Daffie Days- March 25-27, 2011

The UPS man delivered our Daffie Days postcards yesterday. We will be mailing these out soon. Would you like one? If so send us an e-mail with your address to bulldog @ bulldogpottery dot com. Would you like to receive our e-newsletter ? There is a form right next to this blog post where you can fill out the form. The information goes to our account on Mad Mimi. This is the service that we use to send out our newsletters. They will send you an e-mail for you to confirm that it was you that sent it.

We have a busy and exciting schedule this year. We will be attending the American Art Pottery Association Convention in Langhorne, PA on April 27-May 1. On April 30 and May 1 we will be setting up along with 44 other vendors at the hotel. Cousins in Clay is coming up at the end of May, and we are looking forward to Jack Troy, Peter Lenzo, and Michael Kline coming here to Bulldog with their awesome pottery. Of course there is the Celebration of Spring in Seagrove on April 16-17.

And at the end of the year? We have been invited back to the Potters Market on September 10! At the end of August we will be headed over to Michael Kline's place in Bakersville for the first Mountain Cousins in Clay we will have more details about that soon!!! Our Nature Art Gallery Show will open on October 7th and off to D.C. for Pot Hop and Jam with Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor. We have listed where we will be and when under Bulldog Events in this blog's sidebar. We also have a list of events on our Bulldog Pottery website.

Follow along with us as we venture into the new year......

Porcelain for Chinese Master Over-glaze painter

We received a phone call the other day from Dwight Holland asking Bruce if he would throw several porcelains pots for the upcoming North Carolina Potters Conference. The 2011 NC Potters Conference will be a once in a life time experience for us local potters. Five master Chinese artists will be traveling to Asheboro (only 15 min away from us) from Jingdezhen, China. These pieces will be glazed with a clear glaze for the Chinese master over-glaze painter. There will be a Master Trimmer, Master Thrower, Master Slab Maker, Master Over-Glaze Painter, and a Master Under-glaze Painter. There will be lectures by three other scholars, but hey why don't you go on over to the Randolph Arts Guild and read all about it, sign up and come and enjoy the fabulous weekend! We will be there!

Dwight Holland is a long time resident of Asheboro and has been a veritable rock for the NC Potters Conference for the past 24 years, and a pottery champion throughout the world. The Randolph Arts Guild is a treasure to the community and has hosted this annual North Carolina Potters' Conference for 24 years. They have brought in famous potters from all over the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and now China! This annual conference is truly a great experience for potters of all levels.

Bruce is throwing a couple of platters and smaller plate size forms, along with a few vases. I will try my hand at some vases too.

This table of vases are finished and waiting to dry. We are getting ready for Daffie Days here at Bulldog Pottery on March 25-27.

Collaboratives with "Cousin" Michael - The beginning

Earlier this week Michael visited us, and we began to work on some Cousin's Collaboratives. This is the first for Bruce and I, for having someone besides ourselves working with us in our studio. We had a great time and we are looking forward to doing more of this type of work in the future. Bruce finished up trimming a couple of vases that he threw for Michael to decorate. In the past couple of years I have been working with a shellac wash away technique to decorate my cups. Michael calls it resist hydo-abrasion. After one of my recent blog post that Michael read, he noticed my use of this decorating technique and recalled when he worked this way back when he was a Penland artist in residence. The three of us decided that this would be a great place to start. Over the two days that he was here Michael decorated around seven pieces and we plan to finish abrading them and fire with our crystalline glazes.

It took a bit of time to get into the groove, set up, and get focused. Of course Maxwell is in constant play mode and had his input on collaborative plans for Michael.

Bruce engineered a wood block stand for Michael to set his brushes in. Something that a little container could stand straight up in and allow for Michael's brush to be in water without the whole handle soaking in water. A bit more fine tuning is still needed. We discussed how sometimes we forget and leave our brushes in water. A big no no.

We finally settle in and Michael begins to paint the shellac with some of the signature vining decoration that he is recognized for.
Over the couple of days Bruce shows Michael some of the tools that he has collected from various sources for various reasons. You never know when you may need something. Bruce is sorting through his tungsten carbide bits finding the right one for Michael to sign his name in the pieces he decorated.

Horse Yunomi Glaze Detail

The past couple of days I have been thinking about the above image while working in the studio. I love the subtlety of the melon green that is around the horse's legs. The colors have a relaxing quality on me. This color combination also reminds me of orange dreamsicles. There is something about the textures and colors of this glaze that stimulates my mind's eye. The horse image also plays into an overall feeling of tranquility despite the active poise.

The image below is one of our favorite recent color combinations. The glaze has a subtle interaction in the way that the blue crystal has changed color over the horses nose, one aspect of the ways that glazes are so fascinating and thrilling to work with. I commented on our Bulldog Pottery facebook page a few days ago that this glaze combo is like blowing bubbles under water. The fancifully floating motion of the horse, makes for a liquid dream like quality .

Groovey - The Evolution Revolution

We want to send out our cheers to you in time for this evening's festivities, and wish you a Happy New Year!

Tomorrow we will be bringing in the New Year relaxing, reading, and figuring out our new Wii games that we got for Xmas.

Enjoy the song that we picked out to bring in the New Year by Evolution Revolution, a classic rock band that played in the early 70's. If you listen close you just may decode the message that was being sent out to the APE agents (Agency to Prevent Evil) of which Lancelot was the premiere agent. Lancelot Link and his colleague Mata Hairi are in a ongoing conflict with the evil organization CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Walk About

This past Sunday we woke up to a snowy landscape. After seeing many of my friends on face book post their experiences with these days of snow, I decided to pop on my macro lens and go for a quick walk about. I love the way the snow will pile up on a branch or leaf. The natural curves and shapes are inspiring. When we lived in Alfred the skies were grey most of the time, and we found ourselves complaining and wishing the sun would come out. There were many days in a row when the sun would not appear, giving many students from California the sun withdrawal syndrome (SWS), also known as Swiss, or is it SAD for "seasonal affective disorder". It was serious enough that they had annual workshops to address it. While Bruce was in grad school we acquired our first American Bulldog - Moka. I would walk Moka with a friend of mine Priscella and her large dog Cheves. One of those gloomy days that we went walking together, when after I finished thinking about how grey and yucky the day was, Priscilla looked up and said, "I love this weather". " Winter colors are my favorite, look at how beautiful the sky is". "Really??" I asked (all that I saw was that the sun was no where to be seen). And she replies "Yes just look at the lavenders, mauves, and pinks in the sky". I peered up and started really looking, and then began to see what she was talking about. I love experiences like that. When something or somebody can just turn your world around to see things in a somewhat different way.

Happy Holidays 2010 from Bulldog Pottery

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! We had such a wonderful 2010 and we are so grateful for the lives that we live. Much of our happiness and success has to do with you, our faithful collectors. We are so incredibly lucky to be able to make our pottery, live our passion--- and express our creative selves. Thank you for allowing our works to be part of your lives on a daily basis.

The Bulldog country dance is a bit more focused on our you tube channel. You may want to watch it on there.

Happy Holidays from Bruce, Samantha, Gloria, Ed, and Maxwell!

Thank you!

Home for the Holidays

We are home for the holidays with a shop full of pottery. Our hours are the usual... Tues-Sat from 10-5 with Mon. and Sun. 98.5% chance that we are open. On Sunday or Monday if you are making a special trip to Bulldog please call to make sure that we are not running errands or we maybe enjoying a museum exhibition in your neck of the woods.

Did I say that our shop is full of many forms and glazes? Walking into our gallery is like going into a confectioner's shop full of eye candy. We gaze at the results of our labors and find many different things that we want to study more intently. It is frequent that we must immediately pack up our newest pieces for shows, without having the luxury of time to ponder the successful results of our experimentations. It is very enjoyable for us to be able to have this down time to look and make adjustments in our plans for future pots and their surfaces.

We have been recuperating this past week from the big August- December push and we are ready to get rolling again today. Yunomis are in our immediate future as we have five each to be shipped by the first of the year to be in the annual Akar gallery's Yunomi show. And teapots, we have been invited to be in the Tea Time Teapot show at the North Carolina Pottery Center.

Plans are in the beginning stages for new projects, and we are gearing up to organize our new hand building space, glazing area and glaze lab. So much to do, so little time, its wonderful to have a full plate.

We have been working on the planning stages for Cousins in Clay May 28&29 2011. Invited clay artists this upcoming year will be Jack Troy, Peter Lenzo, and Michael Kline. We are thrilled about having such strong clay artists joining us here for that weekend.

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. Now for some hot tea... today we will be trying out Madagascar Vanilla.

Here are some over all views of the pots in our shop. Detail views to follow.

Seagrove - "Tar Heel Treasure" - Featured in the Ballantyne Magazine

Ballantyne Magazine -Winter 2010-2011

We were pleased when we discovered that The Community of Seagrove Potters was featured in the recent Ballantyne Magazine in an article called "Tar Heel Treasure". Two of our images were included in the article along with Jugtown Pottery/JLK Jewelry, From the Ground Up, Westmoore Pottery, and Whynot Pottery. Mary Farrell from Westmoore Pottery was interviewed for the article written by Regan Michelle White.

If you are interested in reading this article click on "Tar Heel Treasure" to view the article. The article is on two different pages. To find the second page click on the single arrow at the top part of the site. Also, on our computer if we click any where on the page it will enlarge big enough to read. Hope this works for you.

Red Dung Beetle by Samantha Henneke was featured in the article,

and Molybdenum Crystalline Vase by Bruce Gholson

This coming weekend there will be at least two kiln opennings here in Seagrove. Ben Owen Pottery will be featuring his Chinese Red Pottery and David Stuempfle has pottery from his recent Wood Kiln firing. Our next post will be some shots of all the pots here at Bulldog for all the last minute X-mas shoppers who come to Seagrove from now into next week. We will be here after X-mas as well. Come for a Visit, we look forward to talking with you.

Fabulous Time at Bulldog Pottery

We had a fabulous Saturday. We want to thank everyone that came out to our place here in Seagrove, North Carolina. The day was chilly and we had a taste of Carolina snow during the day. The flakes were large and dusted the ground. Saturday we pulled out an assortment of colored cups. Colors that remind us of mangoes and strawberries, celery, and summer skies.

The word was out that there were kiln openings happening here in Seagrove, Chris Luther Pottery, Westmoore Pottery, Thomas Pottery, Avery Pottery and Tileworks, and Jugtown Pottery all were having special days, as well as many other potteries that are working hard after the Celebration to keep their shops stocked for the season.

We have so much fun talking with people. Stories of movies, inspirations, hobbies, and adventures filled our space.

A plate by Samantha -- a crystalline glaze flowing into a colored shiny glaze. We like the way the snowy peach glaze changes the color of the turquoise around the plate's perimeter.

This glazed wall hanging has a lot of activity and movement.

We received the new Carolina Arts just in time to hand it out at the Holiday kiln opening..

Carolina Arts is filled with info on art events, shops, and galleries across North and South Carolina

Ed is fixing up all of the yummy foods that Gloria made for the day- lentil and sausage soup, stollen pastry, hot cider, gingerbread cake, cookies, pimento cheese (yummy!), and coffee.

Just about everything was eaten during the day. We had a wonderful turn out despite the chill and snow.

I popped out of the studio during the snow and captured some close ups.

Samantha's birthday present arrived

Art Sculpture by Mike Durham

Yesterday Samantha's birthday present arrived at Bulldog Pottery.

This giant kinetic metal flower is the artwork of Mike Durham from Asheboro, North Carolina.

We are so excited and wanted to share this with all of you! It looks great in our garden outside of Bulldog Pottery. Yeah!!!

Each of the two layers of petals turns in a different direction and it really flies when it's a windy day like today

We have decided to move Audrey III to the other side to mark the entrance to the pottery.