42 Master Potters Showcase Their Work at WNC Pottery Festival
On November 5, 42 potters from across the country will come to the Western North Carolina town of Dillsboro for the 12th Annual WNC Pottery Festival.
Jackson County’s own Joe Frank McKee of Tree House Pottery co-founded the festival. “I can’t speak enough about the quality of potters that we will have this year,” says McKee. “It will be a top-notch festival with unique, original work that can’t be compared to past years—from ash-glazed sculptural tree forms to mixed media pottery made of clay, reed, and wood.”
The juried event selected 16 first-timers to add to the impressive line-up of 26 returning potters.
McKee himself will display his decorative line of functional horsehair pots, colored with an eye-catching blend of red, white and black, and he will also hold demonstrations throughout the day in front of Tree House Pottery.
“All pottery events are unique, but the WNC Pottery Festival brings some of the most professional potters from across the country to one venue for six hours to highlight their work,” says McKee. “With Dillsboro’s central location in the Southeast, this is the once-a-year chance for pottery fans to see a national representation of potters from New York to Texas to Nebraska.”
A stroll down Dillsboro’s front street will highlight a variety of pottery styles, including functional wood-fired pottery by the festival’s featured artist, Mark Skudlarek of Cambridge Wood-Fire Pottery in Wisconsin.
Every 30 minutes throughout the day, visitors can watch throwing and firing demonstrations by some of the participating potters. At 2 p.m., the festival reveals the opening of a soda kiln. The unique style of pottery is fired with soda ash to make a glassy, shiny glazed surface. The fired pots will be available for sale throughout the day.
Stop by Tree House Pottery on Friday, November 4 for the Clay Olympics. Potters will compete in an old-fashioned “throw down” to see who can make the largest cylinder and the widest bowl from five pounds of clay in five minutes; who can throw the best creation from two pounds of clay in two minutes while blind-folded; and a surprise event that will not be revealed to the participants until the start of the games.
At the Clay Olympics, Village Pottery will showcase and fire up a kazegama kiln. This special kiln creates gas-fired pottery during a six-hour firing process. The completed pieces will be sold at Saturday’s silent auction, where 100 percent of the proceeds are donated to Community Table, the county’s local food pantry.
Details: Clay Olympics: Friday November 4, 1-3pm. (free)
Pottery Festival: Saturday, November 5, 10-4pm.
Admission: $5 per person and includes a ticket for a day-long raffle. Children under 12 are admitted free.
For more information, visit www.wncpotteryfestival.com.