MT AIRY, NC.  Today is Thursday.  We leave Mt Airy Saturday, July 1st, for an RV park east of Asheville, NC.  Too much of this month was taken up with poor weather, but the last few days have been mostly clear, but much hotter.  Another surprise this year has been smoke from Canadian fires that has been drifting down here in the past couple days.  Hopefully that will clear up before we travel up there in September.

Yesterday we drove to Seagrove, NC.  The town has the reputation of being the pottery capital of America.  Actually, it is one of many small towns in several surrounding counties with small cottages producing and selling pottery of different kinds along Route 705 (The Pottery Highway).

As we entered Seagrove from the north, we stopped at the Seagrove Creations Pottery Gallery, which announced Pottery Information on its sign out front.  We mistook it for a visitors center and stopped in.

Seagrove Creations Pottery Gallery

Inside the gallery one looks side to side to see a large variety of goods for sale.  

CLICK ON ANY ITEM TO ENLARGE

View Down One Aisle

Below are samples of the large variety of goods for sale.  Some items sell for a surprisingly low price, given the time, materials, and equipment skillfully employed to produce them.  Likewise, there are larger more complex items that sell for hundreds of dollars.

Bird Houses for $25

Below are shown examples of pottery that I found interesting.  As we attempted to visit those three potters, two were closed on Wednesdays and the other was much too far away from Seagrove to visit before they closed at 5 pm.  

Prices range from $5 to Well Over $100

Examples from Another Potter Closed for the Day

Examples from Another Potter Closed for the Day

The white objects shown below were some of Betty's favorites.

White Objects Above Among Betty's Favorites

As we found in Mt Airy, the Christian presence here can also be found.  See below.

Example of Humorous Items at the Gallery

Not Much Going on in Seagrove Today

We asked the woman running this gallery where we could find a nice place to eat in Seagrove, and among them was the Mona Lisa II Italian Restaurant.  Not too bad but typical small town eatery.

The Mona Lisa II

After lunch we followed the official Seagrove Chamber of Commerce map to seek out other galleries.  This was complicated by the fact that the map was designed to be a work of art rather than a reliable map.  Nothing was to scale or as it appeared on the map.  

After finding that two of my choices were closed Wednesday through Saturday, we visited one of Betty's choices.  Like almost all of the galleries, it was a really old house bought, and with minor renovations, set up as a pottery gallery.  

It was not the most welcoming place, in that there were many signs outside designed to scare away solicitors.  This also created an unwelcoming atmosphere for anyone.  An example of one sign on the entry door that was particularly interesting is shown below.

This Pretty Well Summarizes Their Sentiments

Some examples of items to be found at this gallery are shown below.

Flower-like Objects Rise from Center

More Examples

More Examples

Pottery by Frank Neef was another potter Betty liked, especially for its items that embed crystals into the pottery. These are very expensive works. 

Note the Embedded Crystals

Frank recommended that we visit the shop and gallery of Eck McCanless, who will happily demonstrate how he does his work.  He was finishing up work on a bowl as we entered.  All items on the shelf are drying in preparation for the kiln.

Eck Putting Last Touches on Bowl

Ready to Dry Before Entering Kiln

Closeup of Bowl

Eck demonstrated the process of turning a lump of muti-colored clay into a pottery drinking glass.  Click this link: Making Multi-colored Drinking Vessel  He then demonstrated how he creates octagonal sides on the sides.  Click this link: Creating Octagonal Sides

Below are images of the pottery drinking glasses after coming out of the kiln, ready for sale.