A new year is off to a good start with a few exciting plans on the horizon, and hopefully a few more yet to come. Of course, we can only print those that have been confirmed as of this date…but stay tuned for more details of upcoming shows and workshops…

First up for the new year is the show I mentioned before…

If you’re in the Durham, NC area be sure to check out the exhibit at Claymakers, “Asheville In the Bull City”. Curator and potter Ronan Peterson invited five potters from the Asheville area and we all sent 30 or more pieces.

There is an opening reception this Friday, January 15 from 6:00pm-9:00pm. The show will run from January 15 to March 12, 2010.

I’m heading down the mountain for the opening and looking forward to seeing a room full of these folks’ work.  Even when you think you know the work of a potter well, it is always a pleasure to see a multitude of pieces filling a room.

Here’s a little bit from their website:

“Claymakers invites five Asheville, North Carolina area ceramic artists to exhibit their distinctive functional vessels in the Bull City. This exhibit includes the work of Will Baker, Patty Bilbro, Kyle Carpenter, Karen Newgard, and Lindsay Rogers. Each of these functional potters has developed a singular interpretation of everyday pottery, from the graphic, black-on-white porcelain of Karen Newgard to the warm, earthy, atmospheric stoneware of Will Baker. Each artist employs their own approach to surface and decoration, with Lindsay Rogers’ minimal, detailed lines and textures nicely contrasted by the intimate brushwork of Patty Bilbro and Kyle Carpenter’s bold salt fired slip and glaze brushwork. Don’t miss this special showing near downtown Durham of some of the best ceramics the mountains of western North Carolina have to offer.”

This little group of three tumblers went to New Orleans recently as part of an Annual Invitational Juried Exhibition held at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and titled ”The Art of the Cup: Functional Comfort”.  I was very pleased to be included in this event and happy that at least my tumblers were heading to New Orleans even if it is without me. 

The exhibition is put on by The Center for Southern Craft and Design, and if you happen to be in the area it opens November 12th and closes on December 13th.

Since the organizers wanted me to send along some images of the pieces I was sending, it was a great chance to hold onto some of my favorite pieces from the last firing and try to get some images of those too.  It’s great to get the images of the pieces, but also just to keep them around for a bit for observation. 

A few of these pieces might make their way to another exhibition that has come up recently thanks to potter Ronan Peterson. 

He’s invited a great group of potters from the mountains around Asheville to get together for a show at Claymakers in Durham, NC. It looks like the show will be called “Asheville in the Bull City” , and will run from January 15-March 12, 2010.  The potters will include Karen Newgard, Kyle Carpenter, Lindsay Rogers, Patty Bilbro, and myself.

Each potter is sending at least 30 pieces, so it is sure to be a room full of great work!