Menagerie: A collection of wild and unusual animals; an unusual and varied group of people. This exhibit, with artists invited by Ron Meyers, will feature a mix of pots and sculpture that incorporate the figure and/or animal imagery using the common material of red clay.
Featured Artists: Clockwise from top left, Ron Meyers, Debra Fritts, Jenny Mendes, Isreal Davis, Liz Quackenbush, Rimas Visgarda, and Ayumi Horie. Not shown, Laurie Shaman. 

A Peter Rose sculpture. Peter’s work will be displayed in the Window Gallery at Signature.

Born

May 15, 1982, Livingston, Tennessee

Education

MFA Alfred University, Alfred, NY
BFA University of Georgia, Athens, GA
2000-2001 Emory University

Teaching Experience

2011 instructor in ceramics, University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program, Cortona, Italy
2009-2010 guest lecturer for intermediate ceramics and drawing II classes, University of Georgia

The Clay
The stoneware clay I use comes from a local river bottom. This durable clay is fired to 2400 degrees Fahrenheit in a large wood-burning kiln. A lightly turned pot with the occasional quartz “pearl” on a runny glazed surface is the traditional trademark of Catawba Valley pottery.

Shows and Exhibitions
2006 – Elements: Ancient Cosmology – Contemporary Experience, Green Hill
Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, North Carolina
2007 – Common Ground- A north Carolina Tradition: Functional Wood Fired
Pottery Pritam & Eames Gallery, East Hampton, New York Potter’s Market Invitational,
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina
2005 – The Potter’s Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery, North
Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina

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An exhibition of contemporary ceramics, jewelry, and metalwork by 68 artists affiliated with Penland School of Crafts. A portion of each sale will be donated to expand Penland’s ceramic and metal studios.
(Please scroll for schedule and participants.)

Boris Bally Metals
“I am participating in the show because our field (Metals/Crafts) would vanish if it wasn’t for magic places such as Penland that keep the techniques/language/history/spark alive. My experiences there have nourished my mind and heart and give me hope that our world will not simply become a place where objects are designed/made for $$ by computers or in other countries. (No, I’m not a luddite) We have such a rich heritage and Penland is the ‘keeper of the flame.’ ”
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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Opening Reception:
Friday, February 10, 6:00 – 8:00pm
Opening Online:
Friday, February 3. Go there now!
Penland Artist Gallery talks:
Nicholas Joerling & Angela Bubash:
Saturday, February 11, 2:00-4:00pm
Julia Woodman & Gay Smith:
Saturday, February 18, 2:00-4:00pm
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Barking Spider Clay
“After meeting as students at Penland in the early seventies, we have worked together as Barking Spider Pottery for over 37 years. Living a mile down the road from the school has allowed us to be fully immersed in this remarkable community of artists, while raising our twin boys in a rich and unique environment. Penland has been the catalyst that has allowed us to create an incomparable quality of life.”
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Nicholas Joerling Clay
“This was the easiest exhibition to say yes to. I admire and appreciate the Signature Gallery’s longevity. An invite to show there has always been a feather in an artist’s cap, a way to measure the quality of your own work and where you might be in your career. And I’ve had the good fortune to have a long association with Penland School. What has happened there throughout its 80 plus years is both extraordinary and essential: community, creativity, friendship, exploration. Both Penland and the Signature Gallery have played significant roles in shaping contemporary craft history.”
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Becky Gray Clay
“I am very excited to have this opportunity to give back to Penland, a school which started me on this long good road of devotion to craft and clay. I was first introduced to ceramics at age five. My Mother taught me to make a small human figure and I loved working with clay immediately. It was magical to me as a child. But as I grew older there were no opportunities to study ceramics, and that special private world became tangled with the concerns of growing up, and was gradually forgotten. But then…the summer after I graduated from college with a degree in Art, Penland happened! I enrolled, by chance, in a Ceramic Sculpture session with Tom Suomalainen. Excellent, inspiring instruction, combined with the total immersion of studying at Penland re-connected me with the love of clay I felt as a child, but showed me that it could be an adult passion as well as a fulfilling career. Then and there I embarked on the long journey of devotion to clay, and the messages one can share through ceramic art. I have always been thankful to Penland for giving me the early experiences which totally changed my life.”
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Kathy King Clay
“I consider Penland my “art home” as I feel I’ve grown up there as an artist. I began as a work-study student, cleaning out coffee pots and being happy to do so in order to take a class. I then went on to be a student assistant twice and then the honor of teaching two different times. All of this over the space of 15 years (ouch!). This Spring, I will be able to “go home” again to teach concentration and perhaps facilitate the same level of impact on others that I’ve experienced. As an artist, Penland will always be my touch stone.”

Show participants are: Will Baker, Boris Bally, Barking Spider Pottery, Kenneth Baskin, Jana Brevick, Cynthia Bringle, Angela Bubash, Raïssa Bump, David Butler, Melisa Cadell, Caroline Cercone, John Edward Cogswell, Josh Copus, Nancy Megan Corwin, Jim Cotter, Susan Dewsnap, Daniel Dicaprio, Judith Duff, Bob Ebendorf, Veva Edelson, Julie Elkins, Marty Fielding, Joanna Fireman, Becca Floyd, Steven Forbes-deSoule, Debra Fritts, Aran Galligan, Adrienne M. Grafton, Becky Gray, Andrew Hayes, Judith Hoyt, Rob Jackson, Nick Joerling, Diane Solomon Kempler, Sun Kyoung Kim, Kathy King, Michael Kline, Leah Leitson, Suze Lindsay, Sarah Loertscher, Courtney Martin, Tom McCarthy, Linda McFarling, Ryan McKerley, Kent Mclaughlin, Matthew Metz, James Meyer, Ron Meyers, Jenny Mendes, Lisa Naples, Kelly O’Briant, Neil Patterson, Mary Pearse, Ronan Kyle Peterson, Ron C. Philbeck, Rob Pulleyn, Sang Roberson, Justin Rothshank, Akira Satake, JoAnn Schnabel, Gertrude Graham Smith, David Stuempfle, Joy Tanner, Holly Walker, Lana Wilson, Julia R. Woodman, Janis Mars Wunderlich, Hiroko Yamada, and Gwendolyn Yoppolo.