hilltown6 facebook page.

There is another very exciting upcoming 2012 event that includes Mark and Sam.  They will be the guest cousins next year for 2012 Mountain Cousins in Clay, NC at Michael Kline's pottery in Bakersville. We are looking forward to hanging out in the Mountains together in 2012!  Michael Kline shared a studio space with Mark Shapiro some years ago. Maybe there will be a future story about this by Michael on the Cousins in Clay blog.

I want to let you know that we are having a blast this summer in the studio at Bulldog Pottery. We busy making lots of pots and getting ready for this year's 2011 Mountain Cousins in Clay on August 26&27. 

 With the Potters Market in Charlotte following closely on Sept. 10th, and then our show at the Museum of Natural Sciences, then we hop onto the Pot Hop and Jam in DC.  Wow we have quite an exciting line up!  And of course there is the Celebration of Seagrove Potters in November.  Check out the new Celebration of Seagrove Potters Face Book page to see all the cool collaborative pieces being made for the Friday night Gala.

Below is Mark working on setting up his pots at last years Pot Hop and Jam

Sam Taylor with a selection of his pots at the Pot Hop and Jam

A close-up of Mark Shapiro's pottery

This is a close-up of Sam Taylor's pottery

Mountain Cousins - Michael Kline Pottery in Bakersville

On August 26 and 27, 2011 we will over and up in the mountains at Michael Kline's Pottery studio. We will be bringing lots of our Moka glazed pottery that we are presently working on in the studio!

3rd Annual Cousins in Clay Weekend

The tents, tables, and chairs are just about all put away. After an event like "Cousins in Clay" it takes some time to get back into our regular routine. We are now on our 5th day after "Cousins" (we call A.C.) and we get to begin a new project.

The "Cousins" weekend was fabulous. The weather cleared up, and the sun came out after the pouring rain on Friday night. Jack Troy arrived first, with his car packed full of pottery and was followed shortly later by the arrival of Peter Lenzo and his friend Val. We had a blast watching them unpack pots and face pots. Then Michael unloaded his goodies, and we showed what we just had pulled out of the kiln. It is a surreal feeling to have something like this happen right in our yard. All this wonderful pottery here, all different, representing the makers' personal visions and expressions, through the utilization of the amazingly versatile material that is clay. As a pottery lover this was a great place to be, walking up and down the aisle looking right to left and left to right. The visual stimulation of all these varied pots side by side was an exhilarating experience.

During Saturday and Sunday we had a steady flow of visitors. We all are thrilled with the many conversations that we had with art and pottery loving people. It is the support of all of you reading this blog that enables us to make pottery our profession full time. We put just about all of our soul and energy into our work, and to have so many wonderful, kind, and enthusiastic people support our art, provides the joy and income for us to keep the pottery cycle going.

Below is some of our new shino work with a little crystalline mixed in

A steady stream of people came through during Saturday, buying pottery from everyone.

Michael Kline giving a brush work demo on Satuday at 2:00.

Here are Michael's reflection cups.

On Sunday he gave another brushwork demo at 1:30. We had a nice turn out for the noon potluck. It was fun to eat while looking at and talking about pottery and gardening.

Kristy came out from Winfield Farms. It was great to see her.

Michael's bird cup that is now in our collection, and is Bruce's current favorite drinking vessel.

A close-up of Peter's Head Pot reveals a face jug on a face jug.

Jack Troy's organic cups

Samantha's Moka glaze cup

Michael Kline, Peter Lenzo, Jack Troy, Samantha Henneke, and Bruce Gholson

Cousins in Clay 2011