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August Issue 2007
Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC, Offers 3rd Annual Pottery Sale
The 3rd annual Potters Market Invitational will be held on Sept. 8, 2007, on the lawn of the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC, from 10am to 4pm. Presented by the Delhom Service League as a fund-raiser for the Mint, this year's market will showcase works by 40 potters from North Carolina's most important pottery regions and traditions.
Participating artists include: Stanley Mace Anderson, Cynthia Bringle, Tammy Leigh Brooks, Don Craig, Melisa Cadell, Donna Craven, Kim Ellington, Mary & David Ferrell, Walter Fleming, Becky Gray, Terry Gess, Bruce Gholson, Samantha Henneke, Michael Hunt, Naomi Dalglish, Shawn Ireland, Nicholas Joerling, Daniel Johnston, Fred Johnston, Carol Gentithes, Maggie and Freeman Jones, Matt Jones, Matt Kelleher, Shoko Teruyama, Crystal King, Terry & Anna King, Tomoo Kitamura, Michael Kline, Suze Lindsay, Kent McLaughlin, Robin and Bet Mangum, Jenny Mendes, Shane Mickey, Phil Morgan, Karen Newgard, Ben Owen III, Pam and Vernon Owens, Jennie L. Keatts, Jane Peiser, Rebecca Plummer, Jon Ellenbogen, Ken and Connie Sedberry, Rusty Sieck, Andy Smith, Gay Smith, David Stuempfle, Tom Turner, and Jim & Susan Whalen.
The past two years have drawn record crowds where several thousand buyers confirmed an avid interest in North Carolina pottery. This year's event promises to again draw crowds to peruse the wares of the states' best potters. "We are pleased to support another year of the Potters Market Invitational", said Phil Kline, executive director of The Mint Museums. "The turn out and success of the past two years have exceeded our highest expectations."
Pottery enthusiasts will have the opportunity to meet and buy from nationally-renowned potters as well as from a select group of up-and-coming craftsmen. Pieces will range from dinnerware and garden bells to art vases and important collector's pieces, with many items priced affordably for the beginning buyer.
From Seagrove, Catawba Valley, the mountains (including Penland), to the Piedmont, North Carolina's most important potter-producing regions will be represented. Participating potters include: Ben Owen III of Seagrove, who continues the business founded by his grandfather and developed by his father; David Stuempfle also of Seagrove, whose simple forms have been influenced by travels and exhibitions in Japan and South Korea; Matt Jones of Leicester, NC, who is known for his large garden pots, urns and garden bells, often decorated with glass drips and geometric designs; and Crystal King who is well-known for her folk art pottery including ugly face jugs and political, animal and Biblical sculptures created in an array of beautiful glazes.
"We are thrilled with the first rate lineup of potters participating in the third annual Potters Market Invitational. The range and quality of wares offered will be outstanding," says Bernette Bowen, chair of this year's event. "The market will introduce many who are not familiar with North Carolina pottery to some of the state's best potters. It is a very special event."
For some potters who do not sell outside of galleries and kiln openings, the Potters Market Invitational will be a rare event. One such potter is David Stuempfle, a prominent potter referenced in The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery (2005). Stuempfle has spent years experimenting with local clays in his wood-fired kilns to achieve unique surfaces on his pottery. Because he does not apply glazes to the clay surfaces, each pot's placement in the kiln during firing - how close it is to the heat - has a dramatic effect on the outcome. Some are even buried under embers to get a crusty, wood ash surface. His persistence through trial and error has given him a distinctive body of work. "For me, it's mainly about the results, the unique surfaces I can get on the pottery," he says.
The past two invitationals have been very successful for the potters, with some selling out of their inventory. "It's the best show I have ever done," Donna Craven said. Crowds packed the aisles the last two years, with people taking a rare opportunity to see, under one roof, pottery from some of the state's best talent. Traditional wares made from indigenous clays fired in groundhog kilns - a kiln construction that dates back hundreds of years in the state - were displayed beside contemporary and experimental styles of pottery.
The Mint Museums, which holds the largest public collection of North Carolina pottery, has been instrumental in collecting and exhibiting this native craft. In 2004, the museum's holding were profiled in a major scholarly work edited by Dr. Barbara Perry, the recently retired Curator of Decorative Arts. Perry's book, North Carolina Pottery: The Collection of the Mint Museums (2004), examines the North Carolina pottery tradition, which is the oldest continuing pottery tradition in the United States that is not Native American.
The Delhom Service League, which is presenting the Invitational, is an affiliate of The Mint Museums. Members study and promote education in the decorative arts, particularly ceramics. During the academic year, the League sponsors monthly lectures by visiting scholars that are free and open to the public. Members teach classes on the history of ceramics, highlighting pieces in the Delhom Gallery that trace the development of techniques and materials. Members serve as gallery guides, assist in the Delhom-Grambrell Library, prepare and present research papers, tour other museums and collections, and sponsor special programs and seminars. Membership is open to all Mint Museum members, For additional information on membership visit (www.themintmuseums.org).
The third annual Potters Market Invitational is sponsored by Maddi's Gallery, Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, LTD, Kelly B Graves, CFP, Delectables by Holly, Bertonlina Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc., Main Street Books, Premier Landscaping and, Hotel Charlotte.
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 (on the day of the sale only). Proceeds support the Mint's decorative arts collection. Parking is free.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 704/337-2009 or visit (www.themintmuseums.org).
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