2011-01-21 Friday - Kim Ellington Lecture

I was waiting for Friday with even more anticipation than usual this week since Kim Ellington was going to be giving a lecture at the Mint Museum on Friday morning.  He spoke about the history of North Carolina Catawba Valley traditional pottery. 

Thanks to Adrienne Dellinger, Burlon Craig's family has been my touchstone to this type of pottery.  It was fascinating to hear Kim talk about the history that led up to Burlon Craig and the path to the future.  It seems Kim has been concerned for some time that there were no young potters studying the traditional shapes and methods to take it to the next generation.  More than just sustaining the tradition, he wanted to see it grow.

He realized his dream when the head of Catawba Valley Community College contacted him about starting a ceramics curriculum.  That was the beginning of the Catawba Valley Potter's Workshop.  Kim, his son and a few friends built all the tables, shelves, and wheel tables using local lumber and really made an amazing space for the school.  The program is going strong and is taking on a life of it's own. 

It's great to know that people like Kim are keeping the tradition alive.

After the lecture Adrienne, Rick and I went for a nice lunch at the Vietnam Grille.  (Seems to be a trend for me, eh?)  While we were all in a hurry, it was nice to spend even a little while with my good friends.

2008 Burlon Craig Pottery Festival

The Burlon Craig Pottery Festival was held on Saturday. I went out there with Greg and the kids for the second year. It's a wonderful event that I would recommend to everyone whether you are a potter or not. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see a lot of the pottery that was for sale since we spent most of our time around the kiln.

The kiln was stocked with about 300 pots that were made in the last six weeks. It took 2 to 2 1/2 hours to load it and more than eighteen hours to fire it. By the time we left, the firing part was over and it was time to start waiting for it to burn out and cool down.

The music was great. The food was delicious. The people were amazing. Did I mention they were firing the kiln?

Adrienne asked Dwayne to unlock the pottery studio and I took some pictures of Burlon's treadle wheel and the electric wheel he had to use later. It was like being in church.

I had a great time and judging by the people I talked to, everyone else did too.

Thanks Don, Dwayne, and Adrienne.

Adrienne stoking the kiln.
It can get to more than 2000F here
hence the heavy clothing.

Adrienne interacting with the fans.

Hot kiln.
Standing back here behind the wood pile got pretty warm
so I can only imagine what it felt like to be up front stoking it.

More heat.

Adrienne and Dwayne.

The firebox.

Greg, Eloise, and Bill.

Adrienne and some fans.

Stoked.

The chimney end of the kiln.

The pots through the chimney end peephole.

One of Don's snake jugs in progress.

Burlon's treadle wheel.

The rest of the pictures can be found here.