Join us for a day of Great Pots and meet world-renowned ceramic artist, Magdalene Odundo, OBE

The North Carolina Pottery Center and STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise cordially invite you to visit us on Saturday, June 17th, to spend the afternoon in the heart of clay country admiring fabulous pots – old and new, and local, national, and international.

Schedule 

• Noon-2:00 pm: Visit STARworks in Star, NC, to see Confluence, Wild Clay, and the School House Gallery too!
• (Squeezed in somewhere along the way, lunch is on your own.)
• 2:00-3:00 pm: Visit the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC to see Great Pots from the traditions of North & South Carolina, curated by Mark Hewitt.
• 3:00-4:00 pm: Listen to Mark’s “Clay Talks!” presentation about Great Pots, in the center’s Education Building.
• 4:00-5:00 pm: Watch Magdalene Odundo’s demonstration in the Education Building.
• 5:00-6:30 pm: A special reception, open to the public, so people can meet Magdalene.

Visit STARworks in Star, NC, from noon to 2:00 pm on your own to see the Confluence: A Woodfire Invitational and Wild Clay: The Story of NC Clay exhibitions, as well as the School House Gallery. Confluence brings together a selection of contemporary North Carolina ceramics and work from the guest presenters at the International Woodfire Conference, which will have just been held the previous weekend. This will be a unique opportunity to experience the wood firing community in a wider context. Some of the exhibition pieces may still be available for purchase at that time. Meanwhile, Wild Clay: The Story of NC Clay, which first appeared at the North Carolina Pottery Center in 2014, focuses on the material foundation of the potter’s art. Raw and fired test samples, photos, maps, and select historical and contemporary pots help understand the science and geography behind NC’s emblematic art form.

STARworks is located at 100 Russell Drive in Star, NC.

After STARworks, spend the rest of your afternoon in nearby Seagrove, NC, at the North Carolina Pottery Center. Tour the center on your own from 2:00-3:00 pm to see Great Pots from the Traditions of North & South Carolina, curated by Mark Hewitt. Mark says, “While the North and South Carolina traditions are linked by history, culture, and material, significant stylistic differences exist between the two, as individual potters used their consummate skills to give singular voice to their particular time and place. The last thirty years have seen extraordinary levels of interest in this regional ceramic heritage, and Great Pots brings together several voices to examine its aesthetics, history, folklore, archeology, and the passion that so many have for this mighty, shared tradition.” Mark and Lindsey Lambert, the center’s executive director, will be on hand to greet guests and answer questions. At 3:00 pm, Mark will talk about Great Pots as he gives the center’s June Clay Talks! presentation in the center’s education building.

At 4:00, we’ll all be treated to a very special demonstration by an extraordinary international potter, Magdalene Odundo, OBE (Order of the British Empire), who will be the center’s Visiting Artist from June 7-21. Considered one of the premier ceramicists working today, Magdalene Odundo, born in Kenya but based in England, produces ceramic objects whose beauty emanates from their voluptuous forms and shimmering surfaces. Amorphous in shape, yet resembling the human body in curvature and sinuosity, the pots are vehicles for thinking about the human body and its relationship to space. Her influences vary widely, from Cycladic figures to modern sculpture by Jean Arp and Constantin Brancusi. Her work is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and most other major intentional museums. Then from 5:00-6:30 pm, there will be a public reception so that people will have an opportunity to meet Magdalene.

The North Carolina Pottery Center is located at 233 East Avenue in Seagrove, NC.

Admission to both the North Carolina Pottery Center and STARworks is free on June 17th.

Please contact Lindsey Lambert, the North Carolina Pottery Center’s director, if you have any questions.