Second Saturday at The Village Potters

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

We are busting at the seams this month for Second Saturday! Check us out:

10am-12noon: Mommy & Me Workshop: Melanie Mitchell Robertson leads an all ages workshop just in time for Mother’s Day, helping moms and tots create new special memories! (NOTE: this event is SOLD OUT)

11am-3pm: Village Potter Cat Jarosz will be working under the tent just outside The Village Potters Gallery, putting the finishing decorative touches on some of her whimsically fun animal-themed pieces, some of which you’ll find on sale in the Gallery.

11am-3pm: Out on the lawn in front of the studio, we’re also co-hosting Animal Compassion Network’s “Feed Our Furry Friends, an Empty Bowls Event!” to raise awareness and funds for their Pet Food Assistance Program. Live music, pet treats, incredible hand-made items in a silent auction and an amazing door prize ($20 or pet food donations admission). And Tin Can Pizzeria will be joining the fun too!

10am-6pm: The Village Potters Gallery is open and featuring some new items among our fine, contemporary ceramics made in our on-site studios by each of The Village Potters and fresh from our first firings of the gas and raku kilns!

Village Conversations: Melanie’s Musings

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

Today’s Village Conversation is in celebration of Village Potter Melanie Mitchell Robertson’s recent appointment to the Education Committee of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. As she is also our Director of Education, we know what a wonderful selection this is, and we’re adding some thoughts to the conversation. But first we’ll hear from Mel:

“My journey in ceramic arts has taken me wonderful places in the process and discovery of a medium that both fascinates and humbles me. I am in a learning curve of the massive amount of information that surrounds the many facets of clay bodies, glazes, firing techniques, etc. Although I have been studying pottery for the past 12 years, there is much to learn about cone temperatures, the vitrification of clay, how glazes look on different clay bodies, and the many ways to manipulate it; push, pull, stretch, mold, and carve……never ending, always challenging. I have wondered again and again if I missed the mark; then, my hands find themselves immersed and delighted by the creative possibilities of a soft, pliable medium that so willingly moves and bends or gives in to the direction I encourage. Even when it seems to want to go its own way, and I struggle to know how to get it to go where I lead, I am reminded that clay has memory and it struggles too. Perhaps it’s in this common understanding of “memory,” we find unity; the potter and the clay.

My present work certainly gives clues to the influences in my life, especially as a painter. I studied art in college with a painting focus, and Henri Matisse became my personal favorite for many reasons:

he led a color revolution, he took the more simple imagery of the Impressionist and the Post Impressionist, and borrowed ideas from the Cubists to develop a beautiful pallet and linear style that displayed movement and form, though on a flat surface, giving way to curious demonstrations of depth. I fell in love with his ideas and began to explore my own possibilities.”

As the Director of Education, Melanie shares her own enthusiasm for learning and exploring through her development of our Masters Series Workshops, Learning Clinics, hands-on Workshops and on-going classes. Her passion for learning is perhaps most evident, however, in the classes and workshops she develops and leads for children.

Mommy & Me, Melanie’s next Children’s Workshop, is a wonderful opportunity for both parent and child to experience Mel’s passion, and inspire some of their own. On Saturday, May 12, from 10:00am – 12:00noon, Melanie will lead an all-ages workshop of moms and children in making a memorable piece just in time for Mother’s Day. $30 per person includes all materials and each participant will leave with a completed project! See more info at our Fees & Registration link, or call 828-253-2424 to register today.

You can learn more about the other ongoing classes, workshops, and Saturday Art Camps that Melanie runs, along with details of our upcoming Masters Series and other Workshops by visiting the links in our Teaching Center. We’ll help you ignite your own passion for creativity!

A Brief Word from a Village Potter…

Posted on April 18, 2012 by admin

A short excerpt from a great interview that Village Potter Sarah Wells Rolland, along with two other River District Artists, gave recently with Carol Anders at MAIN-FM in celebration of the start of Second Saturdays in the River Arts District:

The Village Potters

If you’d like to hear the entire interview with Sarah and artists Angelique Tassistro and Brandy Clements, you can link to the archive post here.

And if you’d like to see the schedule of events The Village Potters has planned for Second Saturday, take a look on the right side of our web page, and visit the River Arts District webpage to see what else is happening in the River District during Second Saturdays!

Second Saturday at The Village Potters

Posted on April 12, 2012 by admin

For this first ‘Closer Look’, we invite you to take a closer look at each of the Village Potters, in a series of short demonstrations under the tent in front of our studio, this Saturday, April 14. What you see being made under the tent, you’ll find in all its completed beauty inside the Gallery!

Demo Schedule:

10:30-11:00am Lori Theriault demonstrates “Off the Mound”

11:30am-12:00pm Judi Harwood demonstrates “Raku Rhythm: Drum Making”

12:30-1:00pm Cat Jarosz demonstrates “White Rabbits & Startled Chickeryns”

1:30 – 2:00pm Melanie Mitchell Robertson demonstrates “Kids in Clay” (hands-on!)

2:30-3:00pm Karen Dubois demonstrates the “Art of Bowl Making”

3:30-4:00pm Sarah Wells Rolland demonstrates “The Pouring Vessel”

4:30-5:00pm TBA … it’s a surprise!

Village Conversations: ch-ch-ch-changes!

Posted on April 10, 2012 by admin

Today’s Village Conversation is with Village Potter Cat Jarosz:

Changes, changes and yet more changes. This has been my driving force and desire for the season I am now experiencing and will be for a long time to come. There is so much to write about on this subject: from before and since my move to “The Village Potters”, not to mention all the changes that I go thru daily to be here, and the ones to come. I have plenty to say about the changes in my life and in the people and the fur kids lives that I live with who change along with me to fill a life time of blogs, but for today I am just going to write about the word CHANGE and why I want it so badly.

I love being a potter and that is not what I want to change at all. YES I can successfully work in my own studio with all the comforts and needs of my hubby, fur kids and self met with ease, and can accomplish lots more production-wise, so why the desire to change all this and go where it takes time and effort and $$$$ to be with people? Because I believe this will transform my environment for the better as well as my whole life. Two and a half decades alone may have made me an exceptional potter, but my relationships have disappeared because I forgot how to nourish them, and I forgot how much JOY even the crappy days hold when you have RELATIONSHIPS !!!

I’m already changing since my move to The Village Potters in December 2011. I look forward to seeing everyone, and I miss them when they are not there even though I spend more time being a person than a potter when they are there It delights me that the purple smiley face we supposedly put up when we want privacy to work is IGNORED and we laugh at it now. This is an adventure in the making every day, every day has change and I deal with it easier than the day before. From here on out I hope to write a little about some specific change that I have either successfully added to my life or figured out how to use it for the betterment of ALL.

Things We’re Building At The Village Potters

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin

We’re building inventories, to keep our beautiful, contemporary gallery filled with fine ceramic art.

We’re building a reduction kiln, which has been very exciting for those of us who will fire it.
We’re building community within our own Riverview Station, with our first building pot luck. How wonderful to meet so many creative, talented people who are our neighbors.

We’re building our classes and workshops: this weekend’s Masters Series Workshop with Barbara Knutson is just about filled to capacity, we’ll soon start taking registrations for the Shadow May workshop in August and Sarah Wells Rolland’s November workshop, as well more one-day, hands on workshops and our After-Hours Series featuring individual Village Potters.

Stop by The Village Potters and see what we’re building, and check out all our classes, clinics and After-Hours events. Maybe you’ll be building something soon yourself!

Village Conversations: A Look Into the Work of Sarah Wells Rolland

Posted on March 13, 2012 by admin

The work of a potter holds a glimpse into the story of the artist’s life. The very nature of a potters work is found in an evolutionary process. I have had the privilege of devoting my life’s work in a daily creative pursuit with clay. A life devoted to one work affords the opportunity to not only hone excellent skills but to explore an idea to its fullest potential. I walk on this path.

My body of work over the years has themes that continue to come forth. I have been exploring form; particularly the tall elongated necked pouring vessel. As I look back for influences in my life it leads me to my beginnings; my childhood, particularly my mother, Jessie Terrill Wells. She has been a great influence in my life. She always encouraged my creative pursuits and she loved art. In our home my mother was very intentional with the placement of art and hung several Modigliani reproductions in prominent places. I stared at these ladies exaggerated long necks and the asymmetry in their facial features. These women were beautifully unique.

When you look at my work over the last 25 years I have never departed from the exaggerated long neck or the use of gesture in motion. They have evolved over the years until a long neck pouring vessel now gracefully dances upward with the purpose to delight any onlooker. My mother and Amedeo Modigliani gave this. Because of who I am, I continue to pass on this intrigue.

These two ladies hung in our home!

Village Conversations: ‘It Takes A Village’

Posted on February 29, 2012 by admin

Village Conversations is an ongoing series of posts by each of The Village Potters, on a number of topics. It’s true that you’re only seeing one side of the conversation, but you’re welcome to join in with comments!

Today’s Village Conversation is from VP Judi Harwood:

A Call to all lone ranger artisans…

I’ve been making pottery for 13 years. Early on, I did work with Melanie, (now also a Village Potter) for a season, but for the most part – alone. A number of years ago a few of us began seriously discussing the possibility of moving into the River Arts District to work together, a cooperative endeavor. Sarah had actually been dreaming and contemplating this for years.

So, after many months of work to make it happen, here we are at Riverview Station, six professional potters rubbing shoulders daily in a 4,000 square foot dream facility with working studios, a teaching center and exquisite gallery!

So, here is the call: If you’ve been working alone, and considering such a major undertaking, wondering if it can really be done, and if it’s worth the struggle, GO FOR IT!

Do you guys always get along, you may ask? Or, isn’t it ever difficult? Let me answer your questions with a question. Aren’t the best things in life worth the struggle? It’s the interaction with others with similar passion and vision that keeps you going when it does get rough.

So, here at the Village Potters, it does ‘take a village’ just to do daily life together. And we have an expression I’ll end with to encourage you to stop ‘doing it alone’.

“We like us!” And, we do.

Upcoming Master Series Workshop in March

Posted on February 18, 2012 by admin

The Village Potters Master Series Presents:
Slab Construction and Surface Design
with Barbara Knutson

“Hanging onto my roots while finding
new directions”

Barbara is a gifted potter and teacher. Her career spans many decades working in Vermont, North Carolina and now, Florida. This is two days of demonstrations in hand building with soft slabs using texture and patterns with an emphasis on form and structure.

When: March 30-31 2012
Friday and Saturday 9am-4pm
Location: The Village Potters Teaching Center
Riverview Station in the River Arts District, Asheville NC
Fee: $125.00

“My images come from natural sources. The fish motif comes from a visit to the Tampa Aquarium where they had northern brook trout in a small chilled tank with water rushing – the fish were swimming through thousands of bubbles in one direction. I also use the Gingko leaf. The Gingko tree is considered a “living fossil” surviving unchanged for over 200 million years. It is a living link between the remote past and the world today. More recently I’ve been inventing leaves from images of my trip to the amazon with its lush green growth.

Working with slabs of clay that are still wet and soft allows me to give the pottery a pillow softness and sensuous gesture with feet, necks, and shoulders suggestive of animated human forms.” Barbara Knutson

This is our second workshop hosted here at The Village Potters and it is sure to be inspiring, educating, and fun! Let’s glean from Barbara’s perspective, skill, experience, and passion. We will also draw from each other as we spend time together.

Pots by Barbara Knutson

Registration:
2 Day Workshop Fee: $125.00 Capacity: 20 Artists
Check Payable to:
The Village Potters
Mail Check to:
The Village Potters,
191 Lyman St., Suite 180, Asheville, NC 28801

Email for more information: info@thevillagepotters.com
Phone: 828-253-2424
Call to pay with Credit Card: Visa MC Discover

A Special Thank You From Cara Steinbuchel

Posted on February 13, 2012 by admin

We were thrilled to host Cara Steinbuchel and Cara Mae™ Skin Care this past weekend for the Brand Re-Launch Party for her Potters’ Skin Butter™! It was a great evening and a wonderful celebration. While we send our gratitude out to everyone who joined us in spite of the threat of snow and the dipping temperatures, we wanted to give Cara another opportunity to express what she so eloquently shared with everyone on Saturday night.

From Cara:

“Thank you to everyone who came out to the Cara Mae™ Potters’ Skin Butter ™ Launch Party on Saturday! We had a blast! That magical, snow dusted evening was a dream come true for me.

I want to reiterate my gratitude for all of the support I have received and continue to receive.

First of all, I would like to thank The Village Potters, namely potters Sarah Wells Rolland, Lori Theriault, Cat Jarosz, Mel Mitchell Robertson, Judi Harwood, sculptor Bernie Segal, and studio assistant Karen DuBois, for their extraordinary hospitality in putting on this amazing event and for all of the love and encouragement they continually offer me.

Johnny Harwood & Friends

The Village Potters Gallery, Studio, and Teaching Center is such a positive and creative place because of these amazing people. A special thanks to Johnny Harwood (of Johnny’s Music School Asheville) and friends for providing the grooving live music for the party.

Rachel Horn

Alex Krug

I appreciate Rachel of Rachel Horn Therapeutic Massage generously offering free chair massages to the guests at the party. Thanks to Alex Krug for creatively sampling out Potters’ Skin Butter as the retro cigarette girl.

Thanks to Roots for donating their delicious hummus and the Wedge Brewery for helping out with beer.

Thanks to John Brute for building my website, Erin Brethauer for her breath-taking photography, and 828 Design for their extraordinary design services. I am always grateful that we have such a supportive business community in Asheville, NC, and I have directly benefited from the resources and helpful staff at Mountain Biz Works, including Helaine Greene, and Blue Ridge Food Ventures Natural Products Manufacturing Facility.

I am also grateful for the awesome media coverage that Cara Mae™ has received recently in the Asheville Citizen-Times, Ashvegas Blog, and the Biltmore Beacon.

An extra special thanks goes out to Michelle Rogers, my partner and production catalyst, for her ongoing support of my business in so many ways. From helping me make lotion at Blue Ridge Food Ventures to late nights cutting out labels, Michelle has helped me more than double my production, while adding a healthy dose of fun to the process. Thanks to my Mom, Carla Steinbuchel, for her strength and encouragement, as well as making this redesign and rebranding project possible. Thanks to my family and friends for trying my lotion and believing in me all along.

To those who have told their friends about Potters’ Skin Butter™, your referrals have been especially instrumental in the growth of my business. Since the beginning, word of mouth has been my biggest marketing tool. Thanks for your help in spreading the word and in spreading my lotion to those who need it.

I started making my lotion in 2004 for potters and people with extremely dry skin. Since then, my business has gone through some changes, the biggest of which is this redesign and rebranding. It’s a very exciting time as I launch into this venture full-time. Thanks again for coming out and celebrating with me!”

So, after many months of work to make it happen, here we are at Riverview Station, six professional potters rubbing shoulders daily in a 4,000 square foot dream facility with working studios, a teaching center and exquisite gallery!

So, here is the call: If you’ve been working alone, and considering such a major undertaking, wondering if it can really be done, and if it’s worth the struggle, GO FOR IT!

The Village Potters Master Series Presents: Slab Construction and Surface Design with Barbara Knutson

The Village Potters Master Series Presents:
Slab Construction and Surface Design
with Barbara Knutson