Are We Winning Yet?

I am not too proud to admit that I am really struggling right now. The state of our nation with DT in the White House, combined with Covid-19, has twisted my head and heart into a knot.

North Carolina's Covid-19 case numbers have been increasing by the thousands EVERY DAY. We finally have a statewide mask order but it isn't enforced, and many ignore it. I am extremely disappointed that our local potters organization voted to move forward with a studio tour this month. I am not sure what people don't understand about the "Safer at Home" phase that we are in. Many organizations have moved their pottery tours to an online event. I have heard that the potters had very good sales. Most of the pottery shops in Seagrove are quite small. Many, ours included, can only accommodate 2-3 shoppers inside due to the half capacity limitations that are now in place. We are happy to be open online only during this time. I feel it's reckless to be promoting an in-person studio tour. Pottery is not a necessity during a pandemic. Wearing a mask and staying home is.

I fear that if my community, along with our state, can't get it's act together, I may never see my Dad in New Hampshire again. He is 93, and in a nursing home. The isolation has been very difficult for him. My daughter is in Connecticut where they have travel restrictions in place. North Carolina is one of those restricted States. I would have to quarantine for 14 days if I visited her, and she would have to quarantine 14 days if she returned from visiting me. She is a sales rep for a large veterinary pharmaceuticals company. She has worked from home since March and her company doesn't expect to send them back into the field in the foreseeable future, and even then they will have a strict protocol to follow. Connecticut has had a mask mandate since the beginning of all this. EVERYONE wears them. North Carolina has surpassed them in case numbers.

The icing on the proverbial cake came late yesterday. I went to nearby Asheboro for groceries. As I entered the store through the "one way entrance" a mask-less young woman nearly ran into me exiting the store. Sadly, I recognized her as an employee at a Seagrove establishment. She obviously has total disregard for others. I grabbed a cart and headed to the produce department.

It was nearly wiped out.

No lemons to be found. No grapes. Only a couple bags of cole slaw mix and hardly any lettuce. My favorite brand of Greek yogurt based salad dressing was sold out. Luckily there were tomatoes, bananas, and onions. I am glad we are still getting lettuce and arugula from our garden! We should have plenty of green beans in a week, along with okra.
Meat was plentiful this week but canned tomatoes were picked over along with the prepared spaghetti sauces and pasta, which I don't typically buy anyway. I am beginning to think this is our new normal.
At the rate we are going it will get worse before it gets better.

Celebration of Spring in Seagrove

 We are getting some beautiful light in the studio in the late afternoon. I probably could have turned off the spot lamps and carved in the natural light.

Jeff and I are working on some collaborative pieces in preparation for the annual Celebration of Spring Studio Tour, here in Seagrove, NC. It's a great weekend to visit pottery country. Lots of demos, studio tours, and snacks to keep you fed throughout the day. Save the date:

April 22 - 23, 2017

Most shops will be open 10-5, with a few open earlier.

We will have tour maps at our gallery to start you on your way.

Michèle Hastings & Jeff Brown Pottery

505 E Main St.

Seagrove, NC 27341

Pick Yourself Up...

and dust yourself off. That's about all you can do after a very disappointing studio tour. Jeff and I spent half of Thursday and all day Friday, cleaning and rearranging our studio and gallery space. We didn't finish until 11:00pm, which is when we started to cook dinner.

I filled cache pots and vases with flowers and put our special event signs out by the road.

Our three "open" flags were flying outside at 9:45 in the morning. It was after 11:00 am before we saw people. It wasn't until noon that we had our first sale... $20.00.

Halfway through the day we were worried that we weren't even going to recover the fee we paid to be part of the tour. By 5:00 pm we had 7 small sales. All we could do was hope for a better Sunday.
But it didn't happen. We had a small amount of visitors, and three sales.

I can't even express how disappointed, and worried we are about how the weekend went. We were prepared for extra traffic, since we are now "in town". In the past this has been a REALLY good event for us. It has provided us with a boost in revenue, after the long slow winter. We are scrambling to find a way to recover.

Some say  it's a new location and it will take time to re-establish. Perhaps, but ours sales were four times better during our first Spring studio tour, when hardly anyone knew who we were. One of the biggest drawbacks for us right now, is that we are in the wrong location on the Seagrove potters map. The new map was printed a few months before we moved. The studio tour map had us in the right location, but the map was extremely small this year and you needed a magnifying glass to read it. Most of our visitors said they weren't using the tour map, just the list of participants on one side and were cross referencing them on the big map... which has us in the wrong location.

Our best sale of the weekend came at 5:00 on Sunday, when a young couple came hurrying in and said,"We finally found you!". They drove by the log cabin and we weren't there. Eventually they landed at Creations, a gallery in town, who then told them where to find us. A big thank you to the fine folks who run the gallery!

photo credit: Lee Love

Jeff said next year we should get one of these "pottery head" costumes. One of us can wear it and dance around at the end of the driveway to draw attention to us.
If we are desperate, we just might.

 8th Annual Celebration of Spring Studio Tour & Kiln Opening

Seagrove, NC

It's a gorgeous Spring day in Seagrove, perfect for touring the potteries. Jeff and I worked hard to get the studio and gallery all spiffy, and we are ready for company. I have pots slipped and ready to carve. If you like watching grass grow, stop in and see the process. I am sure that while you are here you'll find the perfect piece of pottery to take home with you.

Michèle Hastings & Jeff Brown Pottery

505 E. Main St.

Seagrove, NC 27341

Saturday April 16, 10:00 - 5:00

Sunday April 17, 10:00 - 5:00

Warning: Politics are Involved in this Post

I typically avoid posting about politics, but the HB2 law, that passed in North Carolina has me more than a little concerned and I feel the need to talk about it. This law might be referred to as the "bathroom law", but it extends much further than that. I am sure you all know the details and if you don't here is a link to an article in the Charlotte Observer that breaks it down quite well: Understanding HB2. 

I feel like the state has taken a backwards step in time, and a lot of people are going to be affected, not only LGBT, but businesses across the state. Everyday new companies and organizations are boycotting North Carolina.

How will this law affect our pottery sales here in Seagrove? Only time will tell. The annual Spring Studio Tour is next weekend. We really need this boost in sales after a lackluster holiday season and a slow winter. I hope that pottery collectors realize that the small minded decision made by NC legislature is something that Jeff and I are against. North Carolina needs our vote, please continue to support us.

In order to lighten the mood, I'll end on a humorous note...

The local grocery store is now selling paper products by the pound! I wonder if it's a better deal that way? :-)

Celebration of Spring in Seagrove!

The Celebration of Spring Pottery Studio Tour is my most FAVORITE event of the year! The countryside is green, the flowers are blooming. It's a perfect time to get the spring cleaning done in the gallery, rearrange inventory, and put out new pots.

Happy couple with a new vessel sink for their bathroom remodel

It was super busy day. Barely enough time to eat lunch in shifts. We still have some nice pots available and day two starts tomorrow. If you are in the area, please stop in!

Seagrove Potters Celebration of Spring Studio Tour & Kiln Opening

April 18 & 19, 2015

1423 NC Hwy 705

Seagrove, NC

Open both days - 10am - 5pm

The Celebration of Spring Studio Tour is my favorite event of the year. The countryside has sprung back to life, the grass is green, the trees are leafing out, and lots of flowers are blooming. It seems that no matter what the weather, there is a good turnout for this event.

Along with our "standards" from the gas kiln, we will have lots of new wood fired pots in the gallery.

If you are a tea or sake lover, Jeff has some real beauties from the last two wood firings.

There are 40+ potters on the tour this year. Many will offer demonstrations, refreshments, and door prizes. I will be working on carving a large ginkgo leaf bowl, and I am thinking Jeff will throw something big on Saturday afternoon. We have tour maps available in our gallery. Round up your friends and family and make Seagrove your destination this weekend!

We Celebrated Spring in Seagrove...

We had a really great turnout for the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour last weekend and lots of pots went to new homes. The weather was absolutely perfect and I am sure that helped bring people out to wander the country roads of Seagrove. We unloaded the kiln on Friday evening. It was great firing. There was only one order that has to be a do-over. It's not scheduled to be shipped until the end of May so we have plenty of time. Here are a few pics of the new pots.

I am loving this celadon on porcelain. It feels so good in in your hands. I had one with a cracked rim so I am keeping that one for me.

I fired four ovals and not a single one cracked... hurray!

There were a few of the mugs with underglaze in this firing. This one is my favorite. It's a wee little mug, about 8oz. The one finger handle, down low, is a first for me. Clicking on the photo will take you to Etsy. I will be adding some of the new pots to the shop over the next few days.

Tomorrow I am flying to New Hampshire to say good bye to my Mom. She is receiving hospice care in the nursing home and they tell us it's just a matter of days before she is gone. I hope that she hangs on until I arrive. We are all very thankful that she hasn't been in pain. My mother has a big family. She is the third oldest of ten kids. Her much younger brothers are taking shifts to stay with her overnight, so that she isn't alone and my Dad can go home and get some rest. I think that's the sweetest thing. 

Back at it

Two weeks away from clay and the skin on my hands has gone all wimpy. After a day of glazing they feel like sandpaper! I spent most of the day brushing on underglaze and wiping it off.

 These porcelain tumblers will be glazed in my Temple white, while the mugs below will be nuka.

I thought I had brought all the mugs into the studio today but noticed when I was heading into the house that I missed a ware board and a half that was on a higher shelf next to bisque kiln. I am sort of relieved that I had more pots made than I thought I had. We have galleries needing work, a small show next month, along with the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour. I am on my own for the studio tour... Jeff received his invitation to go back to Korea in April. The dates coincide with the Celebration event this year. It seems we haven't been seeing much of each other lately! What's the old saying... absence makes the heart grow fonder?  Jeff will be back from his three day teaching gig shortly and I plan to cook him dinner and we will have a relaxing evening with (hopefully) no work needing to be done.

Holiday Open House in Seagrove - Saturday, December 14, 2013

Less than one week until our annual Holiday Open House. We have been working like crazy to finish Christmas orders and have new pots ready for the event. There will be LOTS of bowls, in both the my ginkgo leaf pattern and Jeff's aqua and shino carved designs. We also have a nice selection of wood fired pots from the most recent firing with Fred Johnston. We are located at:

1423 NC Hwy 705, Seagrove (across from the Whynot Wesleyan Church)

Open from 10am to 5pm


Plan to spend the day in Seagrove... SIX other shops will also have kiln openings! Pick up a SAPA map and mark these locations to visit:

Michèle Hastings & Jeff Brown Pottery

Bulldog Pottery

Ben Owen Pottery

Donna Craven Pottery

Dean & Martin Pottery

Johnston & Genthithes Art Pottery

From the Ground Up Pottery

Getting Ready for the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour

Jeff and I are doing some collaborative vases for the upcoming studio tour. Jeff threw some larger than I make vases, then handed them to me to carve away...

I always get a little nervous at making that first mark on Jeff's pots. After that first pass with the carving tool, the fear subsides!

Seagrove Area Potters Spring Studio Tour

April 20 & 21, 2013

38 area potteries will be participating. Tour maps are available at participating studios, now and on the weekend of the event. www.discoverseagrove.com

Advertising Your Open Studio On Social Media

I have been plotting this post in my head for over a month, but it took until now to have time to put it in writing. I am the administrator for a number of facebook pages, both in New Hampshire and in Seagrove. Most of these pages have numerous admins so thankfully I am not in it alone!
One of the tasks involved is sharing member events on the organization's page. These can range from exhibitions, awards, shows, and open studios. If the member posts on the page it is only seen by people going directly to the page. If an event is posted or shared by an admin, it shows up in the newsfeed of most everyone who "likes" the page. Over the last two months I had the opportunity to read many posts advertising holiday open studios. Prior to sharing or posting the events on the group page, I found myself asking each artist for the same details. Here is a list of things that will help to better promote your event on facebook.

1. Create a business/artist page on Facebook. Always post your events there. It doesn't mean you can't do it on your personal page too, but a business page allows for more opportunity to share the event. If you belong to a larger organization, such as an artist guild, the admin from that group can share your event from your business page. If it is on your personal page, the organization's page can't go there and share.

2. Include a photo with your post. People like to look at pictures and your post is less apt to go unnoticed in the stream of content if it includes a good image.

3. Be sure to include all the pertinent details - date, time, address, and perhaps a link to your website. I know this sounds like a silly thing to mention, but this is where many artists dropped the ball. Most everyone included the date, yet more than HALF had no address! How are people supposed to find your studio if you don't give an address? I guess the people posting their event on their personal page figured their "friends" know where they live... not always true, AND wouldn't you like to expand your buying audience?
I realize many people are afraid to post their address on social media, but if you are using it to promote your business you have to let go of that fear or only conduct business through shows and galleries. A few artists that I encountered over the holidays did have links to their websites. Most of those sites only had an e-mail contact and no address. If it's too much work to find out the location of a sale, most people won't bother with it.

Spring open studios will be here before you know it, and it's never too early to start planning. When thinking about advertising the most important thing to remember is the old fashioned, Who, What, When, and Where.

Should you have more tips on using social media to promote your work and events please share by commenting.

it's going to be a three R's weekend...

Randolph Ramble and ROB!

This weekend we are participating in the first annual Randolph Ramble Studio Tour. We are one of five potteries, along with Co-op of Seagrove Potters, located in Seagrove who are on the tour. The tour rambles through Randolph County, with stops at 23 artist's studio, who will be exhibiting, demonstrating and selling a wide range of work. Click here for a map of the tour! You'll also see more info under events, on the left side of the blog.
Jeff and I will being doing pottery demos throughout each day and our special guest Rob might get in on the action...

Vase by Rob Buller

Rob has a few days off from his teaching job at Chawan University in Murfreesboro, NC and he is going to hang out with us here in Seagrove. We always have a great time when Rob visits. The three of us will work in the studio together, I may even ask Rob to throw some vases for us to collaborate on. Friday night we are dragging him along to the "Meet and Greet the Artists" reception at the Moring Arts Center. The reception will kick off the Ramble and will be from 6 pm - 8 pm. Moring Arts Center is located at 123 Sunset Ave., Asheboro, NC. If you are in the area stop in!

Recovering from the weekend...

Celebration of Spring in Seagrove has come and gone and overall we were pleased with the weekend. The weather cooperated (for the most part) on Saturday and we were able to fire the raku kiln once. I use a bisqued plate to fire pendant tiles. This way the tongs can grab the edge of the plate, lift it out of the kiln, and be dropped into the reduction can. Unfortunately I used a plate that Jeff brought home from a neighboring pottery (I usually make my own)... neither one of us gave any thought to the fact that it may be made out of a clay body that can't take the quick firing of raku. The plate was on a pedestal shelf in the kiln, the edge cracked off and a few of the pendants fell onto some glaze tests below. When Jeff reached in to grab the plate more tiles fell off and onto the floor of the kiln. Long story short, the raku tongs BROKE, the other pair we have had broken some months ago and weren't fixed yet... we had to use fireplace tongs to remove the rest of the pieces. Shortly after cleaning up the disaster we had a huge downpour. It didn't last long but it helped us make the decision to not fire again. At least there were lots of people watching, who hopefully can now appreciate the work that goes into raku firing!
In between all this we were talking to customers and selling pots. One of our repeat customers brought us a gift...

12 pounds of beans from the Indian Market near her home! Evidently the last time she was in, her and Jeff had a lengthy discussion about beans. She even brought us some large jars with labels to store them in! The ironic thing about this gift is that two weeks ago Jeff and I decided we were eating too much meat and that we were going to eat more plant based meals. We have a bunch of Moosewoods Restaurant cookbooks so I have been trying out some new recipes. Last night I made veggie burgers with a combination of black beans & pinto beans.

They were delicious and rather easy to make... and everything is better with tater tots!

Despite off and on rain all day yesterday, we had a steady stream of customers. The weather prevented us from firing the raku kiln and we were actually relieved. Jeff had been up late on Saturday, glazing pots and loading the gas kiln again. On Sunday morning he bricked up the door and starting firing once more. Yesterday afternoon I sent him off to bed for a nap and I took care of customers and the kiln. He leaves for S. Korea in two days and I thought he looked like he was needing a break. The kiln is loaded with an order going to Canada and tea bowls that he will take to Korea. I think I have only a couple of pots in there. The kiln was done at 11:30, which means we had a good nights sleep.
A desperately  needed, good nights sleep.

P.S. from the raku firing I had one nice wall tile... it was the only survivor.

A walk around the pottery...

2012 Celebration of Spring in Seagrove, Studio Tour & Kiln Openings

April 21st & 22nd

Plan to spend some time at our studio, Michèle Hastings & Jeff Brown Pottery, and participate in a raku firing. Click HERE for more details. It's going to be a fun weekend in Seagrove!

Download a map of the studio tour HERE

Celebration of Spring 2011 - Day Two

gorgeous weather for day two of the studio tour!  we had a steady stream of visitors that kept us on our toes but it was definitely more of a tourist day than a collectors spending money kind of day.  never the less we did make some sales, had fun, and enjoyed the sunshine.  the yard looked great with all the flowers that are in bloom.

jeff's mom and brother john spent the afternoon with us... they even glazed a couple of pots for the firing.    i wish i had snapped some photos of them with their pots before they went home with them.

when the day was over and the crowd was gone, jeff and i looked at each other and said... let's do one more raku firing!  we still had pots left so why not do a firing without having to be the entertainment?

we had some great results... sadly the pot above had a crack in it.  

it shall join the other broken pots in the garden.

while we were firing the last round for the day our fellow co-op potter, Nelda French stopped by and the three of us enjoyed a couple of beers together before calling it a day.

Celebration of Spring Studio Tour & Kiln Openings

despite the high winds, rain and occasional thunderstorm, we still had a decent turn out for the studio tour today.  the weather made us change our plans slightly.  we are demonstrating raku firing and have bisqued pots available for customers to purchase, glaze and see the firing process.  our glazing station was supposed to be outside under an EZ up tent.  the wind was crazy and we decided instead to make space in the studio to glaze.  the weather didn't clear until mid-afternoon and we were able to get one firing in.  the wind was still blowing so we needed to be extra careful.

we are looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow and now it's time to kick back and have a beer :-)