Clay Club adventure!

Sorry I don't have pictures...and I was in the ones John took, but not my face.  Just look for my hair, which is obvious enough.

We had such fun...Erin and I drove up to Spruce Pine to pick up some of her works at the Toe River Gallery, and then to Bakersville to the Crimson Laurel Gallery to see the Cups exhibit.

I think this was the most fun collection of cups I've ever seen.  There are just so many things that could be boring about a cup show.  Not this one.  It was full of exciting and beautiful works.  Each artist had about 4-7 pieces, depending upon the size perhaps.  But they were the entire gamut of what clay can become when a vessel to drink out of.

And the gallery also had their other artists who are permanent exhibitors, and they also had cups as well.

Then to the chili cook off at John Britt's for Clay Club.  I brought banana bread because my corn bread went silly on me.  Erin knew how to be welcome with store bought stuff...cheese cake samples.  There were just 8 different chilies to taste, and I only had 3, since I knew one of those would win, and turns out I was right.

I enjoyed spending time in the car with Erin, who shared a wealth of information about various shows she's exhibited in, mostly jurried shows.  I have always enjoyed her delicate and well formed sculptural wall hangings, and was glad to hear her talk about many aspects of not only creating them, but how she has concerns about their well being when they are exhibited. 

Erin Essen Campbell gave a demonstration to the BMCA clay studio last March I think.  It was great to see how she puts together her well designed wall frame boxes.

At the Clay Club, our feature entertainment was a slide show of Emily Reason's recent trip to China and various pottery encounters...a well spent evening of seeing how a very different culture looks at hand made pottery.

Now I will return to the series of Dilly Dillsboro photos...just had to share this lovely time with you.