Clay Day features craft demonstrations and hands-on activities for children and adults.

Celebrate Clay Day at the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Folk Art Center on Saturday, June 6, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Clay Day has been a favorite happening at the Folk Art Center for more than 20 years. Members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and invited guests demonstrate throwing on the potter’s wheel, hand building, surface design on clay, and other techniques. Odyssey Center of Ceramic Arts has generously donated wheels for visitors to learn the art of throwing. As an educational member of the Guild, Odyssey works to enhance creativity in the Asheville community with more than 40 artists, many who are Guild members.

One highlight of the day is the annual “Make-and-Take” Raku, a ceramic firing process using fire and smoke to create unique patterns and designs. Attendees can purchase a pot for $10, glaze and watch as the experts, like Lynn Jenkins, fire it. Jenkins has been a member of the Guild since 1985, specializing in horeshair raku. “We pull a hot pot out of a gas kiln and then lay the horsehair on the pot. The burning hair leaves a black carbon line on the pot. It is like drawing with fire,” she says. “Clay day is a wonderful chance for the community to come learn and celebrate with clay artists first hand.”

While at the Folk Art Center, visitors have the opportunity to visit Allanstand Craft Shop, the Eastern National bookstore and Blue Ridge Parkway information desk, as well as three exhibition galleries. Outside the Folk Art Center, there are hiking trails, picnic tables, grassy areas for a picnic and free parking.

The Southern Highland Craft Guild is a non-profit, educational organization established in 1930 to bring together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the benefit of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation.

If You Go: Clay Day, a free event, takes place on Saturday, June 6, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in East Asheville. For more information, visit www.craftguild.org or call (828) 298-7928.