Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Welcome to the BMCA Clay Studio Blog!!

We are excited about entering into the blog world because we have so many exciting things happening at the studio that people need to know about.









First of all, a brief history on who we are and how we came about:
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts Clay Studio is tucked back behind the Center for the Arts in the Old City Garage. Our building has gone through many renovations in the past several years to become what you see today.



The Clay studio began when Morning Sky Pottery was held and operated out of the building by Geoff Byrd, who we are still fortunate to have in the studio.


With the help of Gale Jackson and her grant writing abilities and passion to have a community pottery studio part of the Center for the Arts the process began.


Many people have worked very hard to have this building serve as it does today.



Gale and Rita operate and run the Center for the Arts and the Clay Studio. Many Board members have helped do everything from plumbing and building to creating signs for the outside. Resident potters Geoff Byrd, AJ Reisman, Lane Kauffman and Annie Singletary helped to fully outfit the studio to be in working order. A lot of people have put a lot into this space and we are proud to say our doors have been opened 1 year and we are going strong.



Today, the residents and wonderful studio assistant Maureen Joyce have the studio open to the public several times a week and classes are held within these times as well.

We need your help to keep up the momentum. The purpose of this blog is to spread the word about us and to keep those involved motivated and encouraged to continue in clay.

Our community is saturated with talented people waiting to get their hands in clay and they may not know that just around the corner is a place where they can do just that.

So send your friends to this blog, tell all you know of your experiences in clay and let's help to keep our clay community thriving.

We will have small write ups about people involved in the studio, interesting facts, tips, stories, sometimes maybe some random things.
We encourage you to leave comments to let us know of things you are interested in having on here.

These were made as a donation to the studio to help beautify. Didn't they do a great job!
Pottery Classes: 4 and 8-week sessions of 2-hour classes are available at various times on weekdays. Cost is $90 for 4-weeks, or $180 for an 8-week session, which includes Open Studio practice times, plus a $35 Lab fee that covers 25 lbs. of clay, glazing and firing. Teachers: Lane Kaufmann, AJ Reisman, Geoff Bird, and Annie Singletary.

Call The Black Mountain Center for the Arts @ (828)669-0930 for more information