Celebration of Seagrove Potters at the Lucks Cannery

This ad appeared in the Carolina Arts on page 15 of their online newspaper

The Celebration of Seagrove Potters staring the Seagrove Potters

The weekend before Thanksgiving

Luck's Cannery on Pottery Highway around a mile from the town of Seagrove

See you there

On Friday evening November 18 the Gala begins at 6:00pm and lasts until 9:00pm (pre-purchased tickets $40 needed- check at the website for details)

On Saturday morning November 19 9:00am - 6:00pm (tickets sold at the door $5)

On Sunday morning November 20 10:00am 4:00pm (tickets sold at the door $5)

For more information and details check out Celebration of Seagrove Potters website or follow us on our Celebration of Seagrove Potters facebook page.

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

Nature Art Gallery Number Four at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Insect plate by Samantha Henneke

We delivered our work yesterday to the Museum of Natural Sciences. Around 60 pieces will be on exhibit during the month of October in the Nature Art Gallery. The Nature Art Gallery is located on the mezzanine level in the Museum Store. We love this museum. It is worth the visit.   I will post images soon on our fickr site of the work that we have on display in the Nature Art Gallery. 

There is an exhibition that is on display in a large rectangular room on the second floor called, "Our Expanding Oceans: The Blending of Art and Science". 

"The exhibit explores the major elements of global climate change, from melting ice to rising seas, and features more than 50 hand-dyed silk batiks depicting aerial, satellite and conceptual perspectives of our environment." 

Fish Shino Plate by Bruce Gholson

Bee Dance (Waggle Dance)

We are glazing for two more days and then we will begin to get our work all together for our exhibition that opens on October 7 (opening time is 6:30-8:30) in the Nature Art Gallery at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC. We will post images soon.

Yesterday, when researching factoids for my porcelain glaze paintings I ran into this amazing new piece of knowledge about bees. As my nine year old nephews says "You learn something new everyday" Insects are truly fascinating.

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 

The Mint's Potters Market and the Delhom Service League

Is it already a whole week ago that we were in Charlotte at the Mint Museum's Potters Market? Well if everything works out we will be back at the Mint this Tuesday to hear a talk about the new ceramics exhibition that is on display at the Mint Museum on Randolph. During the year (fall and winter) the Delhom Service presents a monthly Ceramics program at the Mint Museum on Randolph Rd.  To find out what the future scheduled presentations are you can find them listed on the Delhom Service's page of the Mint Museum Randolph's website.
This is information that we extracted from the Mint's website about the upcoming presentation on Sept 20th..

"The Delhom Service League invites you to join them for their September Program presented by Barbara Veith on Tuesday, 20 September 2011, 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the Van Every Auditorium at the Mint Museum Randolph.

Barbara Veith is an independent scholar of American ceramics and glass, and the curator of Aesthetic Ambitions:  Edward Lycett and Brooklyn’s Faience Manufacturing Company, On view beginning 17 September 2011 at Mint Museum Randolph through 26 February 2012.  This special exhibition presents nearly 40 unique examples  of art pottery from the late 1800’s produced by the Brooklyn Faience Manufacturing Company illustrating Edward Lycett’s talent over his nearly 50 year career. 

Please join us as Barbara Veith, organizing curator of the exhibition, details Lycett’s tremendous influence as the company’s artistic director."

Below are more images from our booth display at the Mint's Potters Market, a great ceramics event put on by the Delhom Service League.

Bruce and Marylou a Delhom Service League member and volunteer at the Potters Market

7th Annual Potters Market at the Mint Museum Randolph

We are all packed up and ready to go. Well, just about all ready. We are more ready today than usual. There is always a big heave ho at the very end to get everything into the van and to make sure we remember all the gear that will be needed to set up for a pottery event.

The Potters Market presented by the Delhom Service at the Mint Museum Randolph is located on the front lawn under a large white tent. There are 40 potteries selected from all over North Carolina.  A variety of pottery will be there.  

This year Bruce and I will bring our Moka and Shino glazed pottery. I have been working on decorating with my insect images on these jars that you see below.  Bruce has been focused on working with his shino glaze again.  We also have been testing some new glazes to add to the pallet, and getting warmed up for the next kiln firings.

Hope to see you there! 

Our shop here in Seagrove is open, Ed, Gloria and Max will be holding down the fort.

First annual Mountain Cousins in Clay

The first annual Mountain Cousins was a very gratifying weekend for Bruce and I.  It was wonderful to escape the heat for an extremely pleasant weekend on top of a Mountain ridge with the Michael, Stacey, George, Evelyn, Lillian, Jack, and General Patton. I (Samantha) grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia on a plateau between the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains and Bruce spent a number of years living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Floyd, Va.   Our weekend was sunny and cool, and we were comfortably set up under the oak trees at the top of hill from Michael Kline's Pottery shop.  We felt at home with the beautiful views and great companionship.

Michael's father-in-law, George cooked red beans and rice for the visitors that came on Friday and Saturday.   They were yummy and I made sure to have several second helping. George cooks for Civil War reenactments. He came with his dutch ovens and grills, and his dog General Patton.  Patton and Jack had fun playing together in the morning before they had to go up for the day.

Here is Michael outside of his studio. This is where you can find him on a daily basis working on his pots. He has a display room of his pottery in the front of the building. 

Cynthia and Edwina Bringle visited us Friday morning.  Cynthia is a potter living in Penland right next to the famous Penland School of Crafts and Edwina her sister is a weaver.

The building below is Cynthia's studio which is located at the entrance into Penland (the driveway right across from the Penland Gallery).  Visit Cynthia at her studio, and see her beautiful gardens and wonderful pottery.  She has a great selection of her work to look at.  I bought a slender wiggle vase from her last year during the Toe River Studio Art Tour.
This was my first time actually visiting Penland grounds, Bruce taught a workshop and a concentration there back in the late 80's. We had a nice lunch at the Penland coffee shop Sunday afternoon, and the Penland Gallery is spectacular.

I love looking at pottery in outdoor light. Sunlight has a warmth that really brings out the rich and colorful tones of glazes.

Michael Kline pulled out a new kiln load of his work for the weekend of Mountain Cousins.

There was a great selection of pottery to look at and choose from.

Happy pottery collectors went home with a piece from each of us.

Next year around this time we will have two more potters under the tents on the mountain top with us.  Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor will be headed down from Massachusetts with their awesome pottery to join us for Michael's 2nd annual Mountain Cousins in Clay.

And here in Seagrove... Bulldog Pottery's annual "Cousins in Clay- 2012" will take place on Memorial Day weekend with our honored Clay "Cousins" Ron Meyers and Judith Duff.

Fresh Pots! North Carolina Mountains here we come!

We are just about all ready for our road trip to Michael Kline's Pottery in Bakersville.  A bit more packing and clothes collecting and then we are headed to the NC Mountains.  Bruce is on the phone right now with Michael, making sure that we have everything packed up. We need to grab our box of shims.
Overall the firing came out really splendid. We are excited about the glaze on the mug above. It has an incredible iridescence and it works beautifully on stoneware as well!  A lot of exciting possibilities for the next firing.

These are images of the pottery that is all packed up now and in the van. We have heard a hurricane is coming up the coast. We hope it doesn't mess up too many art and other events that are happening this weekend, and that the folks on the coast will be safe.

We hope to see you at Michael's this weekend for red beans and rice, hand made by Michael's father in-law! Rain or shine we will be there for the first annual Cousins in Clay weekend in the Mountains.  Here are the directions to Michael's.

 We sent out our e-card a couple of days ago. Here is the link to Bulldog e-card.  If you would like to be on our e-mailing list you sign up for it to the right of this post.  We also have a Bulldog Pottery facebook page where we share what we are doing and other information or interesting links. If you want to "like" it and follow along that would be splendid.

Cheers to all of you blog readers and thank you for checking in on us to find out what is going on here at Bulldog Pottery.

We lost one of the jars below (big one bottom right) when cleaning them up. A lid decided to fly out of Bruce's hands and right into a bowl taking it out too. These accidents happen.

This is one of Bruce's shino fish bowls

This is one of Samantha's plates decorated with a swirl pattern

This is the other side of the plate which is decorated as well

Bruce will have a few of his fish mugs too.