It’s already well into March and our year of shows is off to a great start.  Last weekend we had an amazing time in Atlanta at our first American Craft Council show. The weekend started off with a fantastic feature in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.  You can read the article here. On Friday Matt Moulthrop was the judge for the Awards of Excellence that were given out at the show and we were one of the three winners.  By Sunday at about noon we sold the last pot in the booth!  Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported us, it was an amazing weekend and we can’t wait to do it again next year!

Our next event starts tonight at midnight!  There is great collection of pots at Crimson Laurel Gallery that go live tonight at 12:00pm.  They are from the 3rd and 4th firings.  The show is called Encore and David and John had this to say, “We thought our most successful successful solo show of 2011 deserved an encore.”  See the show here and support a great gallery that supports many great artists!  The pitchers in this show are some of the best I’ve made.

Coming up on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th is the 15th annual Catawba Valley Pottery and Antiques Festival.  There will be pots from the 5th firing there, including some Turkish cups (Turkolina Tulips) and lots of mugs and pitchers.  It is always a great weekend with lots of great potters and a great party on Friday night  (the BBQ is fantastic).  Bring a lawn chair for the line because this one gets long!

Also on the 23rd is the 12 annual Yunomi invitational at the AKAR gallery in Iowa City.  This show is available exclusively online.  There are over 200 artists who have each submitted 5 cups for the show.  Many artist designate that their proceeds go to benefit the beautiful ceramics magazine Studio Potter.  3 of my 5 cups will benefit Studio Potter.  I gave them 5 beautiful Turkish Cups from the 4th firing last November.

So that’s it until April.  Thank you all so much for the support.
With Gratitude,

Alex and Connie
East Fork Pottery
March 2012

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This month marks the completion of East Fork Pottery’s first year –
and what a year it’s been.  We’ve had many big successes and a few
small failures.  We’ve had four firings that each produced a wildly
diverse and distinct group of pots.  With each firing, we’ve learned
something new about the kiln, the clay, and the glazes – mostly that
there’s so much more still to learn.  Alex has taken huge steps toward
integrating the lessons of his former teachers and cultivating his own
aesthetic voice and philosophy.  We’ve met hundreds of wonderful
people all across the South East and right in our own backyard.  And
we’ve sold some pots along the way!

We have so much heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have been a part
of this. Please stick around! 2012 is shaping up to be a busy and
beautiful year in pottery.

March 8th – 11th we will be participating in our first American Craft
Council show in Atlanta, Georgia before heading to Hickory on March
23rd and 24th for the Catawba Valley Pottery and Antiques Festival.
Meanwhile, from March 23rd – April 13th, Alex’s Turkolina cups will be
available through Iowa City’s AKAR Gallery during their annual Yunomi
Invitational.

Plan a visit to our neighborhood April 28th for the 2nd Annual Madison
County Potters Market in Marshall, North Carolina.  We helped start
this group last spring to support and showcase the many talented
potters of our region and were blown away by the warm reception we
received in our first year. We know this year will be even better.

May 12th will kick off a six-month solo show of twenty large, closed
forms at the Bascom Center in Highlands, North Carolina.  We are
incredibly honored that Alex’s work is being recognized in this way –
the installation will be the signature work on the Bascom campus in
2012.  You can read more about the Ometto project here.

Alex was recently asked to participate in the Northern Clay Center’s
American Pottery Festival September 7th – 9th  in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.  We’ll be making it back just in time for the Potters
Market Invitational at the Mint Museum in Charlotte on September 15th.

And, of course, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment to visit
us at our home any time in between!

Thanks so much,

Connie and Alex

A preview of pots from the 4th firing:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

All photos by Nick Matisse

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Photos: Nick Matisse

I just looked in the kiln and Firing Four looks to be the best yet.  It is dangerous to count eggs before they hatch, but from the side ports, under the glare of a powerful flashlight, the pots look stunning.  Each firing I learn new things about the kiln and get closer to what I feel is a reasonable understanding and level of control of it.  I think what keeps everyone who fires this type of kiln coming back is the element of chance.  There are very few crafts in which the maker at some point during the creation subjects the work to forces they have only minimal control over.  This is what is so exciting.

Thank you to all the people who helped load and fire the kiln: Connie Coady, Nick Matisse, Alex Caskey, Mike Ball, Michael Whorley, Jim Parmentier, Sean & Owen Wilsey, Pete Shriner, and Corey Sizemore. It couldn’t happen without the great team that volunteer their time and efforts.

We will unload the pots on Thursday and have a few preview pictures up by early next week. As I write this Connie is working on the menu for the Soiree on Friday the 18th, from 6pm to 9pm.    We will have a bonfire outside to keep warm by, the wood-stove will be lit and the house will be filled with delicious food and drink and beautiful pots.  The sale will continue Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th, so if you cannot make it on Friday there will be plenty of pots left and more food and refreshments all weekend long.  We are very excited to share our home and our work with you.

Warm Regards,

Alex and Connie

268 Ras Grooms Rd

Marshall, NC 28753

I just posted a few new pots to our Etsy page.  Take a gander.

Tomorrow night, Alex’s first solo show, Year One, will open at the Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, North Caroilna at 6 pm. It will showcase some of the best work from the first two firings of the new kiln at East Fork Pottery. As those of you who have kept up with this blog already know, Alex has put blood, sweat, tears, and a whole lot of hard work into setting out on his own and building his pottery; the work that has come from these first few months of making reflect Alex’s passion and dedication to his craft and his ever growing personal and original aesthetic sensibilities. Year One is the perfect introduction to a long career of making pottery that I, for one, look forward to watching unfold. You can view the show online by clicking here , or better yet, come join us tomorrow at the Crimson Laurel Gallery at 6 pm to celebrate (and imbibe!) with us. Direction are available on the gallery’s website. Also, below I have included a reflection written by Alex on his past year’s work which I think is just beautiful and worth a read – and I’d think it even if I weren’t as biased as I am! With tremendous gratitude, Connie

Year One represents work from the first two firings of the kiln at East Fork Pottery. The pots here represent the quiet and slow

struggle that any young potter must undertake, usually alone, if they are to slip the fetters of their teachers and begin to speak for themselves.

The early days of any great pursuit are a maddening and fantastic time; they are days of physical realizations, terrific failures, highs and lows, gnawing panic, and so much great unknown. There is a litany of small-scale catastrophes that might transpire at any moment. Glazes are uncertain and unruly, sometimes running in clean sheets of glass off the pots and fusing them to the kiln floor. The kiln itself is a giant force with attitudes and behaviors of its own and it must slowly be understood. The learning curves are steep and a level of urgency accompanies every task.

And so, when pots like these comes from the kiln, it is very exciting. Each small success seems so important, so perfect, and so fleeting. There is a constant, desperate anxiety that none of this can be done again. That sense of unknown is at the core of the work. It is a reckless pursuit, and with every success there are failures. At the end of this first year I look toward years to come and welcome both.

In this first year I have seen beautiful pots and projects completed, but more importantly I saw a glimpse of the self at the heart of my own existence. In my life there have been an unusual amount of extraordinary figures. Some I have known my whole life, some have taught me, and some have just been there, dead for decades, a silly and unexplainable accident of fate. They have all cast long shadows.

Now I look down and see my own.

Alex Matisse

June 28, 2011