"Cake", an exhibition at the Dinnerware Museum, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Cake Stand- Ceramic stand made by Bruce Gholson and Glass globe made by Joe Grant

Last year, at the end of the summer, Bruce accepted an invitation to be included in the special exhibition "Cake" curated by Margaret Carney, the director of the Dinnerware Museum. The Dinnerware Museum is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The exhibition "Cake" is on view from April 9 - September 4, 2016, with open hours on weekends or by appointment.  

After accepting the invitation and thinking about what to design, Bruce was struck with the inspiration of a collaboration with the glass artist Joe Grant, director of the glass studio program at STARworks in Star, NC. just five miles south of Bulldog Pottery.  

Images of the cake stands can be seen online at Cake Invitational. Bruce glazed the stand with our black molybdenum crystalline glaze which shows its distinctive iridescent stars and flower shapes. 

Bruce's and Joe's cake stand is 20 inches tall and 11 inches in diameter. A cake could be several layers tall and still have space for some decorative elements or figures under the dome. The Stand and Globe is available for purchase from the exhibition for $675.00, with some of the proceeds going to support the Dinnerware Museum.  

"The Dinnerware Museum celebrates a significant aspect of our daily lives. The permanent collection features international dinnerware from ancient to futuristic times; created from ceramic, glass, plastic, metal, lacquer, fiber, paper, wood and more. A delight for collectors, foodies, and visitors worldwide, the Dinnerware Museum has been described as creating a dream museum one place setting at a time."

You can see images of the exhibition opening on the Dinnerware Museum Facebook page. 

It was a stimulating experience working on this project with Joe Grant, and I am looking forward to doing it again.

Joe Grant and Bruce Gholson at STARwork Glass studio, Star, NC

Margaret Carney sent us an image of Bruce's and Joe's cake stand displayed in the Dinnerware Museum. 

View of inside the Dinnerware Museum, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Seagrove Potters Kiln Openings this Weekend

"Seagrove Potteries" book by Steve Compton and Seagrove Potters map produced be the Seagrove Area Pottery Association

We are here to debunk a Seagrove Pottery myth. The myth is that the Seagrove Potters are sold out after the "Celebration of Seagrove Potters", and no longer have pottery left to sell in their shops. There are many of us that continue to be hard at work, making more pots in our studios. A large group of potters have "One more Hurrah" and hold special Holiday Kiln Openings in December. 

Below are some of the potters that are busy and hustling in their studios to make more pottery to fill the shelves of their pottery shops for this season.

This weekend on December 13, 2014 around 15 Seagrove Potteries will have special kiln openings.

Here are the Seagrove Potteries that we are aware of having a holiday kiln opening this weekend.  And without a doubt if you don't see a pottery that you know listed below stop by there shop. We are sure they will be glad to see you.

December 13 -- Join us for One More Hurrah in 2014!

Johnston and Gentithes Art Pottery

Eck McCanless Pottery

Dean and Martin Pottery

Latham's Pottery

Studio Touya Pottery

From the Ground Up Pottery 

Windsong Pottery

Hickory Hill Pottery

Lufkin Pottery

Michele Hastings and Jeff Brown Pottery

Westmoore Pottery

Ben Owen Pottery

Chris Luther Pottery

Blue Hen Pottery

and Bulldog Pottery

Bruce Gholson & Samantha Henneke - Bulldog Pottery, Dec. 13, 2014, Holiday Kiln Opening, Seagrove, North Carolina

This is the Front and Back of the recent Holiday Kiln Opening Postcard we mailed across the United States.

Bruce Gholson & Samantha Henneke - Bulldog Pottery, Dec. 13, 2014, Holiday Kiln Opening, Seagrove, North Carolina

"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

Happy New Year from Bulldog Pottery

Happy New Year!

All is good here at Bulldog Pottery. We are revving up for the year 2014. It is amazing that we are already half way through January. Woah Nellie.

We compiled these images from our instagam photos of 2013.  Enjoy!

Celebration Collaborative - Carol Gentithes and Bruce Gholson

Carol Gentithes and Bruce Gholson holding their collaboration pieces

Bruce and Carol put thier talents together for this years Celebration of Seagrove Potters evening Gala at the Historic Luck's Cannery.  These two porcelain vessels were turned, glazed and fired by Bruce Gholson and then decorated by Carol Gentithes with her whimsical and creatively collaged over-glaze decal work.

This is the fourth year of the Celebration of Seagrove Potters, truly magnificent, truly a good event.  Michael Mahan "From the Ground Up Pottery" at one of the very first Celebration meetings suggested that maybe we could do collaborative pieces with one another for the auction on Friday evening. Since then this has become a tradition.  We all know one another and we see each other here or there, but getting together to make work with one another is a whole other world to itself. We are working everyday as studio potters in our own studios with our own clays and glazes in our own personal ways.  So when getting together to think creatively about our clay bodies, kiln firings, and glazes it takes ingenuity to put something together as a collaboration.

Carol Gentithes owns Johnston and Gentithes Art Pottery along with her husband Fred Johnston. Their pottery is located in downtown Seagrove. Look for the ceramic lizards crawling up the chimney. They moved here around 1-2 years before we moved here.  We are Alfred Alumni together, which holds a special bond for us.  Carol sculpts ceramics animals that are covered with narrative stories all placed on the piece in an intricately woven fashion. 

Bruce Gholson looking over the fantastical imagery by Carol Gentithes

close-up view of one side of the vase decorated by Carol Gentithes and thrown by Bruce Gholson

the other side of the vase decorated by Carol Gentithes and thrown by Bruce Gholson

a close-up view of the bottom of the ginger jar decorated by Carol Gentithes and thrown by Bruce Gholson

detail view of the ginger jar decorated by Carol Gentithes and thrown by Bruce Gholson

Carol Gentithes and Bruce Gholson looking at the vase and ginger jar

This is Carol's signiture on the bottom of on of the pieces

detail view of the ginger jar decorated by Carol Gentithes and thrown by Bruce Gholson

Fred Johnston, Carol Gentithes, and Bruce Gholson gazing over the collaborative creations  for the Gala Night Auction.

Crystalline Potters of Seagrove at the North Carolina Pottery Center

From Left to Right : 

 Bulldog Pottery, McCanless Pottery (platter), Wyndham and Brookhaven Pottery, Uwharrie Crystalline, Dover Pottery, Pottery By Frank Neef, and Eck McCanless Pottery

Crystalline Potters of Seagrove

September 24, 2011, Saturday, 10am-4pm at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove

The Crystalline Potters of Seagrove show is the first event of its kind.  Seven different crystalline pottery shops from the Seagrove area are coming together to show the amazing range and versatility of this special effects glaze.  The show will feature both zinc silicate and molybdenum crystalline.

Event will be held in the oak grove behind the North Carolina Pottery Center – 233 East Avenue, Seagrove, NC 27341.  There is no admission fee for the event, NCPC admission - $2/adults, $1/students 9th-12th grade, Free/8th grade and under.  Questions – Contact Rhonda (336) 873-7412

Rain date – October 1, 2011 

It is a Peek

Early this morning we unbricked the top layer of the kiln's door. The kiln has been cooling down for a little over 24 hours now. Still too hot to unbrick the door. But cool enough for us to take a peek inside to see what we have waiting for us.

Now a few hours later, we are able to take off another two rows of brick. We think things are looking good, but it is so hard to make accurate assessments at this point until we really get inside.

There are always refinements and adjustments to be made, like wishing that maybe a glaze had gone on a bit thinner. It is hard to make these fine adjustments when firing infrequently. There is a certain way that we like this grey glaze to come out, and maybe we should record the specific gravity for the more sensitive glazes to get a consistent thickness . The application and heat have to be just right, then Bruce and I can sigh in relief and satisfaction, and say this is it, this is what we like. But with all of the variations that can happen between firing, glazing, materials, etc., flexibility must remain a positive attribute.

We bought this tent last week for Michael's brush work demonstration. We decided to go with the bigger size so that everyone that is watching Michael will have plenty of room to sit. He will be pulling out the brushes on 2:00 Sat. and 1:30 Sun. Bring your June/July Ceramics Monthly magazine for Michael's signature. He is featured with a two page article this issue.

Loading up the glaze tests

We spent the past couple of days testing new glazes together. Bruce whipped up some of his own formulas, and I did a color run on a shiny glaze I like to use on the insides of our cups, bowls, and vases. We messed around with a couple of other formulas and now we wait. This kiln load is on and should be out on Sunday. Hopefully there will be a few that we are happy with.

We tested these new glazes and colors on our porcelain clay as well as the red clay Bruce likes to use. Also, we have some of the new STARworks local ceramic clays in the works too. We like testing glazes and this gets us very punchy and happy, especially if we gets some good results.

Bruce is loading up the tests in the kiln. We packed them in there.

We have decided or at least at this point in time that we will be throwing lots of cups for our kiln opening on December 4th. We have been known to change our minds in mid stream, but at this point I think we are about at that point. We love making cups. We thought we could make all kinds of cups with a variety of glaze and clay combos. Stay Tuned.

Maxwell was feeling spunky this morning. All work for his mom and dad means not that much ball tossing for him. It has been a few days since we played outside.

Watch those fingers Bruce. Maxwell can be very zealous for his ball.

Glaze Testing and Covering the Jar

We are busily working in the studio getting ready for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters and our kiln opening on December fourth. We are making a variety of forms for our flowing crystalline glazes. At the moment we are in the process of mixing glaze tests in the evenings and very excited to start developing some different surfaces and colors. The process of mixing and testing glazes is time consuming. It can take months and even years to go from a test tile to putting a successful glaze on a piece, and even after using a glaze for years we can and do go back and tweak the glaze a bit more.

What do we mean by tweaking? Bruce describes it like cooking in the kitchen, " We look at materials like a cook uses spices. A little bit of this material and a little bit of that material, always altering the formula to our taste."

Bruce has been focusing on creating new glaze formulas in the morning while drinking coffee, and Samantha will be trying to develop some new colors for the insides of her cups, bowls, and plates. We both have a strong drive for, imagination about, and passion to create glazes, and between us we have a lot of information and knowledge to draw from. Very cool and exciting.

Last night was like "Dueling Banjos" we had both of our scales out and were mixing glazes into the night, and in our new glaze lab to boot! Yeah !! Very Very happy here at Bulldog.

Color

After the Mint Museum's Potters Market we continued to glaze and fire vases and cups. Bruce had a couple of ginger jars sitting on the shelf waiting to be glazed that came out really sweet. We are motivated by the results that came out, and had spent some time working on new color combinations when we realized that the days have whizzed on by. Between organizing & moving stuff around in our new studio, and glaze testing, we now have to re-work our schedule.

We have decided to stay focused on our crystalline glazes for the rest of the season, and look forward to testing some new clays and glaze colors. The oranges that came out are new for us and we want to continue to work on developing these colors. This means the Moka glaze firing will have to wait till the new year.

We are preparing for the "Celebration of Seagrove Potters" which will be on Nov 20 and 21. The Gala is on the 19th, Friday evening. Our booth this year is located in the back left hand corner.

On Saturday, Dec. 4 we will be having a holiday show and sale here at Bulldog Pottery. Lots to do and lots to look forward too!

We will be posting our progress between now and then and letting you know some of what we will have available.

The Reception at the North Carolina Pottery Center

Last week was the "New Generation of Seagrove Potters" reception at the North Carolina Pottery Center. This exhibition features 15 Seagrove Potters that are under the age of 40, which was the "cut off" for inclusion in this show. We thought this was a clever idea for a show and we found it interesting to see the variety of work that is now on display.

We were wondering... "maybe they should plan "the middle age" or "over the ?", I better stop before I get in trouble. Maybe the "Boomers Seagrove Show"?

Below Mark Hewitt is introducing the Seagrove Potters that are showing work in the exhibition.

Below I am talking with Jeffrey Dean, trying to convince him to put his picture on facebook. He has a facebook profile but has yet to replace the silhouette image with a handsome picture of himself. I took a couple and sent them to him via e-mail, no more excuses now. I looked him up to ask him to be a friend but I don't know who to ask. Jeffrey owns Dean Martin Pottery along with his wife Stephanie. They just recently posted an image on their blog of the new covered jar he was decorating called the Big Lollipop.

Here are some of the attendees looking over the pottery.

Mark Hewitt was telling us about his new show that is on exhibit at the Nasher Art Museum at Duke University in Durham. He is excited about the opportunity and the documentation that the museum did and put on their blog and flicker page. It is wonderful that his work has been recognized in this way.

Below is Hitomi Shibata with her wood fired pottery. They have been building a wood kiln over on Busbee Road. Check out their pottery blog, Touya News to see the building of their kiln. They have done an incredible job of documenting the process and I think is very valuable, especially if you a potter and are wanting some ideas for your wood kiln, or you are a pottery collector and curious about the process of building a wood fired kiln.
Here is Matthew Luck, the son of Syd Luck. They live around the corner from us and have a wonderful annual party in August called Luck's Legacy. Last year I did a post on our blog about the Luck's Legacy event. We went over and hung out for a few hours unfortunately missing the barbecue because we needed to get back to our shop before they served it at noon. You can check out that post here. I love the intense cobalt blue that Matthew gets out of their ground hog kiln. You can see the cobalt blue glaze on the pots at the far left of the image below.

Chad Brown is the grandson of Grahm Chriscoe, a potter that lives just south of us, towards Ether. Chad Brown makes robust stoneware pots, and demonstrates at the Pottery Center every Saturday.

There was a great turn out for the reception even though snow was falling outside and covering the roads.

Susan Green is on my left. She worked on the committee for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters. She has helped the Seagrove pottery community out during the last couple of years, thanks Susan.

Three of the McCanless Clan: Will, Milly, and Eck. Milly owns Dover Pottery & Will owns McCanless Pottery. Eck is a master turner and works with his mother at Dover Pottery. We had a wonderful time working with Dover Pottery when we first moved here to Seagrove.

Here is the group of the "New Generation" that came out for the reception.

What a wonderful evening.

From Left to Right, Hitomi Shibata, Samantha Henneke, Will McCanless, Cyrstal King, Chad Brown, Matthew Luck, Takuro Shibata, Travis Owens, Eck McCanless is behind Travis, Jared Zehmer, Jeffrey Dean, Stephanie Martin. Too see more information and images of the recpetion go to the North Carolina Pottery Center's website.