Jump to content

How Have You Included Pottery In Your Holiday Or Vacation?|December 3, 2013


Recommended Posts

Two years ago the wife and I flew from DFW to Charlotte, rented a car and drove to Seagrove NC.  Visited about 10 potters then on to Blowing Rock to drive the parkway back down to Charlotte.  We usually come home from a vacation with a suitcase full of mugs.  Got them from France, Holland, Germany, Wales,  England and several states.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everywhere in the world I have traveled I've made a point to visit museums with pottery sections. While everybody else was oohing and awing the gold stuff at the Cairo museum I was drooling over the old cracked pots... On a good note I had the room to myself and spent as much time as I wanted without someone pushing me along. When I went to the England and did the mandatory viewing of the Crown Jewels all I thought was yawn I wonder how long it takes to get to the London museum to see some really good stuff. I did stuff like that everywhere France, Germany, Greece, Jordan etc I'd think oh yay gold and sparkles BORRRINNGG GIVE ME A POT SHARD TO SEE YIPEEE.

 

I also went to a working pottery in Peru and watched them make pots and got to purchase a tiny one to bring home with me. Now THAT was super cool and way cooler than Inca Gold.

 

I just don't get people's fascination with gold when you can see pots instead I guess there are some really weird people out there.

 

Terry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

in 2003 virgin atlantic offered a buy it right now price one way ticket to london for $100.  had to go between january and the first of april.  i called a friend in LA and she and i met at Heathrow.  we rented a car and took off for John Leach's studio.  we hit many places that were not potteries, Wells Cathedral and York Minster, but they were few. got to see the david leach retrospective and meet him in his studio as well.  got to St Ives and Penzance, stayed in hostels all over cornwall.  bought pots, shopped at Oxfam, watched potters, ate in many pubs.  had a great time and only spent $1000 for the 10 days we were gone.  incredible trip.  i repeated it the next year when the same offer came up.  took a different person, stayed at seth cardew's  B&B, a place that makes chimney pots, and more hostels. got to the Ashmolean but missed staying at an ancient castle because it did not open until april 1 and that was when i turned into a pumpkin and had to go home.  sigh......................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally got to the Ashmolean after 30 years of waiting. Fantastic museum. Back in 1983 I was fortunate to have tea with Janet Leach at St. Ives and she showed me her collection of Bernard Leach pots that he had made for her. Our ferry from Santander was delayed for 24 hours at the port of at Plymouth due to bad weather. Cornwall is like no where else. Almost like the Shire.Spent a lot of time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and visited the guild Gallery across the street. Great pots.

For Thanksgiving, we ate on my dinner set, and handmade pots from friends.


Marcia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Visiting studios, galleries, and museums on vacation was part of the deal when we got married.  Our last trip in Oct. to San Antonio we shopped and visited with potters at a studio, went to a glass blowing factory and watched demos.  Had a museum trip planned but it turned out they had the same show of Blackware by Maria that we had seen the month before in Tulsa.   Denice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In future, now that we're both retiring, my husband and I want to visit places where we can rent a cottage or house and get into the rhythm of the place we're staying. I want to understand places and the people in them. We'd also like to spend time in Appalachia, where there are many craft schools. My husband is interested in woodworking so we'd spend a few weeks, each learning more about something we're interested in. Mostly we'll be at home, gardening, potting, woodworking and taking as much time as we want to hone our skills.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yessity, yes. My best vacations have been pottery tours, frequently with a fellow potter or two or three or four.

 

All around England, Wales and Scotland, several times. Museums and shows in London, Cornwall, St. Ives,

Aberystwyth International Ceramics Festival, France for La Borne, and some back roads, La Meridiana in Italy, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and last, but not least, North Carolina. And it's a struggle not to bring too much back. Ruth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Five years ago, I started taking clay to campgrounds and RV parks where we generally spent weekends or an ocassional week.  Nothing seems to start a conversation faster than an old guy sitting by a campfire making clay ocarinas (flutes). I probably spend way too much time on these projects for what they sell for, but I don't have a problem investing the time when it brings joy to me and new friends to the campfire.

 

Transporting greenware is frought with challenges, so most of the pieces are small and end up riding home packed around pillows or cushions (much to the wife's dismay).  I do have a small wheel that makes those trips, and that too can draw a crowd...but handbuilding ceramic musical instruments just seems to 'fit' with camping.

 

Recent Ocarina

Video Sampler

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I recently returned from a trip to Panama and Columbia which I wanted to include pottery. But I lost my nerve. I did some research and to seek out local artisans it would have required traveling off the beaten path. In the future I will plan far enough in advance to build it in. It will help writing off some of my travel and be a great experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently returned from a trip to Panama and Columbia which I wanted to include pottery. But I lost my nerve. I did some research and to seek out local artisans it would have required traveling off the beaten path. In the future I will plan far enough in advance to build it in. It will help writing off some of my travel and be a great experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're looking to include ceramics in any of your upcoming trips and you are an active member of Potters Council.  I recommend that you use the Online Member Directory resource to find members who live and work where you will be visiting.  You can contact them for recommendations on things to do and see in clay and maybe meet up for some networking.

 

Here is the link to the online Member Directory: http://ceramicartsdaily.org/potters-council-members/connect-with-members-around-the-world/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We went to the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica this winter and worked with some local artisans. The priest who ran their pottery passed away last year, so the pottery has closed and they don't have a kiln, but it was fun to work with the people there and make some work out of clay from the rain forest. I hope to return one day!  It would be an ideal place to create an artist residency program, but it would take a lot of work. Thanks for this thread, great topic!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Evelyne, yes, here is the link again (below), thanks for the interest! If that doesn't work, it is a post on my FB page from January 1, 2014

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Meya-ceramic-artist/212979116404

 

It was truly a grass roots effort on my part to contact them, but it was so worth it!!

 

 

<div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>

<div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152103150386405&id=212979116404" data-width="466"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152103150386405&id=212979116404">Post</a> by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Meya-ceramic-artist/212979116404">Amy Meya ceramic artist</a>.</div></div>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.