A national exhibition including three Chatham County potters will be on display in conjunction with the annual conference of the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA, en-see-ka) March 19-23. A reception in the lobby of the East Tower of Riverfront Plaza, Richmond, VA. will be open to the public and held on Thursday, March 21, 2-4pm.
The exhibition, “Thrown Together: Tradition, Apprenticeship, and Individualism” includes: Mark Hewitt (Pittsboro), Daniel Johnston (Seagrove), Matt Jones (Buncombe County), Alex Matisse at East Fork Pottery (Asheville), Joseph Sand (Randleman), Lara O’Keefe (Pittsboro), and Stillman Browning-Howe (Pittsboro and Seagrove).
Here’s the concept: During the last forty years a group of potters has coalesced in North Carolina to re-imagine a venerable regional American tradition. Together they have realigned North Carolina folk pottery to include elements from the Mingei Movement (the Japanese Folk Art Movement), contemporary studio pottery, and industrial practice. This exhibition examines the relationship between tradition and individualism, and the way apprenticeship influences aesthetic choices.
Given Richmond’s proximity to North Carolina, this show gives potters’ supporters in North Carolina, and NCECA members from across the US, the opportunity to see a contemporary expression of one of the great regional traditions of American ceramics.