Functional Pottery

Salt Glaze & Stoneware

Pottery Classes and Workshops

Studio Showroom Open Tues – Sat

My pots are made to be used — to enhance the rituals of preparing and eating food, to hold flowers, to light a corner for reading. Making functional work connects me to the age-old tradition of artist craftsmen who make beautiful objects for daily use.

I‘ve been potting since 1969, yet after all these years, I still enjoy every aspect of making pottery, especially throwing and firing.  The alchemy of transforming soft clay into finished pots continues to excite and inspire me.

I offer classes and workshops in my studio, and I also teach at conferences and craft schools.  I had some wonderful teachers when I was first learning to pot, and teaching allows me to pass the favor on.  Drop me a line if you want to know my current teaching schedule.

Thanks for your comments on the video!  Several people have asked to see examples of fired lamps using the wiggle wire process.   As these photos show, results vary depending on the pattern of your wire, whether you saw back and forth as you move down the pot, whether the wheel is moving as you make the cut, and etc.  The wide pattern on the first lamp was made with a wire from Dirty Girls Pottery Tools.

I’ve been having a great time playing with their various wire sizes and patterns.

Given our quiet country lives and the repetitive nature of making pots, I rarely have anything that qualifies as News.  But today I have three things worth mentioning.

First, Alan has finished producing my second teaching video — on making a lamp decorated with a wiggle wire.  It’s at the bottom of this post, and we’d love your feedback on it.

Second, I had a teapot accepted in the Fourth International Small Teapot Competition that will take place at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California this spring.

Third, I leave this Sunday with my friend Kathy Knowles for a week teaching throwing at John C Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.  It’s a great place — like camp for grownups — where one can learn about almost anything done by hand.  Potting, metalwork, every kind of fiber arts, cooking, woodwork, music, and etc.  Check out their offerings at http://www.folkschool.org.

We’re snowed in! We’ve gotten over twenty inches and are warm and cozy as the storm has not taken out the electricity.  Bingley the dog has to leap in order to get through it — it’s over her head!  I have spent today posting new pots to my online store.  As happens every year by the end of my winter shows, I’m low on mugs, bowls and small pitchers.  So they’ll be the first things I make when I get back in the studio.  For now though, it is nice to read a book and watch the snow.  Happy Holidays!

We had great turnout for both the ACV Tour and my Holiday Open House with Nancy and Rachel.  The expanded showroom is still up and I’m getting used to the classroom looking so clean.  I have three shows coming up in the near future.  Two small home shows on the next two Friday evenings — the first at my friend Annie’s house in Charlottesville on 12/4, and the second at Richard and Joan’s house in DC on 12/11.  Then my last official show of the season will be at Mea Rhee’s pottery in Silver Spring, Maryland on 12/12 and 12/13.  For details on those shows, go to the schedule page of this site.

My expanded showroom will remain open Tuesday – Saturday through all of December.  You are welcome to come by and see the studio and kilns, browse the pots, and walk down to the river.  It’s a fun outing for visiting friends and family.   You can drop by without an appointment; the studio is never locked.  Or to be sure to catch me here, you can phone before coming — 434-263-4023 — or drop me a note.

Pottery classes are finished for 2009, and I’m clearing up the classroom for this weekend’s Studio Tour, sponsored by the Artisans Center of Virginia.  Mine will be one of fifteen open studios in the area, with a total of thirty crafters showing work.  Joining me here will be fiber artist Meredith Bennett, who will show her weaving, braids and felted work.  We’ll also have an exhibit of student work and some of my students will be on hand to demonstrate throwing and handbuilding.  Basic Necessities and Chirios Pizza of Nellysford will help provide refreshments.  There’s more about the Tour on the ACV Tour Page.

To see details on the rest of my fall show lineup, go to the Current Schedule page.

Got some nice news last week that a set of my pots got accepted into the Potters Council “Fill-adelphia” Show that will take place at A Show of Hands Gallery during NCECA 2010 in Philadelphia.  Below is a photo of the set — they are cone ten stoneware, glazed in Shaner Red, with wax resist leaf patterns and then an overspray of two glazes (Blue Ash and Ken’s Black).  The show will be up March 19-April 30, 2010.

To see the other work accepted in the show, go to this Potters Council Announcement.

Here are three photos I took for Saturday’s Kiln Opening.   I posted these photos in the kiln shed, next to the kiln in which I had replaced a few of the fired pots.  The rest of the work was on tables nearby.  The exercise gave people a good sense of the process of salt firing.  An altogether enjoyable weekend, helped by lovely weather and friendly visitors!

I am trying something new — a Kiln Opening.  It won’t be a true Kiln Opening, in the sense that we will all stand around and see the work emerge for the first time from the kiln.  Instead, I will have already taken out the pots, cleaned and priced them, and then returned them to the spots where they stood during the firing.

Salt glazed pots require grinding and cleaning.  Plus, I need to look at them for a while before I am willing to send them out into the world — to record glaze results, test them for heat resistance, and most importantly, to see what they look like!  So this will be as close to a true Kiln Opening as I can manage.  The pots won’t be still warm from firing, but the brownies and coffee will be.  Please come by if you’re in the area!

Woodfired teapot by Nan Rothwell

We just finished a great weekend workshop on Altering Thrown Forms.  Talented folks making lots of fun & interesting work.  The weather cooperated, the food was good.  All in all, a fine time.  Now I am looking for a couple more people to reach a quorum for the Teapot workshop coming up on August 22-23.  This workshop will be geared to working potters and serious students who want to spend two days focused on teapots.  We’ll experiment with different lids, handles, and textures on thrown teapots.  Please help me spread the word!

We have at least two more videos in the works – one on making an oval vase and one on decorating a lamp using a wiggle wire.  Alan and I had fun filming them, and I am looking forward to seeing his finished products.

There are still some spots available in my July 11-12 Workshop on Altering Thrown Forms.  Details on the Workshop Page We’ll do the two-part construction shown in the pitcher video; make oval and squared forms; and play around with wiggle wires and other surface decoration tools.

Here’s an example of a wiggle-wired lamp.  I love the way the surface resembles Harris Tweed.