Seagrove and the Potteries 2 – The Pughs, Westmoore Pottery and Ben Owen

The next place to visit was New Salem Pottery, home and studio of Hal and Eleanor Pugh in Randleman, just outside of Seagrove which was a real treat. There has been a tradition of pottery on the site from the 1766 which was started by the Dennis family from Ireland who travelled across New Jersey and Philadelphia. At some time they started making pottery. Thomas Dennis the first was listed as a shoe-maker. The question is why did they move here, did they know about the clay beds already or did they find the clay and then start making pots here?

As well as the Moravians there were also the Quakers in this area (English and Irish).

Hal was great and a charming host for a couple of hours – their set up is very rustic in a wooden cabin type building with a sales area at the front and a small studio at the back. Hal digs up clay from his own back yard - he dug some up for me and showed me how you can test to see if its a workable clay by wetting it, making it into a sausage shape and wrapping it round a finger to see if it cracks or not and so how pliable it is – if it cracks its not good enough to use. They make pots that are based on the old Moravian style and colours, painting on slip. As soon as we arrived Hal was very excited that we were from England and that I was researching pottery exported from North Devon – he showed me 3 trays of sherds that he has found on his property and wondered where they might be from. There were some sherds of decorative pieces and what interested Hal was the contoured rims of the pieces that had been shaped with a tool of some kind and were unusual because of that. Hal called these ridged- pots and wondered if doing something different with the ridged edges was English? The ridged edges are on the early pieces, he hasn't seen this before. There is also a square kiln on site which is a very unusual shape. Where does this shape come from? Quakers perhaps or something from Pennsylvania? Was it brought with them or did they develop the design here?

Hal and Eleanor have written 3 articles for the 2010 Ceramics in America and this publication is just about to come out – I was lucky enough to be treated to a preview of the articles on Hal's computer as he had copies. I will need to find out about square kilns and ridged pots when I get back to Bideford to see if either of these are of English, maybe even North Devonian descent?!

I also visited Ben Owen the Third at his family pottery, they have been potters since the 1700s also and Ben aged 12 decided he wanted to keep up the family tradition and learnt from his grandfather. There is a museum on site showcasing pieces of pottery from the family history. Ben also chatted to me whilst making pots at his wheel. It was a fascinating piece of history, though I didn't find any relationship to sgrafitto ware or North Devon pottery. Ben's contemporary pieces were very colourful – red and blue ceramics.

Last stop was Westmoore Pottery – I had been advised by a couple of sources to visit the Farrell family as they make reproduction sgrafitto ware. Erik Farrell was in the studio / shop when I arrived which was good fortune because he's a college student for most of his time studying archaeology; but he also decorates the sgraffito pots. It was interesting to see them and Erik's enthusiasm for the technique which he's still learning; it brought home to me just how skilled our Bideford potters are/were. Erik and I swapped book and reference information and he showed me a great book about the De Witt Wallace Collection in Williamsburg – I need to go back to see this on my way back to Richmond at the end of the trip.

Raleigh 2 The Arts Council perspective

On Tuesday I had arranged a meeting with North Carolina Arts Council staff, I met Sally Peterson, Folk Arts Specialist and also Mary Regan, Director of the Arts Council.

Sally and I spent loads of time together and agreed we could have talked all day! It was a fascinating discussion and we talked about the history of the Moravian people (from Germany) and their pottery trade which travelled from North to South through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Interestingly they made jugs for alcohol, as producing alcohol was the most economical use of all the corn that was growing.

In the mid 1700s the potters started in North Carolina. Around this time, people were also importing finer better quality wares from Staffordshire and for anyone who was doing this, it helped to confirm their higher status. Sally encouraged me to visit the Seagrove Potteries to the West of Raleigh as there is a strong tradition of potters there, I told her that was where I was going next!

We also talked about the arts in general and particularly music. I was asking about this as I would love to hear and see some 'traditional' music – which is Old Time music, pre Blue Grass, played on the fiddle. I thought immediately of Lisa Sture and Tony Finney's band Firewater back home in Bideford as they both have a strong fiddle playing tradition in their music, particularly Lisa and her folk roots.

I was pointed to a couple of websites, one of which is looking at the role of language, and a book 'Traditional American Folk Songs - Anne and Frank Warner Collection', a hefty piece that will need to be looked up on the internet to get hold of a copy as its too big and heavy for the suitcase.

We also had a really good discussion about the possibility of a future arts exchange programme and using our historical links – we talked about sense of 'place' and identity and maybe to focus on the similar issues and problems between us such as economics; and also to look at similarities overall including the landscape, boats and shipping industry, tourism and creating an identity for locals and visitors. The 'Graveyard of the Atlantic' is a similarity that we share with many shipwrecks on the Eastern seaboard and on the North Devon coast.

Mary Regan was also very helpful and gave some time to discuss ideas about an exchange programme – she suggested that I need to talk to Laura Martier at Dare County Arts Council first (which I am already planned to do) and for Laura to talk to them if she feels that they can help or provide any financial assistance (although their budget, like our Arts funding is being reduced). Laura gave me a copy of a great book called 'Blue Ridge Music Trails' – a book about where you can find traditional Mountain music in North Carolina and Virginia, what a great resource! I haven''t heard any live music as yet but am on the lookout for catching a traditional performance somewhere.

Next stop Seagrove.......