Clay Club meeting time changes for September and November and a question about October Clay Club

Heads up, Clay Clubbers! Here's some important info about the next few Clay Club meetings (apologies in advance for the length of this post - there's a short summary at the end):

For September - we'll be meeting at new Creative Arts Building at Haywood Community College. It looks like the date of our September meeting may need to be changed from our usual second Wednesday, and we may not know until on or about September 14. Jeff Chown, the North American representative for the Netherlands based kiln company, Blaauw Kilns, will present info about Blauuw's innovative high tech kilns. Also, Terry Gess (Clay Instructor, Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Pottery Program, and studio potter) will show us the Haywood Community College facility and do a demo and an interesting slide lecture. Keep a lookout for an email with the date and details for our September meeting. We'll let you know as soon as we can.

For November - guest speaker Alex Glover will give a presentation on his research into Wedgwood and North Carolina kaolin. Alex is teaching a class on Wednesdays, and can't make our usual meeting time. At the last Clay Club meeting we discussed whether to schedule a different day for October or November. Clubbers said that October was a busy month and November would be better, so: November Clay Club will take place Thursday, November 12 at 6 pm at John Britt's studio near Penland. Here's Alex's summary of his presentation:

The title of the talk will be "Americas First Kaolin- The Cherokee Wedgwood Connection". The talk presents Josiah Wedgwood's quest for Cherokee Clay from the Americas as he commissions Charleston planter Thomas Griffiths to acquire the clay that was reportedly used by Andre Duche. Griffiths encountered many difficulties along the 300 mile journey but did acquire 5 tons of clay and delivered to Staffordshire England, and there is more to the story!

This leaves October. Based on the feedback at the last Clay Club I'm wondering two things: 1) whether to have Clay Club in October since it's a busy time for a lot of folks (and October Clay Club has been canceled in the past), and 2) if we do meet in October: is there anybody - especially anybody in or near Asheville - who would be willing to host? (I've had a number of requests for meetings in or closer to Asheville. I know lately our meetings have all been in the greater Burnsville/Spruce Pine/Bakersville area but that's because it is those folks who have offered to host.) Let me know in the comments below or by emailing me at amy@amywallerpottery.com.

To sum up:

September Clay Club will be at Haywood Community College, date to be announced.

October Clay Club: let me know if you'd like to meet in October and, if so, if you'd like to host, or know someone who'd like to host (especially if you're in or near Asheville).

November Clay Club will take place at 6 pm on Thursday, November 12, at John Britt Pottery near Penland. Alex Glover will be our guest presenter.