Don't Miss It

I hope you've gotten the chance to come in and see our current show "Circle of Eight". Pottery and sculpture by eight North & South Carolina potters.

It's a beautiful show!

The potters include Michael Kline, Jennifer Mecca, Adrienne Dillinger, Greg Scott, Ron Philbeck, Amy Sanders, Dina Wilde-Ramsing and Julie Wiggins.

In addition to their work we have pots and tiles by Vicki Grant, garden sculpture by Steve Fabrico, paintings by Sally Anger and Sally Sutton, lots of new pieces by Sticks to name just a few.

Road Trip

I just back back from a trip picking up the pottery for our Circle of Eight pottery show. A friend and I drove to Wilmington to pick up pieces from Dina Wilde-Ramsing. She's doing great as usual and getting ready to teach a week long ceramic sculpture class at Odessy in Asheville.

I have 7 of her pieces in my own collection.

Then we went on to see Justine and pick up work from her. As always it was a treat to see her and Guy.

From there we went on to Charlotte. Unfortunately several of the sites I intended to take in (including the Mint) were closed on Monday (one reason Carolina Creations is open 7 days a week). It was disappointing but since we were downtown we walked around a little bit.

It didn't appear that Charlotte is suffering from the economy, there is a lot of building going on. We really enjoyed all the public art and are glad that the Arts Council in New Bern has taken on getting some public art placed here.

We picked up the rest of the pottery for the Circle of Eight show and then went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. It's about 10 miles south of Charlotte and we were really impressed. The photos just don't do it justice. It is huge, very cleverly designed and well maintained.

What brought it to my attention is a new Orchid Conservatory. I've grown and painted orchids for years.

Then on the way home we stopped in Mt Olive to look for the pickle factory and to shoot this photo.

They have a very clever website you should look at and maybe take a trip over that way.

Meet the artist Jennifer Mecca

We're pleased to welcome back Jennifer Mecca to our gallery. We love her new pieces!

We've carried Jennifers pottery off and on for the past 10 years, we haven't had too much the past couple of years so we're thrilled with the new work we just got from her!

Jennifer put together our upcoming show "Circle of 8" which will run the months of July and August.

In the meantime stop in and see what she's sent us!

Here is a little more information about Jennifer.

Jennifer Mecca is a utilitaria n potter. She creates pots that are visually pleasing and unique in character, but also useful in everyday life. She enjoys making serving pieces and tableware that bring delight to the daily activity of eating, setting a table and enjoying a meal.

Jennifer was born in upstate New York, earned a BFA in Interior Design from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1989, returned to school at East Carolina University in 1995 to complete a BFA and MFA in Ceramics in 1999. She is currently a fulltime studio potter and teaches classes and workshops partt ime.

While growing up, Jennifer spent many weekends observing and participating in the traditions and rituals of her paternal Italian-American extended family. Among the most prevalent of these traditions were the preparation and presentation of elaborate meals. As a child, she observed how the tableware was as important as the planning, preparation and enjoyment. This served as the foundation for her interest in utilitarian pottery and love of creating elaborate surfaces and forms.

Jennifer has been a studio assistant for Silvie Granitelli at Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina, and attended a weeklong workshop with Linda Christenson at Arrowmont School of Craft in Tennessee. She has attended workshops with Chris Staley and Donna Polseno at the Odyssey Center for Ceramic Craft, as well as workshops with Suze Lindsey, Gay Smith, Steven Hill, Brad Schwieger and many others.

Jennifer has participated in several nationally juried craft and pottery shows throughout the country. She has taught college level ceramic classes as well as children’s clay classes. In 2004 her work appeared in the publication in 500 Cups.

She lived in New Bern for a number of years and currently lives near Charlotte.

Watch in the coming weeks for information about the other potters in the show "Circle of 8", Greg Scott, Adrienne Dellinger, Ron Philbeck, Amy Sanders, Julie Wiggins, Michael Kline and Dina Wilde-Ramsing.

I'm going to go pick up the pieces and I'm really looking forward to the trip as well the show when we get it up.

We've got a few pieces on our website with more to come in the next few days.