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Photo: Old Barns in Cane Creek Community of Bakersville. |
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| Discover Asheville's Unique Charms "...Asheville is rich with layer upon layer of the most exquisite quality of life just waiting to be discovered ..." Home CONNECT WITH ASHEVILLEBLISS.COM Mission Be An Editor Write a Review Link to Us Advertise with Us FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING LOCALLY AND GET INVOLVED Media Buzz Directories & Portals Events Calendar Social Networking Free Advertising Asheville Blogs Local News Local Weather Local Media Free Wi-Fi Spots Web Cams Volunteer HISTORIC ASHEVILLE Historic Asheville Timeline & Historic Photos Historic Health Retreat Historic Architecture Douglas Ellington Thomas Wolfe Memorial Edwin Wiley Grove Black Mountain College History of Railway Legends & Mysteries ARTS & CRAFTS Art Galleries Bakersville Artists Burnsille Artists Celo Artists Penland Artists Spruce Pine Artists Recycled Art River Arts District Art & Craft Malls Art Supplies Art Lessons Art to Wear Studio Tours Art Contests Art Residencies WHERE TO STAY Lodging ENTERTAINMENT & ATTRACTIONS Entertainment Museums Free Entertainment Movies & Film Dinner & a Movie Asheville Tourists Trains & Locomotives FESTIVALS Festivals Bele Chere L.E.A.F. GATHERING PLACES Brew Pubs Wine Bars & Shops Coffee & Tea Houses Social Hours THEATER & SPOKEN WORD Theater Open Mic Nights Poetry Slams Storytelling MUSIC & DANCE Music Venues Blue Grass Modern Roots Jazz Classical Music Live Bands Music Festivals Drumming Street Performers Dance Contra Dance Latin Dance Swing Dance Belly Dancing SPORTS & OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES Rocks & Gems Rock Climbing Bouldering Rafting Kayaking Hiking Fishing Camping Mountain Biking Waterfalls Mountains Picnicking Wildlife Watching Golfing Tours Day Trips National Parks & Forests State Parks Blue Ridge Parkway Toe River Valley Boone NC Blowing Rock NC Hot Springs NC Flat Rock NC Gatlinburg TN Jonesborough TN FOOD & DINING Dining Local Produce Natural Food Tailgate Markets CSA Farms CO-OP VILLAGES, CO-HOUSING, ECO-DEVELOPMENT Housing Low Cost Housing Alternative Building Co-op Villages Green Building Retirement Communities ECO-GARDENING, PERMACULTURE, NATIVE PLANTS, WILD-CRAFTED HERBS Garden Centers Permaculture Gardening Information Wild Herbs Wildflowers Growing &Harvesting Ginseng ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS Green Consciousness Green Volunteerism Conservacy Sustainable Energy Green Products Recycling Green Services BODY/MIND/SPIRIT Body/Mind/Spirit Day Spas Salons Yoga & Pilates Practitioners Holistic Dentistry Spiritual Community EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY Fun Jobs Business Startup Help Grass Roots Funding Movie Industry EVENTS, WEDDINGS &PARTIES Event Spaces Event Planners Weddings Music for Hire Catering Bakeries Florists Photographers KIDS ACTIVITIES Kids Activities Birthday Parties Summer Camp EDUCATION & CLASSES Cooking Classes Art Lessons Herbal Medicine Schools Music Lessons Internships Educational Resources Retirement Education FUN SHOPPING Free Stuff Low Cost Groceries Thrift & Flea Bookstores Music Stores Antiques Auctions Shopping Clothing Mailorder Shopping |
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Glass Artists of the
J. J. Brown -- Fyreglas Studio Devin Burgess- DB Glassworks Tracy Dotson Greg Fidler Glass -- Ipso Facto Guerard Glass - Judson Guerard
Guerard's Local Gallery: Bella Vista, Asheville Ritter Glass -- Scott Summerfield Glass |
William Baker
Wood and Soda Fired Pottery "...As a ceramic artist I explore the potter's wheel and the use 
of
atmospheric firing methods as my primary tools. The dynamic
interaction between the malleable, versatile clay and the steady motion
of the wheel first enthralled me, and continues to challenge and humble
me everyday. It is this interaction that inspires the forms I create, and
which influences the movements of my hands as they meet the clay. Each
piece is a record of the union of these forces..." Maintains a studio on top of Roan Mountain in Bakersville area. Events calendar. Represented by Crimson Laurel Gallery locally.
Dianne Borde-Sutherland
"... As a potter and painter, I find great expression using the Maiolica
glazing 
technique, which allows me to create strong forms with cheerful and spontaneous surface design. My love of plants, gardens and the simple yet intricate forms of nature inspire me. By this process, I am able to make connections between myself, my life, the natural world and those who appreciate my work. The vibrant color and early drawings of artists like Picasso, VanGogh and Matisse as well as the traditional Islamic, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese tin-glazed pottery, continue to guide and influence my work....When creating, I use many different production methods including wheel-throwing, slab-building and some mold-casting. This allows for a great variety of form and flexibility of design in the creation of each piece. All decoration is hand painted with stains and oxides. Most of the imagery I use is botanical and reflects the beauty found in nature...."
John Britt - John Britt Pottery
"...
has been a potter for 18 years. Although he has degrees in philosophy and counseling, he is a self-taught potter who has taken classes at Haystack, Alfred, Arrowmont and other crafts centers and colleges. He has worked and taught at the University of Dayton, Dayton Art Institute, Penland School of Crafts, Collin County, Cedar Valley and Brookhaven and Mayland Community Colleges. He has taught all types of ceramic classes including, basic hand-building, throwing, sculpture, raw 
materials and glaze chemistry, glazing techniques and kiln building to all levels of students. He worked for three years as the Clay Coordinator at the Penland School of Crafts. He has written six articles for Ceramics Monthly, was the crossword editor for Clay Times and juried the Lark book 500 Bowls. He is the author of The Complete Guide to High-Fire Glaze, Glazing & Firing at Cone 10, published by Lark Books...." Participates in the two time a year TRAC Studio Tour.
| With hundreds of recipes for some of the most popular and enduring high-fire glazes, this reference will prove a boon to ceramists who want to master this complex and versatile aspect of the art. Author John Britt, who served as Clay Coordinator at the respected Penland School of Crafts, has personally tested many of the recipes, and carefully reviews every one. He offers a thorough examination of glaze materials, chemistry, and tools, and presents the basics of mixing, application, and firing procedures. | |
| Five hundred inspiring variations on the simple, functional bowl will fire any potter's imagination. Displayed on each page are bowls that reinvent and reinterpret the form, and use techniques from across the globe and through the centuries. More importantly, every piece, such as Kate Maury's wheel-thrown porcelain, Stephen F. Fabrico's slab-built bowl with handles, and Ruchika Madan's stoneware Fruit Bowl, testifies to the artist's boundless inventiveness. Captions give each bowl's size, with details on its material and glazes. |
"..."Paige Davis has forged a life for herself and her family by traveling the road not taken. A woman in what most people consider a man's profession, she has become a nationally known metal smith. She wields both the heay hammer of a blacksmith an the fine instruments of the jeweler.... Carefully but quickly, she turns the straight, square shouldered bar into a flowing spiral. The plane of the transformed bar lend additional grace to the organic swirl of her work....Paige's forge work is 
varied. She hot-forms steel sheet and forges round and square stock, making figures and vessels, each one of which is unique. Most of her work comes from her imagination, as she creates speculative pieces for galleries. She is so successful, that she has none of her creations in her studio. She sends them out as quickly as she finishes them...." from Highland Handcrafters: Appalachian Craftspeople by Michael Joslin. Represented by the Blue Spiral 1 gallery in Asheville. Exhibits at the Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art in Greensboro, at CCCD, Blue Heron in Deer Isle, ME, and others. Has participated in twice annual TRAC studio tour with Fork Mountain Pottery.
| The Contemporary Blacksmith by author Dona Meilach "... has brought together over 500 works by nearly 200 artist-craftsmen from sixteen countries to illustrate the unprecedented activity in modern ironwork that has led to its blossoming into a serious art form. You'll learn several techniques using hot and cold forming with the results clearly shown..." . Includes work by Paige Davis |
Kate Groff - Katework
"....I studied under a master weaver in Detroit back in the early 70’s. I learned about origins and the simplicity of structure and design. I have taken that truth and, over the years, explored the realities of weave. I began to study color and dyeing at Penland School of Crafts in the mountains of North Carolina. My acquaintance became a friend. About 
five years ago, I happened upon copper, the oldest mined metal on the planet. It provides new challenges, which I gratefully extend to my community. I continue to examine my motives and myself through my work... I weave the wire using the loom on which I began my journey...an inflexible medium, a fluid application, a comfortable peace. Once woven, the precious metal “mesh” is treated with chemical patinas and waxed. I am further humbled by Mother Earth,
her beauty and her bounty, which surround my mountain home. My paths travel away from the trodden ruts, to the 
roots, fallen branches, burls that now lie dormant, unnoticed. After hours debarking, chiseling, sanding, oiling, the pieces emerge from their mud-encrusted coffins to dictate their woven partners. The process and the resulting construct seem to silence the noise of the mundane. Myriad results form juxtaposition between hard and soft,
copper wire and undulating woven mesh—flowing woven ribbons with the stillness of the wood bodies. It is this challenge, the weaving mystical beauty of something born of the earth, unforgiving yet at peace, causing a stasis of being, uncovering what has been buried, which races through my mind, moves my hands...." Kate's work can be seen at her home studio/gallery, or the twice annual TRAC studio tour and exhibition.
Yvonne Hegney
"....Award-winning artist Yvonne Hegney has studied ceramics since her days at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, where she earned a BA in Fine Arts. She has studied under Hiroshi Sueyushi and Traudi Thornton, the Svenska Konst Verkstaden in Stockholm, Sweden and the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina. Yvonne has 
maintained a full-time artist's studio since 1988... relocating to Bakersville, North Carolina in 1998. Her art is represented in galleries and is placed in corporate and private collections throughout the world. "I feel great affinity with nature and organic construction and texture, while my interest in ancient cultures adds dimension to my work with a sense of encrusted agelessness. I find that clay is the perfect medium to once a tactile message of sumptuous three-dimensionality, and through the process of pit firing I add color and depth to each piece. I then marry the finished form of clay with found objects of metal, to incorporate all in a synergistic evocation of timeless transcendence."
".... Hegney Takes Home Best of Show at Artigras 2008. 
The 23 rd ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival announced the winners of their juried art show during the second day of their festival. Out of the 300 artist showcased at ArtiGras 2008, Yvonne Hegney of Bakersville, N.C., took home Best of Show with her metal sculptures. 'It is an honor to be named Best of Show while I am surrounded by so much talent,' said Hegney who also worked in the movie business as a set designer. Some of Hegney credits include Firestarter, King Kong Lives and Stephen King's Cat's Eye...." Yvonnne maintains a studio on Hobson Road in Bakersville. She usually participates in the twice a year TRAC tours, and in the Southern Highlands Craft Fair in Asheville.
Shawn Ireland
"I find beauty in the simplicity and usefulness of folk pottery. To me, pots from pre-industrial cultures worldwide embody the spirit of a life less encumbered. This spirit is influential in that it inspires me, while making, to look and to feel. Also influential is the work of contemporary potters who tap this spirit. I choose to make pots 
with a foundation in folk tradition and discover, gradually, how my touch develops." His galleries have included the Works Gallery in Philadelphia, City Art Gallery, Greenville, SC. His studio is on Penland Road in Bakersville. Exhibits at Mint Museum's annual Potter's Market Invitational. (Other Toe River area artists who can be found at this invitational include: Stanley Mace Anderson, Cynthia Bringle, Melisa Cadell,, Becky Gray, Terry Gess, 
Michael Hunt, Naomi Dalglish, Nicholas Joerling, Michael Kline, Suze Lindsay, Kent McLaughlin, Jenny Mendes, Shane Mickey, Jane Peiser, Rebecca Plummer, Jon Ellenbogen, Ken and Connie Sedberry, Gay Smith.) Rumor has it that lucky Shawn spends his winters in Italy as part of a University of Georgia Study Abroad program. Check out his blog to keep up with his new work.
Courtney Martin Pottery
"... When I sit down at my wheel to make pots, I think about how they will be used. Will this bowl be the right form for black bean chili? Is this pitcher best for sweet tea or maybe just ice water? How will cherry tomatoes look presented in my pottery? It is exciting to me that I may create something as intimate as the cup for your hot chocolate. When I think about how I will glaze 
the pots, I often imagine my decorations as dressing the ware. Where I will put dots, where I will lay lines. How will the pattern wrap itself around the pot? After the pots are all gussied up, I load them into the kiln. I love contemplating the flames circling the pottery, and placing the pots where they need be so that the finished ware looks and feels desirable. My aim is to make pots with integrity, which continue to be sweet and joyful...." Check out the excellent photos of Courtney... with lots of help from her Toe River potter friends ... building her Will Ruggles-designed wood-fired kiln.
June Perry - Shambala Pottery
"... My intent is to create work of beauty and quiet strength. Some of my forms are able to stand on their own with the simplest of outer coatings; and others are enhanced with simple, gestural brushwork. Soda firing, in a gas kiln, enhanced with wood, contributes warmth and richness that is very compatible with my forms, and this constitutes my choice of firing for the majority of my work at this time...
As the soda migrates through the kiln, it forms a serendipitous deposit of soda on the pots. This and the flashing which occurs, brings a surprise element to the firings and a more varied and exciting surface 
treatment to the forms which I find very suitable to my current body of work. The pots I make are not just meant to sit in a display cupboard or on a mantle, but to be used in a more intimate manner, whether it's to store personal treasures, display flowers, or as part of peoples personal relationship with food -- that first cup of tea or coffee in the morning, or the after dinner snack/dessert....I see these every day objects as a way of bringing art into our lives, in a very personal way which nourishes our spirit, stretches our thought processes and provides visual and tactical interest , and even whimsy at times ... "
Laura Sims -- Indigo Stone Studio
"... My continuing fascination with marbling is difficult to put into words. It\'s more than the endless color possibilities and the illusion of instant results. It may have to do with the fact that each print begins with a circle, the fundamental shape of life, or that the process enables me to transform circles into any number of shapes that mimic nature\'s rhythmic designs. Whatever it is, when demonstrating marbling, I have seen the process work its irresistible magic on children and adults from all walks of life as well.Near Penland 
School of Craft in western North Carolina lies Indigo Stone Studio, where I continue to use classical patterns of marbling as a point of departure for my own designs. Bold, organic prints on individually dyed silks and various types of paper capture ephemeral moments of harmony by balancing skill with intuition, control with serendipity and form with emptiness. The results produce beautiful wearable accessories, home accents and frameable prints. Now, in a new direction, I\'ve begun making silk organza wall hangings with an exciting surface design process called vat dye
discharge*. Like marbling, a number of variables affect the unique outcome of the images. Each wall hanging consists of two or three panels that have been discharge dyed, featuring variations in design and color. Since the decorated panels are sheer and hang freely by threads from a wall mount so that they visually overlap, the cloth patterns interact, giving the overall artwork a dynamic quality. This is especially so when air currents induce movement and the piece comes alive...."
| See how Laura does her marbling via this Lark Book! Laura Sim's work can be seen and purhased at several local venues: The Ariel Gallery, a contemporary crafts collective in downtown Asheville; the Southern Highlands Crafts Fair, the twice a year TRAC studio tour, and others. |
Billie Ruth Sudduth
"... Each signed and dated basket is hand-woven, hand dyed and hand shaped (without the use of a mold), using only the finest natural materials 
available. No two baskets will be "exactly" alike. European cut reed splints are used to construct the baskets. Split oak and round reed are hand carved for the handles using a shave horse and a draw knife. Henna and madder are used for the red dye and iron oxide for the rich black color. ... The forms are either classical Shaker Cat's Head shapes, appearing as if they are sitting on feet or Appalachian inspired if the baskets sit flat. Most Appalachian baskets have handles and are functional, capable of holding your objects .... Billie Ruth's baskets are now in the collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Art and Design in New York, Charles A 
Wustum Museum of Fine Art in Racine, Wisconsin, the Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama. They are also included in corporate and private collections. Her highest honor came in 1997 when she was named a Living Treasure by the State of North Carolina. This award, presented to one craftsperson every other year, is the state's highest honor in the field of crafts.... She has been selected to exhibit at the prestigious Smithsonian Craft Show... Billie Ruth has extensive basket teaching experience at Penland School of Crafts; John C. Campbell Folk school, and Arrowmont as well as conducting numerous workshops throughout the country..." Fibonacci Number Series as basis for her baskets. Check Billie Ruth's Schedule for upcoming shows. Represented by Blue Spiral 1 Gallery in Asheville
Doug Sudduth
"...I owned my first 35mm SLR Minolta camera during military service in South Korea in 1962-63. I documented experiences with Amerasian orphans and a moonlit time-exposure of a mountain in winter... Once married, many pictures were taken of our two sons, 
Mark and Chris, and my wife, Billie Ruth . Many pictures were taken as our sons grew up and my wife's basketry career progressed. She even uses two of my pictures on her website. Finally, I was able to study documentary photography with Ralph Burns at Penland School, as Billie Ruth taught there. Within a year after moving to Mitchell County in 1994, through the generosity of distinguished photographer, Gloria Schulman, I established my first permanent darkroom.... throughout my life of interest in all that is around me, viewed through the lens of a camera and my enjoyment and pursuit of the infinite possibilities of photography...."
Joy Tanner
Soda Fired Pottery "... The textures from wood, the ripples of water rushing over rocks, or the warm tones
from autumn are a few of the qualities referenced in my work. Using stoneware clays,
I create wheel thrown and hand built pottery. Carving and impressing textures into the clay
lends itself to a variety of tones once the pots are fired in a wood or soda kiln.
With each cycle of making pots, I eagerly anticipate each firing for the
surface effects between the clay, slips, wood ash and soda. Cradling a cup or bowl in hand, I welcome people to connect with my pottery
through the subtle textures I have impressed into the clay. I concentrate on the
fullness of a form, tonal variations within the surface, and rhythms that occur in the
textures ....
These pieces are all thrown on the wheel using stoneware clays. Once the pot is leatherhard, I use various tools to carve and impress textures into the clay. The pots are then dipped into flashing slips, bisque fired, lined with glaze and loade into the soda kiln. After the firing, I hand weave a reed handle nto some of the jars, teapots and baskets..."" Events Calendar Pottery may be purchased at the Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, and Arts and the Heritage Gallery in the Grove Arcade, Asheville, Participates in the two time a year TRAC Studio Tour.
Click on each of the dozens of categories to the left to uncover what makes the Asheville area so vital, so intriguing and so, well, UTTERLY BLISSFUL!
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"... a guild of emerging and professional potters living and working in the Appalachian mountains of Western North Carolina. The guild greatly encourages visitors to this area coined “The Roan”, and provides a detailed map enabling one to travel these scenic roads and enjoy a day viewing some of the most contemporary pottery in the country. This unique mountain landscape has much to offer throughout all four seasons of the year. One may enjoy a rainbow of colors with the changing of the leaves or visit in the spring as new blooms flourish our native Rhododendron bushes. Anytime of year, you will be welcomed into the studios of this unique group of artists...." Anderson Pottery - Stanley Mace Andersen Bandana Pottery: Cadell Studios: Melissa Cadell, Sculptor Fork Mountain Pottery --
Shane Mickey Mark Peter's Pine Root Pottery David Ross -- Snow Creek Pottery
Ron Slagle Studio Gertrude Graham 'Gay'Smith
Jerilyn Viriden |
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Discover the Bliss of Art Books |
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Setting Up Your Ceramic Studio "Take a photographic tour of 10 beautiful ceramics studios, and discover exactly how and why each workspace design so perfectly meets the artist's particular needs. Every ceramist will find inspiration in Michael Sherrill's spacious and adaptable studio, so suited to his large-scale sculptures; Alice Munn's intimate and tidy atelier; and Ben Owen III's highly organized layout, arranged for volumes of production work and with a separate gallery." Features studios of Toe River Valley ceramists: Suze Lindsy and Kent McLaughlin (Bakersville); Cynthia Bringle (Penland), and Becky Gray (Celo) |
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| Highland Handcrafters: Appalachian Craftspeople is the captivating true story of both early and late immigrants to the Appalachian Mountains region and the wondrous handcrafts they have produced throughout the generations. Each profile of an individual includes a black-and-white photographs and a down-to-earth about the person's life and creations. Contemporary profiles include: Bill Brown, Metal Sculptor; Paige Davis, Metal Smith; Judson Guerard, Glassblower; Thom Kittredge and Yvonne Hegney:Potters... plus others. | |
| 500 Glass Objects: A Celebration of Functional & Sculptural Glass "...I bought this book purely to marvel at the shapes, originality and astonishing colours achieved by the wonderful artists whoose work is contained within. Truly luscious pieces each and everyone. Not always functional but certainly inspiring...." Contains works by Gary Beecham, Valerie and Rick Beck, and other NC Glass Artists. | |
| Handcrafted in the Blue Ridge Western North Carolina is fast becoming known as the Santa Fe of the east coast. Here, tucked into the hills and at the end of dirt roads, skilled American artists and artisans are producing crafts of rare beauty and striking originality. Come visit the studios and galleries of over 150 weavers, jewelers, glass blowers, potters and wood carvers. The book includes practical information about each studio, including directions, address and phone number, hours of operation, and LISTPRICE range, as well as information about local lodging. | |
| The Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience "... In honor of its 75th birthday, Penland has created a very special gift that celebrates its own history and that crafters will treasure forever. It is, first and foremost, a visual delight, with 137 images of pieces created by Penland instructors and shown at an anniversary exhibition. But the volume goes beyond the Penland School, with a series of original essays that offer a fresh and inclusive vision of the power of crafting. | |
| Written primarily by those outside the field—including a Nobel Laureate chemist—who came to Penland and immersed themselves in the unique experience, these articles look at crafting from the perspective of the anthropologist, scientist, folklorist, sociologist, poet, cultural historian, and critic. Their thoughts prove provocative, highly personal, and unforgettable...." | |
| The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery Classic North Carolina stoneware pots--with their rich textures, monochromatic glazes, and minimal decoration--belong to one of America's most revered stoneware pottery traditions. In a lavishly illustrated celebration of that tradition, Mark Hewitt and Nancy Sweezy trace the history of North Carolina pottery from the nineteenth century to the present day. | |
They demonstrate the intriguing historic and aesthetic relationships that link pots produced in North Carolina to pottery traditions in Europe and Asia, in New England, and in the neighboring state of South Carolina. With hundreds of color photographs highlighting the shapes and surfaces of carefully selected pots, The Potter's Eye honors the keen focus vernacular potters bring to their materials, tools, techniques, and history. It is an evocative guide for anyone interested in the art of North Carolina pottery and the aesthetic majesty of this resilient and long-standing tradition. |
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| Turners and Burners: The Folk Pottery of North Carolina "... This richly illustrated portrait of North Carolina's pottery traditions tells the story of the generations of "turners and burners" whose creations are much admired for their strength and beauty. Perhaps no other state possesses such an active and extensive ceramic heritage, and one that is entirely continuous. This book is an attempt to understand both the past and the present, the now largely vanished world of the folk potter and the continuing achievements of his descendants...." | |
| The best book I have ever read on folk pottery. Warren E. Roberts, Journal of Folklore Research Turners and Burners makes an enormous contribution to the study of North Carolina folklife. . . . North Carolinians, rejoice! North Carolina Folklore Journal An excellent book to read if you are interested in North Carolina, American ceramics, folk life, or general craft practices. Winterthur Portfolio Turners and Burners brings the simple utilitarian wares of North Carolina into meaningful historical and cultural context. Journal of American Folklore |
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| North Carolina Pottery: The Collection of the Mint Museums "...If you have the slightest interest in North Carolina's unique pottery tradition, this book provides a lavishly illustrated catalog of the collection of the Mint Museums of Charlotte, NC. Each potter's biography, genealogy and work history is included with an example of the work of each. There are essays by pottery experts to explain the background on various types of pottery, techniques, locations, etc., as well as the history of pottery making in North Carolina...". | |
| The Art of Buying Art "... For anyone leery of investing in art, anyone interested in starting collecting, and anyone simply interested in learning more about contemporary art, Ms. West's book is essential. "Buying Art" is well written, engaging and very informative and will make you a much more knowledgeable and shrewd collector...." | |
There are many blissful activities in Asheville! To locate them, go to Google.com and search on "Asheville activities".
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They often cast arms and hands in amber glass. The hands lift up a brilliant jewel cut form, which seems to spread its glowing light to all that surrounds it, lighting up the fingers that touch it, suggesting an offering or a sanctifying of what is most precious. Our cast work embodies a thoughtful balance of technique and content that exemplifies the expressive quality of glass. The hands in our cast pieces employ direct casting 
"... I live in the mountains of western North Carolina surrounded by one of the largest art communities in the country. I have built a glass studio behind my house where I currently work in both hot and warm glass. I enjoy creating blown glasswork that gives the illusion of motion and try to capture the molten flow of hot glass in many of my pieces. I also enjoy introducing a variety of colors in my work; sometimes combining vibrant colors with subdued ones. I am 
currently working with fused glass panels and slumped plates as well as fused glass jewelry. My work is an exploration of just some of the potential of working with hot and warm glass. I have studied at The Studio at Corning , Corning Museum of Glass, NY, Pilchuck 
Glass School , WA , and at the Penland School of Crafts, NC. I have been a resident artist at the University of Miami Glass Facility in Coral Gables , FL and have also taught a glass fusing workshop at Rowe Studios Art Glass in Miami ..."
throughout my life. The relationship between the structures and their form, line quality, negative space and color theory create a visual language. This language allows a latform to create 
contrasts, emotions, and relation to surrounding, which define place. Focusing on the aspect of drafting as thought process, the element of drawingand tooling is left apparent on the surface. This creates a vocabulary for the eyes to follow. This vocabulary helps make up the visual language that defines place...."
plan to continue refining elegant designs and putting new twists on functional forms. I hope that the people who buy the work will be as interested in the skill that goes into the design and production of each piece as they are in the aesthetic qualities that attracts them to the work....The familiar essence of glass is derived from a manufactured utilitarian need. Processes in hand forming glass 
undermine these attributes and in effect give my work purpose. It is my desire to produce sculpture that communicates progression while paying respect to traditional processes and their survival in the present. My ideas owe more to natural forms and my deference for the material than to consciousness obscurity...." Represented by Blue Spiral I Gallery in Ashevile. 
"...Hot Glass As a material, hot glass focuses and sustains my interest in the immediate task of doing, making while hinting and sometimes pointing in a direction away from the particular task. It hints at a melding of hand and mind in a symbiotic process of doing and becoming blown glass art, in which each sustains or rejuvenates the other to continue the process. Shunyata Series Shunyata is a Buddhist term meaning the emptiness of being. The fused, frosted glass shards become a luminous container. Useful only to act as a vessel for the emptiness which gives it its form. 
Glass Goblets Making glass goblets, for me, is somewhat like doing calligraphy. The repeated creation of a known form within utilitarian boundaries which serves to refine my skills, focuses me. And sometimes it rewards me with a "spontaneous" happy. Chaos Series The chaos series is not about the transparent beauty of glass. Rather it is about the contrast and continuity of the vessel. The interaction of color, texture and form which, in the right light, can reveal the subtle, luminous beauty of glass...". 
himself, which form "complex worlds within a glass matrix")-- have been seen in such prestigious venues as Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak MI, SOFA in Chicago, Wheaton Arts in Millville NJ (with Marx Saunders Gallery 
many years at Penland School of Crafts, Since 1980, Richard has been very active in Bakersville as a volunteer firefighter and rescue worker, where he has been recognized for his outstanding recovery efforts during the months following the flood of '97. He and his wife Jan live in a restored farmhouse in the Bakersville community. Upcoming show at 
includes vases, candlesticks, paperweights, lighting fixtures, etc. The second body, which I am truly passionate about, is my sculptural work. My process involves hand blown parts, which are later cut, ground, polished and assembled. Although my works are titled as recognizable familiar objects, such as bottles or 
teapots, they are purely sculptural forms. The intention is not for a bottle to function as a vessel, rather to stimulate the viewer through its movement, color, fluidity, and grace. Many of my works include found objects such as metal gears and bolts. The combination of materials produces a complementary tension that I strive to create...." 
glaze the pottery together, individually, Naomi makes the figurative sculptures, and Michael makes the large jars. Michael got hooked on clay in high school, and became a student at Penland School of Craft shortly after graduating. It was there that he met Will Ruggles and Douglas Rankin who became teachers and mentors to him. 
returning from Korea, Michael began setting up a studio and building 
and content, as a painter and mark maker. The figure is more than a body -- it houses her subjects thoughts, beliefs and fears. After teaching 7 years in public education, she began working in clay. This move from painting to form was a powerful transition. Since then she has worked to record moments in time -- in people, their struggles, their joys and their journeys. When she is not in the studio, she is training with the Bakersville Vol. Fire and Rescue Dept. She serves her community as both a firefighter and first responder. She also continues to teach and guide workshops in drawing, painting and sculpture...." 
ideas about utilitarian wares. Kent works primarily in porcelain, making pots for daily living and experimenting with traditional Eastern glazes which include carbon-trap shinos and celadons. Suze's stoneware pots sublty suggest human form and character as she manipulates her forms by altering them after they are thrown. An integral part of her work includes using surface decoration to enhance 
form by patterning and painting slips and glazes for firing in the salt kiln. They share a passion for working with their hands, and for making pots for everyday use that are well crafted and a pleasure to use. That use can range from a mug for your first cup of coffee in the morning to lighting the candelabra for an intimate dinner...." 
experience the object through the sense of touch.... my pottery is ultimately meant to be placed in people's homes. An object of small scale allows a work of power and substance to be incorporated into the household environment. It assures the role of tactility and brings beauty to the commonplace... My overriding intent is to create objects of beauty that promote transcendence, that possess the ability to move the viewer or user beyond the limits of empirical experience and knowledge.... .A woman who purchased a set of my vases for her home once told me that they greet her from a place of honor 
on her kitchen table every morning. This repeated experience has become a daily ritual.... Later, when I spoke with this woman again, she reiterated her pleasure, adding that she had just recently noticed specific qualities of the soft, modulated, blue-green glaze that rises up the interior walls of each vase. Much like the historical work that inspired me with its subtlety, they are revealing their secrets to her slowly.... At a recent dinner with friends, I found the table had been 
set with a collection of pottery, including a set of my square plates. The experience of having my work validated and prized by friends was a personal form of visual nourishment... " Gess was awarded a NC Arts Council Residency in LaNapoule, France; participated in the First Annual Yixing Teapot Symposium for Western Potters in China; is a former resident artist at Penland School of Crafts. 
Thus, to find one's way and to make one's "own" work is truly a struggle. I work with the weight of ceramic images, (past and current)on my shoulders. It would be easy to combine styles or "borrow" techniques, but I am after discovery: The discovery of my pots, my place, my language, in this rich continuum of clay history. I do not need to extol the justifications utilitarian ceramics can play in today's world. I am a potter. I am more concerned with living, moving forward. The act of daily work at the wheel, kiln, etc. is for me the same as a mechanic, a doctor, or a teacher. It is a life lived. The warmth and energy gained from daily struggles, turmoil, happiness, triumph, sadness, success and failures, allows me to create pots that are alive, full of energy, and full of humility..." according to Shane's 
the clay’s inherent qualities to make objects that are complimented through the wood firing. Processes in nature such as wind, gravity, and erosion inspire my work. Each pot is organic and loose in form while bold and defined in structure.... We invite you to visit our beautiful mountain setting. We love what we do and hope to share it with you... open daily from 10am-5pm 1108 Pine Root Branch Rd Bakersville, NC 28705... " 
"... “My work is inspired by nature leaving room to stimulate the viewers’ imagination. I’m particularly fascinated with ancient cave drawings of animals and birds, and use floral and marine themes as well in my work. I'm always seeking to produce soft, naturally elegant imagery. My work consists of high-fire reduction stoneware and porcelain as well as hand-thrown and hand-rolled slab forms. Recently, I have become known as the platter man and (now also sink man), from my light and airy, hand-rolled slab platters with spontaneous brushwork and timeless imagery...." High Fired Functional and Decorative Pieces. Open 9-5 Monday thru Saturday. Located at 353 Snow Creek Road in Bakersville. Usually participates in twice a year TRAC Studio Tour. 
most of my work in the wood burning kiln. This process is more common in Eastern pottery tradition than Western. Unlike firing in a gas or electric kiln, firing in a wood kiln is a twenty-some hour process that demands constant attention. It requires gradually bringing the heat to the approximately 2300 degrees. I love the process of stoking the furnace. There's a connection there. You stay right with it from beginning to end. Wood firing means allowing this process to take some part in 
the aesthetics of the work. [RIGHT : Ken's studio with wood for firing] 
muted colors which are beautiful. My goal, however, has been to achieve color in wood firing - colors which combine with the conventional wood-firing hues to create surfaces not unlike those found in Nature's wildest fauna, flora and oceans...." Ken's 
work includes Wood Fired Stoneware, Wood Fired Porcelain, Stoneware and Terra Cotta Sinks, "Guardians" Wood Fired Terra Cotta Sculptures. He is an outstanding member of the Bakersville community, contributing his time and expertise as soccer coach. He is a frequent teacher at such venues as Western Carolina University, John C. Campbell Folk School, etc. Ken is a marathon and 
5 and 10K runner and can be seen most days running through Loafers Glory and Toecane communities. Member, 
various interest in techniques, peoples, and cultures to express a view. Figurative, patterned, and painterly images adorn the work. Expressions of gentle gestures, earth tones lite by fire, and shapes that are familiar but show a love for construction and alteration.... I came and brought my studio to Loafers Glory and the family farm. The water is clear and cold, running off the Pumkin Patch, down Sweet Creek, just by the studio and into the Cane River. Bakersville, Toecane, Red Hill, 
Hawk, Bandana, Fork Mountain,Glen Ayre and Buladean are common names for the communities here under the Roan. Many craftspeople have made their way here, set up their studios, started their families and have become a part of the community. POTTERS OF THE ROAN have promoted professionalism of clay artist and has become a strong voice for these families. Many are well known, some just getting their feet wet, but all are enjoying life a little better, under the Roan. See for yourself, come, kick your shoes off , cool your heels in Sweet Creek. Bring your fly rod, the trout are biting. I hope you will enjoy my work and this tour of the things that make up my world. Stop by on your way and say Hi..." 
at Penland School, the Harvard Ceramics Studio, Odyssey Center for the Arts, and the Findhorn Foundation in Northern Scotland....I am interested in the tactile quality of clay, and my pieces appeal to the sense of touch and the scale of the human hand. The pots look alive, a bit whimsical, and I intend that they will bring life, beauty, and years of enjoyment into the lives of those who use them..... These days I contemplate the relevance of living as a practicing artist in a world torn by conflict and exploited for resources. Working for many years as a potter seems to develop qualities which I must believe are of benefit: caring attention, commitment, courage, hard work, honesty, love of beauty, and a willingness to get one’s hands dirty. What lies embedded in the stone of fired clay by the creative, alchemical bond between material, process, and person? Beyond use and aesthetic pleasure or innovation, do consciously made pots carry some ineffable ability to heal and transform? What may be conveyed through use or enjoyment?... " 
back on itself may seem shy and protective, while the force of a gentle upward turn of its lip invites a more active investigation of the object. Formed through repeated scraping and pinching, building up and finally excavating the appropriate curve, each piece retains the history of its making. Layers of glaze soften these individual marks, bringing more clarity to the form. The surface becomes a way to manipulate scale, moving from intimacy to expansion, in the way one understands a landscape by knowing both the small stone at one’s feet and the bulk of the mountain far away...." Represented by