What follows is a news release about several Moore County potters (known as The Celebration of Seagrove Potters), designed to compete with the original Seagrove Pottery Festival. The original 27th annual Seagrove Pottery Festival is operated by the Seagrove Pottery Museum in downtown Seagrove, and will focus on the legacy of its founder, Richard Gillson, who suffered a tragic death earlier this year.
THE CELEBRATION OF SEAGROVE POTTERS
The Celebration of Seagrove Potters warmly welcomes you to experience a 200-year-old tradition and spend a leisurely time browsing and shopping, seeing the process, developing and renewing relationships with us - the potters of Seagrove. This festival offers shoppers a one-stop, indoor shopping opportunity to purchase clay work made only in the area defined authentically as Seagrove. Visit the Web site for details and for ticket information for the Gala Preview Party on Friday evening from 6:30-9pm.
Celebration of Seagrove Potters
Phone: 336/381-4921
Event Web site: http://www.celebrationofseagrovepotters.com
Location: The Historic Lucks Cannery, NC 705 (Pottery Highway) in Seagrove
Cost: Free - $35
(Be prepared to spend 35 dollars to get into the old bean factory and spend time with those that have diligently tried to destroy the Seagrove Pottery Museum, its Festival, and the life's work of Richard Gillson.)
Yes, 35 dollars.
The Celebration of Seagrove Potters is a seperate and subservient, sometimes called "lesser" event to the original Seagrove Pottery Festival.
Those familiar with the Seagrove Tradition know that the 27th Annual Seagrove Pottery Festival will be held at Seagrove Elementary School on November 22nd and 23rd.
Seagrove, North Carolina is one of the largest communities of potters in the United States with roots dating back to the late Eighteenth Century. The Festival emphasizes hand-made pottery and traditional crafts.
Pottery lovers know that this is the time to come, as it is the only time during the year that most of the Seagrove area potters sell their reds, blues, purples, yellows, greens, blacks – and the list goes on of gorgeous colors and styles of pots – all at one place..
In addition to a wide range of potters from the Seagrove area, the festival also offers some 25 traditional craftspeople showcasing their talents. The Festival is based upon our heritage, so demonstrations will take place both days. You will see the blacksmith and tinsmith demonstrating their trade, as well as broom and basket making, woodcarving, weaving, rug hooking, spinning, and pot throwing. Large Percheron draft workhorses, known for their strength and large size, will be there along with a Civil War reenactment.
The 27th Pottery Festival Auction will take place on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 4:00 p.m. The Festival draws loyal collectors eager to place their bids on limited edition pottery, made specifically for this event. Each piece is signed and dated and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity stamped with the corporate seal. If you can’t be present for the auction, sealed bids will be accepted until noon on Sunday. Proceeds from the auction and Festival benefit the sponsoring non-profit organization, the Museum of North Carolina Traditional Pottery.
Die-hard shoppers will want to take advantage of the Early Bird preview, from 9:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Admission is $12 per person and is valid for the entire day. Regular admission is $6 per person from noon – 6:00 p.m. Saturday and 09:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. Members of the Museum of Traditional North Carolina Pottery and children under the age of 12 will be admitted free with an adult. Advanced ticket sales are available for groups of 15 or more.
The first 500 children 12 or under accompanied by an adult each day will receive a hands on opportunity to glaze and see fired a piece of raku pottery as a free gift from the” Seagrove Pottery Museum”.
Thanks to all media outlets for their kind support in helping us publicise the 27th Seagrove Pottery Festival.
Additional information can be found on the Pottery Museum's website:
The original Seagrove Pottery Festival
27th Annual Seagrove Pottery Festival
When: November 22-23, 2008 Where: Located At: Seagrove School, 528 Old Plank Road, Seagrove, NC.
Richard Gillson, 1936-2008.
Friend, Artist, Potter, Promoter, Visionary. No man did more to define the famous "Seagrove Area Potteries" or to nurture the traditional arts and crafts in the heart of North Carolina than Richard Gillson. His personal mission was to promote the Seagrove pottery tradition and create the most inclusive, creative, open, democratic, consistent and accessible organization in the Seagrove area.
Proposed Museum Information Center
This new and modern facility, transformed from the old downtown grocery store building, would enable the Museum to continue it's mission - to preserve and perpetuate the pottery tradition of the five-county Seagrove area, which includes Randolph, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, and Chatham counties. This area is currently home to the largest group of working potters in the nation, and is rich in North Carolina's pottery heritage that has continued in Seagrove for over 200 years.
The Randolph Plate - Circa 1775
In 1983, the Museum of NC Traditional Pottery purchased its first piece of antique pottery for the museum's permanent collection, for $6,200. It is a beautifully decorated slipware plate, 13 inches in diameter, dated by experts to the late 1700s. It is believed to have originated in Randolph County, which is further supported by the fact that it was acquired from a Randolph County family in which the plate has been for many generations. The unsigned plate's age, quality of design, condition and rarity make it one of the finest and most significant pieces of antique pottery ever to be found in the Seagrove area.
Museum gives birth to NC Pottery Center
Under Richard's leadership, the museum helped start the N.C. Pottery Center by donating nine acres of valuable commercial real estate, a large house, historic pottery, financial support and staffing to the Center over a period of many years.
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