Guest Blogger

I am most pleased to present to you a guest blogger, Sharon, who is a master potter in many ways and to have her share with my Mom and me her expertise in the field of pottery and excitement with us on a Friday night in South Georgia topped off the evening. And here she is! Thanks Sharon.

I'm just finishing the last bite of a fairly decent tuna sandwich and my mind is rummaging through all the memories of the neat things I did last night with Cathy and Jo Ann (Cathy's Mom). It was a night of great camaraderie. Even the hour-long drive to and from Thomasville was fun. We chatted about everything, though knitting was a strong recurring theme. The evening's mission: dinner and a classical concert.

Upon arriving in Thomasville , we headed to George and Louie's for dinner. It was quite scrumptious; Cathy and her mom ordered the Gyro and I had the Oyster Poor Boy. G & L's has fried green tomatoes, a delicious and unusual menu offering, and their onion rings are the best. We ordered both to round out our meal. Filled to the brim, and the happier for it, we set our sights for the Thomasville Cultural Center for a concert by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami String Quartet. It was a wonderful performance. You could tell the musicians were enjoying it as well. Cathy is mastering the art of knitting socks on two circular needles and she showed me her latest work while we were waiting for the program to begin. Doggoned! We should have gotten a version of, "the sock was here", picture. (editorial comment: sock must have been snoozing....)

Anyway...

In addition to the concert, the Cultural Center was hosting an exhibit of pottery from regional collections. My father, Ralph Weaver, had 4 of his original pieces on exhibit and my husband and I had contributed a Lanier Meaders face jug to the show(shown below).

The exhibit was being taken down in a few days and I was afraid I would miss it. As it happened, the pottery was displayed on the floor we entered, and we had plenty of time to see it before the program started....


Cathy, Joe Ann and I wandered through the exhibit, enchanted by the details, imaginative motifs and sheer variety of claywork, when I exclaimed,

"That looks like a Picasso!"

I pointed to a large white plate-form with the abstract image of a face sculpted on it. Knowing how artists "borrow" ideas from other artists, I never dreamed it could be an original. It was! There were three more very nice examples of his clay work as well. His is the name that would lend this display distinction with most people.

However, two other artists of much greater stature in the pottery world were also represented, to my great delight: Shoji Hamada, (a press-formed bottle and platter), and Bernard Leach, (a temmoku glazed vase-form). These, in my opinion were the jewels of the show. Not only because they were lovely pieces, but because they represented the works of two influential men in the Craft-Art Movement. I have perused Leach's publications, A Potter's Book, over and over, studied pictures of their pottery extensively, but never seen either of their artwork in person. Hamada was even awarded the title of National Living Treasure by his country. Yes, I guess I am swooning. It was wonderful show, and every piece in the exhibit was a treat. I was especially proud that my dad's work was represented there.
As a potter who hasn't made any pots in a long, long time, this exhibit made me yearn to play in the mud again.