Potters Market

Fourth Annual Potters Market Invitational

 

 

Forty North Carolina potters have been invited to display their wares, ranging from dinnerware to art vases, with many items priced affordably for the beginning collector. From Seagrove to Catawba Valley to the mountains (including Penland and Asheville), the state’s most important pottery-producing regions will be represented. For many potters who do not sell outside of galleries and kiln openings, the Potters Market Invitational is a rare event. This popular event each year draws thousands of pottery enthusiasts who come from across the Southeast to meet and buy works from nationally renowned North Carolina potters, as well as from a select group of up-and-coming potters.

Tickets are $8 and ticket sales will begin on the day of the sale at 9:30am. There will be no advance ticket sales. The entry fee includes admission to the Mint Museum of Art (on the day of the sale only). Proceeds support the Museum’s decorative arts collection.

The Potters Market Invitational will feature many notable returning potters, including Ben Owen III, Donna Craven and Phil Morgan, as well as a select group of up-and-coming potters, all of whom are creating extraordinary and distinctive work that is quickly gaining national attention. Potters new to the Invitational this year include Kyle Carpenter, Judith Duff, Ronan Kyle Peterson, John Ransmeier, Akira Satake, Siglinda Scarpa and Ron Slagle.

The potteries for the 2008 Invitational include Avery Pottery and Tileworks, Tammy Leigh Brooks Pottery, Cadell Studios, Carpenter Pottery, Donna Craven Pottery, Judith Duff Pottery, Terry Gess Pottery, Bulldog Pottery, Becky Gray Pottery, Walter Fleming Pottery, Kim Ellington Pottery, Bandana Pottery, Joerling Pottery, Johnston and Gentithes Art Pottery, Turtle Island Pottery, Jones Pottery, Matt and Shoko Pottery, Crystal King Pottery, Kings Pottery, Kitamura Pottery, Michael Kline Pottery, Leftwich Folk and Art Pottery, Mangum Pottery of Turkey Knob, Shane Mickey Pottery, Phil Morgan Pottery, Karen Newgard Pottery, Ben Owen Pottery, Jugtown Pottery – JLK Jewelry, Jane Peiser Pottery, Nine Toes Pottery, Barking Spider Pottery, John Ransmeier Pottery, Akira Satake Ceramics, The Goathouse Gallery, Sedberry Pottery, Inc., Slagle Sutdio, Smith Raku Works, Stuempfle Pottery, Tom Turner Porcelain and Paradox Pottery.

North Carolina has a central role in American Pottery and a growing international reputation in this art field. The Mint Museum of Art has one of the country’s finest collections of pottery and devotes special efforts to documenting the history of North Carolina ceramics. The Fourth Annual Potters Market Invitational is presented by the Delhom Service League, an affiliate of The Mint Museum which is dedicated to creating and developing an interest in ceramics through studying potters and their cultures. Click here for more information on the Delhom Service League.

 

Kyle Carpenter Pottery

Kyle Carpenter makes handmade salt-fired ceramics. He lives in Asheville, NC, where he was schooled in fine arts at the University of North Carolina at Ashevills. His detail work is unique and his pieces are one of a kind.

 

Tomoo Kitamura Pottery

Tomoo Kitamura was born in Ohira-Machi, Japan. He apprenticed for Fujia Sakuma Pottery in Japan and has also studied at the Penland School of Craft. His work consists of large-scale, hand built and coiled, figurative sculptures. Most of his pieces are incised with geometric patterns, carved or altered, and fired to a low temperature in a wood-fueled kiln.

 

Bulldog Pottery

Samantha Henneke and Bruce Gholson create art pottery with startling, lush glazes at their Bulldog Pottery in Seagrove, NC. Both are graduates of the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Their work is a subtle mix of contemporary and classic American art pottery, with elegant forms that emphasize their exotic glazes that are as appealing to the hand as to the eye. While they do work together, each has established his and her own style.

 

Akira Satake

Akira Satake left his native Japan in 1983 and settled in Brooklyn, where he quickly established himself as both a successful potter and recognized musician. In 2003 he relocated to Swannanoa, NC, where he set up a studio and built his Japanese-style kilns. His work exhibits his Japanese roots and are often left unglazed to allow the ash from the firing to create natural surfaces on the pots. He also uses traditional Japanese glazes as well. He has exhibited widely, including at the Smithsonian Craft Show and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show.  Mr. Satake has also been recognized internationally as an accomplished musician.

 

Fred Johnston and Carol Gentithes

Johnston received a BFA from Alfred University and a MFA from Penn State University.  Gentithes received her BA from Duke University and a BFA from Alfred University.  They have both received numerous awards, participated in invitational and juried exhibitions, had their work included in publications, and have lectured up and down the east coast. Their pottery interprets their life experiences and reading about many cultures. Their interesting designs and decorations provoke the viewers to deduce their own interpretations. They live in Seagrove, NC.

 

Tom Turner

Tom Turner is a graduate of Illinois State University and received a MFA from Clemson University, and has taught in the US Army, at Clemson University, and at the leading craft schools in America. He has worked with high-fired porcelain for 35 years and is well known for his "Copper Red Vapor Glaze". Turner's work has been included in major invitational and juried shows throughout the US.  His work has appeared in magazines and books worldwide, and is included in numerous private and public US collections. Turner lives in Mars Hill, NC.