Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had and continues to have a wonderful holiday season. It is always wonderful to spend time with family and friends and our trips to NH are always the best! We have our good friend staying at our house taking care of the kitties while we enjoy time with our family.

We always love the first dinner in NH! There were quite few of them so it was a multi-night dinner!

Bacchus got to take his first out of state trip and he has been so good. He is sporting his sweater that we got for him as temperatures were single digit. He also got a coat to go over it! I think he is enjoying his holiday more than anyone as he has been spoiled rotten, as is evident below as he and Max check each other out! I hope Santa was good to everyone and that the New Year will bring all you hope for!

Two Weeks Left

Wow, the time flies by!! It is hard to believe after so much prep work all year the Celebration of Seagrove Potters AND the Jugtown Holiday Kiln Opening are past. I've just posted some new items on my web site. I had to cut off the special orders and will continue with what I have in inventory. And i need to think about some shopping myself. A fun task I must say!!

These are on my What's New to buy page should you be looking for a last minute gift. And for those that might want a miniature jug necklace there is just one left at Jugtown.

Jugtown Holiday Kiln Opening and Carolina Arts

Tom and Linda Starland have been supporters of Seagrove for a long time, through their Carolina Arts publication, which covers the Arts and events in the Carolinas.

They were a media sponsor for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters, for which we are very appreciative! Tom has written a several part account leading up to and following the Celebration. Please read his account of it here.

Jugtown is holding their annual Holiday Kiln Opening on Saturday. They have a wood kiln that was just fired, so you know there will be special pieces! People come early (some by 5am!!) to line up and get numbers. The museum opens early with coffee, tea and some tasty treats. The fireplace will be going and it is a nice social start to the morning.

I will be making up some of the miniature pot necklaces for the opening, fresh out of the wood kiln! Today I am going to focus on birds in silver with pottery since I have been doodling birds while being put on hold on various calls. Hopefully something good will come from it and you will see them on Sat!

Celebration of Seagrove Potters

The Celebration of Seagrove Potters was a success! I tried to speak to as many of the potters as I could, as did others on the Steering Committee. Everyone seemed to have a very good show. It takes so much work to put on a show of this caliber and there is a group of people that are dedicated to it and put in so very many hours for weeks and months prior to the event.





Pam in the Jugtown booth, we share a 30' space.

My booth, you can't see Wes but he is talking to Tommy Edwards on the left. I don't know how I ever did shows by myself. Wes is a great salesman, body guard and husband, and not in that order!

Bonnie Burns, Great White Oak Gallery, is the Volunteer Chair and coordinates all the wonderful volunteers. We have a huge number of people that come to help us and it would not be possible without them.












Mary Holmes, wife of potter Michael Mahan coordinates all of the infrastructure and legalities that need dealing with. She definitely has her hands full.













Ben Owen the Chair of the Event is here. Unfortunately my camera card had an error after taking lots of photos and Ben was in that group. Samantha Henneke came to the rescue with a new card for me to try, and so luckily I was able to get a lot more photos.

Susan and Tim Greene. Susan and I Co-chair the Publicity and Marketing. Susan works close to full time on this event making certain that all details are covered.













Anna King and Fred and Carol of Johnston & Gentithes













Ed, Samantha and Gloria Henneke, Bulldog Pottery













We had 600 people at the Gala on Friday night








The crowd was a buying crowd for sure.












Our food vendors on Saturday and Sunday were great-it is so nice to have a selection of food, including a vegetarian option!



And a handsome group of very talented potters:

Blaine Avery, Avery Pottery and Tileworks, Jeffrey Dean, Dean & Martin Pottery, Chad Brown, Chad Brown Pottery.

Here is a link to more photos of the COSP 2009. Stayed tuned for an even better COSP 2010!!! And if you would like to help out, let us know. We need lots more people helping us to plan the event.

Thank You to the Art on Main Jurors

Art on Main celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.

They gave a Best of Show, First for Art and one for Craft and 2 Honorable mentions. My work got an honorable mention for fine craft.

Oops for leaving the glass cleaner in my photo!

58 booths were set up along Main St. The weather was nice both days and people were out all day. We stayed in a wonderful B&B, The Waverly Inn, on Main St so we could walk to and from the show. Made new friends, great breakfasts and social hour. Highly recommended as a great place to stay in Hendersonville!!

Best of Show went to a photographer Clay Thurston who does remarkable photographs.

Obayana Ajanaku received the first place for his jewelry.He does wonderful work with mokume gane.

Time to restock for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters. Hope to see you there!

The Gardens Loved the Rain!!

I took these this morning when I was outside with Bacchus and Rusty! The flower gardens still have a lot of color and everything is perky and dew drop covered!

The vegetable garden is more than thriving! There are two lovely eggplants for tomorrow night's vegetable stir fry, the peas and new cucmber are flowering, red peppers are still coming in at a rapid pace. Several rows of a variety of greens are getting big, some TOO big already. And how about that asparagus stalk at the end of one of the asparagus rows. Tempting to pick that one!! And now 37 days until the Celebration of Seagrove Potters. If you haven't gotten your GALA tickets, click here and buy them on line.

NCPC Fundraiser & Thanks to Those That Truly Care

Thank you to all that came to our party. We hope you enjoyed the night and
thanks for supporting the NCPC! It plays such a vital part of our community.

We had lots of food and beverages. As a compliment to what I had prepared we had some help: Meredith Heywood brought a pesto cheesecake and sweet tea, Bonnie Burns supplied bruschettas and corn salsa, Ikuko Hussy (Skoshi) brought her famous rum cake and sesame cookies, and Susan Greene brought a wide array of freshly baked desserts.

I am hopeful that we raised over $1500 for the NCPC but the total is not yet in!

Look What You Can Do With Paper!

It is so gorgeous out today, you can fall in the air.

So I have been making some cuff bracelets. This is one of my favorite textures. Crumpled up paper pressed into sterling. Takes many passes through the rolling mill to get the results, but I love the softness and randomness of it.

And I am still in my animal cut out mood, so am doing some earrings with little kitties on them. I like the ones with the cat (or some kind of adornment) better than the ones without. What do you think?

Animal Art

Getting ready for ArtsFest in Winston-Salem on Saturday. Hope to see you there or in Hendersonville the following weekend!

Coming to a City Near You!

Sterling silver, patina, Chinese Blue pottery cabochon, magnetic clasp.

I will be at the Mint Museum in Charlotte on Saturday at the 5th Annual Potter's Market Invitational. Hours are 10am-4pm, admission is $10.

On September 26, I will be exhibiting at the West
end ArtsFest in Winston-Salem. Grace Park in the Historic West End neighborhood of Winston-Salem; A one day festival of the finest visual arts, entertainment and food. September 26 10am-5pm.

Then the next Friday, October 2 - October 4, I will be in Hendersonville at Art on Main.
Friday, 10/2/2009: 3pm - 9pm
Saturday, 10/3/2009: 11am - 9pm
Sunday, 10/4/09: 11am - 4pm

And of course: November 20-22, 2009 in Seagrove at the Celebration of Seagrove Potters. Buy your Gala tickets on line, as they are not sold at the door! A catered affair, live jazz, early shopping, the Collaborative auction where you will find pieces created together by two or more artists. Artists that do not work together on a regular basis, which makes the pieces very collectible and valuable!!

Craft In America and the NCPC

Wes and I, on behalf of JLK Jewelry, will be hosting a Fund Raising Party in October for the NC Pottery Center in conjunction with the upcoming airing of Craft In America which features Jugtown and Mark Hewitt. Bonnie Burns, Susan Greene and Meredith Heywood will be helping us with this event. It will be by invitation and we hope to be able to contribute a nice amount to the overall pot. Parties will be held all over the state.

If you would like to join us in supporting the NCPC, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at jennie@jlkjewelry.com or make a note in the comments. The NCPC will be offering Memberships for the donations made to attend, with Potters being offered a special rate for membership. I am in hopes that we can enlist new memberships (at the regular rate if possible!!). We will have an evening with a wonderful selection of food and beverage and the viewing of the show.

The NC Pottery Center is an amazing museum located right here in Seagrove. Visit their web site at www.ncpotterycenter.com. Their exhibitions change several times a year and with every new exhibit is a nice artist reception, which many of us in Seagrove and beyond take advantage of. The NCPC provides a place for potters and the public to study old and new pottery, offers educational opportunities and much more. It is such a huge asset to our community and we hope you will join us for some fun, give freely and help raise money for such a worthwhile institution!

A Big Headed Turtle

The things we see around Jugtown. I was heading up to the shop this morning and saw this little guy by one of the kiln shelters. I got Trav to identify him and hold him for me. What a big head for such a little guy! Trav relocated him to the water garden as he was a long ways from water, given his size, though his speed through the grass was something. He is a very young snapping turtle. I looked but didn't see any other family members around.