From the Ground Up

Web Site: www.fromthegrounduppots.com

E-Mail: mahanpots@rtmc.net

Bio

Michael Mahan has been making decorative and functional pottery in the Seagrove area for 25 years. A former newspaper reporter, he now lives in Westmoore, nine miles south of Seagrove at his pottery, From the Ground Up. He owned and operated Wild Rose Pottery in Whynot until 1998 when he moved to Westmoore to renovate a barn and outbuildings on the site where Moore County traditional potter W.J. Stewart worked in the 1890s.

Michael combines ancient and modern firing techniques to achieve pieces that reveal the unique relationship between clay and fire.

Michael's latest work involves trees. I grew up drawing them. I've always loved trees, especially bare trees. Leafless, old trees. There was something mystical about a lone tree standing in a field of grass. I remember a tree in the Florida Keys, rising out of shallow water in some salty lagoon. It had died long ago, but its skeleton remained standing. The ancient Celts loved trees. Their alphabet consisted of twenty symbols, each representing a sacred tree. In turn, each tree represented a feeling, attribute or essence.

While I enjoy spending time creating artistic work; I love production pottery urning out mugs, bowls, plates, pitchers and other functional items of similar size and shape. Production work taps into a flow of energy, experienced as passion, through my direct contact with the spinning clay. Pots literally flow from my fingertips. My artistic work addresses this flow of energy in a visual way: the finished piece is meant to inspire a sense of connection with the universe - passion - that I experience when at the wheel.

He continues to create functional dinnerware using his trademark southwestern and ash glazes. His customers continue to find his "soul pots" irresistible and are taking great pleasure in the soothing qualities of his meditation bells. Located just off the main road in 30 acres of woods, From the Ground Up continues to breathe new life into an ancient craft.