Artist, Mike Baum
Dillsboro Hosts 12th Annual WNC Pottery Festival
The 12th Annual WNC Pottery Festival will be held in downtown Dillsboro on Saturday, November 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event was included among Southeast Tourism Society’s “Top 20 Southeast Arts Events” last year and will feature 42 master potters.
A co-founder of the event, Joe Frank McKee of Treehouse Pottery, says that “friendly and welcoming” Dillsboro is the ideal site for a festival that “began on a whim” and has evolved into a national event for potters and pottery lovers. “It is like one big family at the event,” he says. “Plus you will see the beautiful colors of the mountains.”
Ohio potter Mike Baum has been the top seller at the show for six years. He says, “WNC Pottery Festival has been the best in the 36 years that we have been doing festivals.” He and wife Karen travel to 14 shows a year and sell from their home gallery. Baum studied at Penland School of Crafts and creates functional pieces that are uniform in size. “Our customers like the utility of our pots and being able to stack plates and bowls easily in the kitchen.”
Sarah Wells Rolland of Asheville was a featured potter at last year’s show and will return to exhibit and demonstrate. In 2011 she and husband George founded The Village Potters—a collective of working studios, showrooms and a teaching center with 24 interns who will exhibit and demonstrate along with Rolland at the festival. She will have a kiln opening of their Kazegama, with proceeds donated to a community kitchen in Dillsboro in return for support they have received at the festival.
Admission to the festival is $5 with children under 12 admitted free. For more information, visit wncpotteryfestival.com.
