September 2011
Stanly Arts Guild in Albemarle, NC, Offers Works by Pottery Guild
The Stanly Arts Guild in Albemarle, NC, will present the exhibit, Celebrating our Pottery Harvest, featuring works by members of the North Carolina Professional Potters Guild, on view at Falling Rivers Gallery Sept. 16 & 17, 2011. The hours for this year’s show have been expanded to 10-7 on both days.
Potters from Stanly County and surrounding counties will showcase their work and offer them for sale. This is the fourth annual pottery show. For the past three years, the show has attracted pottery enthusiasts from across the state. This year’s event includes returning potters as well as first-time participants.
The NCPPG was formed by past and current students from the Montgomery Community College Pottery Program to create a local community of artists who could learn from each other, share ideas and resources, especially after graduation. The group also works to raise awareness in their communities about ceramic arts and local artists. Artists from fourteen potteries are currently active in the guild. Members meet every month, rotating the location of the meetings to visit each other’s studios.
The potter’s guild has become more involved in the local community in recent years by its support of the “Empty Bowls” event held each year by the Stanly Community Christian Ministries. In January of 2011, the NCPPG held its second annual “Bowlathon” sponsored this year by Home Savings Bank. The members descended on the Falling Rivers Gallery with pottery wheels, clay and enthusiasm to produce as many wheel thrown and quality hand built bowls as possible in the 4 hours allotted. When completed, these bowls comprised the majority of bowls available at the April 2011 soup event.
“We are expecting to have a great selection of new work by our current and new members at this year’s show. As always, we want to expose the public to innovative new artists as well as bring new collections from their favorite local potters” states Nancy Lipe, President of the North Carolina Potters Guild and Gallery Director of Falling Rivers Gallery.
Unlike traditional pottery shows, this event is able to utilize the resources of the gallery for checkout and wrapping.
“This show is fun for the potters as they can spend their time interacting with customers and each other, and also for the customers as they have a single checkout rather than having to pay each potter individually for purchases. It creates a very laid-back atmosphere in this very beautiful gallery setting” adds Bobbie Listerman from River Road Clayworks.
The Falling Rivers Gallery is the cooperative sales venue of the Stanly Arts Guild and is supported in part by the Albemarle Downtown Improvement LLC and the Stanly County Arts Council, and receives support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.
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