Opportunity to Make High Fire Reduction Pottery in Sanford, NC, AND the Upcoming Mountain State Fair Pottery Expo
1) AVAILABILITY OF STUDIO SPACE IN A VERY LARGE, WELL-EQUIPPED POTTERY WORKSHOP IN SANFORD
NC
(High-Fire Reduction!!!!!)
My studio, D. K. Clay, is located in a 6,000 square-foot brick building. All the flooring is concrete. Warecarts roll easily. We have
sixty warecarts. There is 200 cubic feet of gas kiln capacity in two Bailey downdraft kilns. We have an Alpine 160 cubic
foot updraft kiln in storage.
Immediately outside the building, just off a large wooden deck, we have four tractor trailers with over 120 shelving units and up
to 4,000 square feet of running shelving (could be increased) that is easily accessible.
D. K. Clay blends its own clay body for high-fired stoneware (Cone 9, Reduction). I have been making ceramic products
going on 54 years, and appreciate technical issues (clay, glaze, firing) more than many. In addition to hand-turned
pottery, D. K. Clay has a well-developed slipcast and pr
serving mostly as a nice table. Our glazes are usually mixed with 200 pounds of dry ingredients at a time.
Two very friendly Pit Bulls are in the studio whenever they wish to be, which means when people are in the building.
A third is tremendously anti-social, but not violent.
I am getting interested in having some younger, hungrier potters hanging out at my studio. Eventually, it
would be nice if some of them went on to open their own pottery works in Sanford.
We are located in one of the five-counties considered to be a part of "The Seagrove Area Potteries." Nearby is the
Triangle Region and The Triad. Vibrant pottery communities and pottery guilds exist in both. Potters who come out
of an academic background in ceramics tend to be more sharing that those who grow out of the traditional pottery
families, with so much family history and rivalries.
Accordingly, I have been calling around (NC and beyond) to see how this sort of arrangement is usually structured.
Most offer potters a 10' x 10' personal space. Pricing for this seems to run between $350 - $500 per month. Potters fill
their personal space (a wheel or wheels, table, shelving, warecart/s, etc.). We would include one warecart in the rental
price of each small studio space. Additional warecarts could be rented by any who wish to have them and can fit them
into their space.
I haven't found any larger pottery works that rent extra storage space separate from the personal studio space filled by each
resident potter. I'm willing to explore doing so. My strong preference runs heavily toward folks who are already capable
of production-pottery, or who wish to become so quickly. Our studio might be a good place for an Art Potter to hang
out, especially if he or she is capable of doing production turning to cover the expenses of being here.
Very few "Mother Ship" large studios offer its resident potters anything other than firing in small electric kilns to mid-range
temperatures. Pricing for electric kiln firing is all over the place.
Since 1986, D. K. Clay has been all about Cone 9/10 Reduction. Considering the large investment required to purchase
gas kilns, many are moving more and more toward electric kiln firing, which strikes some of us as being an unfortunate
loss to the wonderful world of pottery-making and all those who yearn to excel in this field.
My present thoughts would be to rent kiln-space at $20.00 for a one foot by two foot shelf with 6" of stacking space top to
bottom. (Other heights are possible at different pricing. None will be less than 4 inches.) To encourage up and coming
production potters, we could work out better rates for multiple shelves. Calculating the "cubic inch" footprint filled by any
single pottery item should remain a happy past-time for ceramic hobbyists.
Resident potters who want to work in a very large, well-equipped pottery studio in Sanford, NC will have the option of paying
cash (or by check) for rent, clay, firing (etc.) or working it off by turning smaller pieces for the Mother Studio to finish and sell.
I decidedly prefer the latter option.
I welcome feedback, especially from any potter who is familiar with how a group of potters can work together positively in
a large, well-equipped studio space.
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The following could be of interest to some potters you would like to share this with, especially if they live in the
western part of our state.
2) Upcoming Mountain State Fair Pottery Expo
My involvement with producing and creating major pottery festivals goes back over 20 years. In 2002,
the NC Department of Agriculture approached me to ask that I create a major event at the State Fair in Raleigh.
We have been there every year of the State Fair since. It enjoys significant growth year by year. We have a 3,600
square foot tent set up and fill it with 4,500 square feet of well-lit retail display. In October 2024, we will take about 70
other potters with us to this event. A small handful of them predictably sell between ten and fifteen thousand dollars
worth of pottery. One has broken into the low-$20,000's. Most (who have the opportunity to return) are in the $2,000
to $4,000 range.
Shelf space each year, ultimately is related to sales produced in that space.
Thousands of people visit our tent every day. Over five thousand receipts were generated during the 10.5 day run
of the State Fair in 2024. We harvest large numbers of email addresses. Hundreds of visitors tell us every year
that they attend the State Fair only to see what we have.
Most exhibitors believe participating in the State Fair Pottery Expo increases the visibility of their work and their
studio throughout the year. I believe potters in the Mountains will reach the same conclusion.
Exhibitors are welcome to be there now and then, but most simply come in to restock their assigned shelving.
The house takes a 35% cut.
The Mountain State Fair VIPs regularly visited our display at the State Fair. They asked us to create a similar event
for them, offering the best location imaginable where we can start off with a 1,600 square foot venue. We are working
toward this goal now. The dates of the Mountain State Fair for 2024 are September 6 - September 15. Visitors to this
Fair are heavily weighted to the weekends. I anticipate our customers at the MSF will be more affluent and discriminating
than those at the SFPE.
The product we sell in vast quantities tends to be functional stoneware in the $15 - $35 range. Thousands of coffee mugs
are sold every year at the State Fair. At the SFPE, we can and do sell some items that cost much more. My belief is that,
showing the larger, grander more expensive items drive sales for smaller items. By October, folks are already in
"Christmas Shopping Mode." I suspect this will also be true in early September. About 30% of total sales at the SFPE
are Christmas ornaments of some kind.
The two events, State Fair Pottery Expo and the Mountain State Fair Pottery Expo, are likely to forge synergies with
each other, and any other event we might create.
My connections with potters who work in the mountains of NC at present tend to run through the pottery community
centered in Boone.
We want to make connections with potters in the mountains of NC to sell at the Mountain State Fair Pottery Expo,
and also in case we need to bring in some [paid] assistance for set-up, take-down and during the run of the Fair. Better still
if these folks are exhibitors in our tent during the ten days of the Mountain State Fair.
I believe potters do well by working together and maximizing opportunities for all.
To Express Interest in Making Pottery As a Resident at DK Clay in Sanford, NC:
Or, contact Don Hudson at (919) 770-8002
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