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Appalachian Potters Market Saturday

66 potters featured at 22nd annual event

Photo by Britt Combs

Award-winning potter Leslie Bradsher is just one of the 66 potters featured at the 22nd annual Appalachian Potters Market. Seen here at the MACA Gallery Gift Shop, she displays a serving tray.

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Grove Hill Pottery Website

By Britt Combs | The McDowell News

Published: December 4, 2008

It's time once again for the Appalachian Potters Market, one of the hallmarks of the Christmas season in McDowell.
Sixty-six potters will be featured at the 22nd annual event, held as in past years in the commons area and cafeteria of McDowell High School. The show kicks off Saturday.
Featured potters include a winner of this year's Regional Artist Project grant, local artisan Leslie Bradsher.
Bradsher began learning pottery in 1994. With a background in accounting and law, she said she had to make a commitment to her craft full time. It can be challenging to maintain the business, but the rewards are far greater than her past professions.
Learning from the best, she explained, makes all the difference. Cynthia Bringle, an instructor at the Penland School of Crafts, imparted to Bradsher a commitment to the pursuit of perfection.
The craft is labor intensive, even with a lifetime of experience.
"Last year I made 225 goblets," she said, "and each one has at least three hours of labor in it."
She said that once she committed to pottery full time, opening her Grove Hill Pottery studio and shop in Old Fort, the learning has been ongoing. For example, she said, potters spend their careers searching for the perfect red glaze.
Bradsher devotes countless hours to experimentation, using both electric and gas-fired kilns to fire her works. She experiments with the affects of oxidation on the glaze and thousands of other techniques that set the best pottery apart form the crowd.
On display in the McDowell Arts Council Association (MACA) Gift Shop on Main Street are several of her goblets, bowls, colanders, spoon rests, serving trays, potpourri pots and plates. While much of the past year was devoted to making goblets, her latest work has concentrated on slab rolled pieces. Instead of wheel turning, these pieces are rolled and molded using a rolling pin and wooden molds she fashions herself.
Her gallery is located on land that was settled by her great-great-grandfather in 1839. The land and heritage, she said, provides her with fresh inspiration daily.
MACA Director Susan Pyatt said the grants are supported by local and state councils and organizations to provide support to artists and crafters of any medium who excel in their field. Grant applications are excepted from every age group, amateur or professional.
"This year we had 21 applicants from the five participating counties," Pyatt said. "Leslie Bradsher was one of six artists whose projects were funded."
Sponsored by a five county consortium of arts councils and arts organizations, the grants are made possible with funds from the North Carolina Arts Council. The state arts council funds are matched by the Burke Arts Council and Rock School Foundation in Burke County, Caldwell Arts Council, Hiddenite Center in Alexander County, McDowell Arts Council Association and the United Arts Council of Catawba County.
Bradsher received $1,500 with which she will buy a slab roller to expand her capabilities with flat pieces.
She describes her self as very happy and content.
"Dreams are so important," she said. "They're the only think that keeps us alive. When I worked in law I knew people who made a fortune, and they dropped dead at 45. It is so easy to become complacent and slide through life.
"I wake up every morning excited about getting to do my work," she said.
The Potters' Market is an annual event featuring potters from across North Carolina. Some styles represented are raku, decorative stoneware, and traditional folk pottery. Items for sale include cookware, planters, jewelry, and Christmas ornaments. There will be a raffle. Thousands of unique gifts will be available, and shoppers can meet and chat with the artisans who create them.
The event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at McDowell High School and remains open through 4 p.m. Admission is $4, which helps to support MACA. For more information about the Potters Market, call 652-8610.