SEAGROVE POTTERS ANNOUNCE
CAMPBELL HOUSE SHOWCASE
For immediate release
July 9, 2008
SEAGROVE, NC -- The Arts Council of Moore County announced this week it will showcase the work of a large group of Seagrove potters participating in an inaugural pottery festival organized by and for the potters of this rural community of clay artists. Celebration of Seagrove Potters will be held Nov. 22 and 23. Potters will display their work at the historic Campbell House in Southern Pines during the month of November.
"The Arts Council of Moore County looks forward to the upcoming November exhibition at Campbell House featuring the potters participating in the new festival in Seagrove," said Katherine MacRae, program director of Arts Council of Moore County.
More than 60 of the 90-some pottery shops that dot the rural countryside of Randolph, Moore and Montgomery counties have committed to share their talent with the public the weekend before Thanksgiving.
The Seagrove area potters will sell and demonstrate inside the old Luck's Beans plant on NC 705, known as Pottery Highway. Organizers say they have plenty of parking spaces and ample space in the 25,000-square-foot facility to put on a first-class show. The festival will include pottery sales, demonstrations, music, food and other activities.
"This is a hands-on festival, where visitors can get some clay under their fingernails," said Ben Owen III, chairperson for the event.
The Seagrove area is world-famous for its rich continuing history of pottery making, dating back to the 1700s. While known for its pottery, Seagrove also has a tradition in canning beans. Mountainview Cannery was created in the late 1940s by Ivey B. Luck, Alfred Spencer and H. Clay Presnell. Spencer and Presnell sold out to Luck and the establishment became Luck's.
A group of Seagrove potters last month organized a steering committee to look into putting on their own festival the same weekend as the 26-year-old Seagrove Pottery Festival. The Seagrove Pottery Festival is organized by the Museum of NC Traditional Pottery in Seagrove.
Organizers of Celebration of Seagrove Potters say creating a new festival in Seagrove is a response to Seagrove potters' concerns with leadership at the Museum of NC Traditional Pottery and repeated negative publicity expressed by one of its board members over the past several years. The group also says the museum board has not been open with its budgeting and spending practices.
For more information about the Celebration of Seagrove Potters:
website: http://www.CelebrationOfSeagrovePotters.com
email: publicity@celebrationofseagrovepotters.com
pictures: http://www.CelebrationOfSeagrovePotters.com/press/
Ben Owen, III (Chair) 336-879-2262
Michael Mahan (Publicity) 910-464-6228
