Lois on wed 8 may 02
Clayworks the Pottery Guild of Durham and Chapel Hill North Carolina,
will have a Spring Sale Saturday May 11 10am-4pm
15 Potters participating, This is our eighth year doing this sale and it
is
GREAT!
Would love to have any clayarter in the area stop in to say Hi!
easy to find
from I-40 take 751 exit (go north on 751) go 1 mile and follow signs!
3442 Rugby Road
Durham NC
email me for more complete directions or with any questions!
Lois Sharpe
Karen on sat 11 may 02
WOW...... this regarding "Clayworks the Pottery Guild of Durham & Chapel
Hill, North Carolina"..... Lois was kind enough to e-mail me specific
directions & true to her word there were indeed signs! Nice big
signs.....(despite a sign gremlin snitching a few :) It was a good thing
there were signs as true to form I didn't bring the directions.... But
found it anyway....
This sale is no small sale..... well, okay if compared to Seagrove &
Sanford's Festivals one might think so.... but truly a well put together
sale.... The work is wonderful! I don't know what sort of day everyone
had.... The weather started out gloomy & Cold! Switched to rainy & colder,
then the sun started peeking thru & by late afternoon early evening has
warmed up to a pleasant temp.... I hope the weather didn't put a damper on
anything for these folks except weather .... There was quite a diversity
once again, and altho much functional ware, not a lot, if any, particularly
traditional NC type pottery (didn't really expect there to be). Lois is
such a gracious hostess.... brought me in to show me (among others) all her
Gorgeous collected works....
Her work is in itself fascinating. A wonderful meld of texture, shapes,
stylization, design, glazes, well.... just everything. I heard her say that
all the work she has ever done she feels like has lead her up to exactly
where she is now. It truly sounded like she has very much enjoyed the
process & is quite happy with where she is today. A wonderful place to be!
She incorporates texture in her works in several ways, adding medallion
like pieces, quite often with a seashore type theme.... Now do Not
misunderstand me here, this is not that sort of gauche, kitchey type stuff
you see at the shore.... it is quite nice. Almost like it had grown, or
evolved from the sea. She has been working on one glaze in particular which
is almost volcanic in texture & yet well represents the ocean floor..... It
too looks more like it was taken from the earth rather than created from
one's hands. (Which of course all that we earthy folk do is from the good
earth! :) She has delightful spiraling tubes, and short almost flowering
like pieces all attached to the same work. They look like sculptures from
the sea. And yet they often have very functional type vases or mugs
'growing' out of them. She also has some wonderful bowls with that
beautiful, foaming volcanic glaze, the inside of which look like the inner
surface of a large shell, something like the smooth surface of clams or
oysters or mullosks. She uses (some) light glazes off-set by the very rough
surface of what I have called her "volcanic glaze".... She has much work
which is also much more along the lines of tradition..... but this
particular theme in her work I realllly liked. Not that ya'll had any
trouble figuring that out! :)
Lois is just one of the many incredible potters who were there..... It is a
great group of folks, open & willing to share. And each with very unique,
well done work..... there were potters who did lots of underglazes, one
with incredible large flat raku works for hanging, another with
horsehair/feathers & flashings from pit-firing, he also has shino's &
crystals (something very new for him).... (I always enjoy looking at his
work.... He has such beautifully crafted work & always something new &
different! He is a wonderful craftsman, not to mention really nice
person.... but aren't most craftsmen/women?) There were also very nice
pieces of underglazed & carved work with celadon like glazes and rich dark
glazes, large bowls & jars, some smaller sculpture like pieces, and......
well you get the idea.... I really do need to get a camera (digital) to
start taking pics & setup a way for folks to drool over what I have seen.
My mind is so filled with pots & clay & glazes & IDEAS!!! I think it is
going to burst & spew clay everywhere..... hopefully it will come out of my
hands first..... whew..... well Must go unload my car, reload in part for
tomorrow & then off to our cast-party..... busy, busy, busy!
Karen
(in NC.....too busy & filled with visions of pottery to begin to tell you
all of it!)
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