Nan Rothwell Pottery

We had a great workshop last week, with attendees coming from Ohio, New York, and North Carolina.  Kevin Crowe and I collaborated on it, with folks spending three days in my studio and then three in his.  We’ve a repeat on the pattern scheduled for August of this year and since everyone liked the format, I am sure we will repeat it next year.

Carter and I fired the salt kiln yesterday.  Tonight was the final Monday class of this session; Wednesday classes finish this week too.  Then we get to unload the salt kiln and get ready for a ten day jaunt to the Pacific Northwest.  I’ll be at NCECA for a few days – drop by to see me Thursday morning or Friday afternoon, when I will be demonstrating in the AMACO booth.  I’m most excited by the opportunity to see Wally Keeler , who will be a featured artist this year.  Wally, who taught at Harrow when I was first learning to make pots, has been a life-long role model for me as the kind of teacher I hope to be.  Then after NCECA we’ll be traveling to British Columbia and the Olympic Peninsula.

I’ll post photos from the salt firing here later this week.

Classes start next week, so I’ve spent the past several days deconstructing the expanded showroom, reinstalling the classroom, and rearranging displays.  Today I took photos on my new iphone and posted them to the Pots In My Showroom page of this website.  A sharp learning curve!  But after a struggle, the page is now reset.  That means that next time I get in the studio I will get to play with clay again!

If you can’t get by the studio but would like to purchase a pot, take a look at that page and then drop me a line or give me a call.  Happy New Year!

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Two nice things to report:

First, we had a great turnout for the Studio Tour this past weekend.

Second, an image of one of my big salt pots will be featured in this 2012 Potters Council Calendar — the Alternative Firings version.  (Check out September…)

While I was at the Potters Council Conference at AMACO/Brent in Indianapolis, we shot a short video.  It came out yesterday on Ceramic Arts Daily.  Take a look!

Two posts in one day!  This has to be a first for me, an only-occasional blogger.  I just got home from a launch party for the new Monticello Artisans Trail.  Nice event in honor of an exciting new project.  Take a look at my pottery’s page on the Trail website.  I am pleased and excited to be part of the Trail, which includes studios in Nelson and Albemarle Counties, plus agri-tourism businesses, craft related galleries, and a number of sponsoring sites.

Here are some images from the salt kiln firing last week.

This week I’m glazing for a stoneware firing.  Hard at work in advance of the Artisans Studio Tour on November 12 & 13.   Penny Sipple will be here with her leather; Greg Sandage with his jewelry.  Check out this brief video about the Tour:

Artisans Studio Tour 2011

I have finally posted new photos of the pots on display in my showroom.  Take a look! The showroom always looks crowded at this time of year as I build up inventory toward the fall.  It’s fun to expand the display area into the classroom every November & December, when I can finally give the work a little visual breathing space.

Other news from here – my friends Betsy Krome, Nancy Ross, Becky Garrity and I had our annual “Clay Camp” here this week.  We get together and share ideas, play with clay, and consume a great quantity of good food.  This year we focused on hand building techniques, although we did a little wheel work too.  Great fun!

We had a great workshop here last week!  Eight people working full out for four full days.  A lot of handsome pots got made.  I love the sharing that happens during these workshops.  And this one seemed particularly rich in exchange of ideas.  I certainly learned a lot!

If you are interested in attending a workshop in my pottery, the upcoming events are listed here,

And some of the wonderful people who attended this workshop were good enough to sign my Guestbook here.