John Dodson is a second generation potter and owner of Mud Dabber's Pottery of Brevard. He began working in clay as a child with the encouragement of his father, John O. Dodson. He began wheel throwing at age 15, and continued his hobby of potting throughout college and beyond.

When his parents decided in 2000 to retire from the Mud Dabbers location in Brevard, John and wife, Carol, relocated the store and took over its operation. He also enjoys teaching at John C. Campbell Folk School.

When not working in the studio, you are likely to find him paddling a local river, cycling a mountain road, or dreaming of a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail.

Will Weigle is originally from the keystone state of Pennsylvania. He attended Alfred University and several other colleges in pursuit of advancement in ceramics. Once he graduated, he moved to North Carolina where he apprenticed under John Dodson and soon became a full-time potter with Mud Dabber's. Will is passionate about the creative process; his work is ever-evolving. You can find him busy with new ideas in the studio, experimenting with glazes, and pushing the clay medium to the extreme in order to appease his desire to create innovative works of art.

Kathleen Hannigan has degrees in Ceramics and Sculpture. She has been living in the mountains of North Carolina for 10 years. During her days not in the studio she enjoys travel and the great outdoors.

www.Kathleenhannigan.com

Klayton Huff and Molly Brouwer grew up in rural Indiana. They both pursued art degrees at Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, where they met as freshmen. Before long they had become close friends and collaborators. Both graduated in the spring of 2011 and immediately followed their dream of moving to the mountains of western North Carolina to immerse themselves in the tradition of folk pottery production.

Lucky enough to stumble upon Mud Dabbers Pottery in Brevard, both began working as full-time potters. They utilized their time in the studio at Mud Dabbers to learn all they could about the trade and how a production pottery studio functions.

In 2013, the two got married and purchased a home in nearby Lake Toxaway where they could fulfill their dream of building their own studio. The two took a break from production in early 2015 to build their studio and form Panthertown Pottery (named after nearby Panthertown Valley). At their home studio, they continue to produce work for Mud Dabbers Pottery of Brevard.

www.panthertownstudios.com

Elizabeth has been with Mud Dabbers since the late 1990's and a potter since 1991. She is now retired from her work as a social worker at cardiac rehab at Transylvania Regional Hospital but continues to work as a reflexologist and certified healing touch practitioner. When she isn't making pottery or mixing glazes for the studio, she enjoys playing old-time music and hiking with her two dogs.

Cindy Farley (center) is the "production potter" in the family; her creations are both useful tools for the home and beautiful works of art! Mike (left) loves to play chemist and mix new glaze colors, but his specialty is outdoor items like mushrooms and flowers, as well as large-scale architectural pieces. He also handles the business side of things.

Jamie (right) enjoys making jewelry, which she also sells at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Relegant. You'll see her home goods, such as carved luminaries and soap dishes, at Mud Dabbers. 

www.farleypottery.com,

www.facebook.com/farleypottery

In these times of hectic schedules, it is my hope that my pottery will bring to you a moment to relax and enjoy, and a smile to the heart. -Carolyn Strickland, Laughing Hands Pottery

David has made pottery in Western NC since the 70's after moving up from the coast. He produces functional and decorative porcelain and stoneware fired in both oxidation and in a wood-fired soda kiln at his home and studio in Zirconia. Active as a pottery teacher and arts advocate, he finds joy in making and sharing clay art.

www.davidvoorheespottery.com

Wood fired pottery is labor intensive and challenging. Forms are designed that will be enhanced by the flame flowing through wares from the fire box to the chimney. Ash falls on work forming a glaze, often with flowing drips. Dian built her wood fire “Cougar Kiln” after retiring in 2010 as Director of the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design. She began working in clay in the 1970’s and continued with workshops throughout her 28 years in arts administration. She is now a full-time potter in Hendersonville, NC.

Denise Byrd has been an artist for as long as she can remember. Her chosen medium for the last 12 years has been clay. Denise claims to be a “puttering potter” while working full time as an office manager, calling her pottery “therapy.” Working strictly in low fire Earthenware now, she is known for colorful, whimsical, and one of a kind pieces with their own character. Her reward is to see the joy and laughter her art brings to others. Denise is the creator of our popular “Appalachian Little People.”

“Mud Dabber’s has given me the learning environment where I am free to try, succeed, and fail surrounded by artisans who are so willing to share ideas.”

Craig Roth was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1946, and educated in business at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, in Lafayette; he took art classes as an elective, to satisfy a desire for expression and creativity.  After graduating he pursued further studies of ceramics at Newcomb College in New Orleans at night, while supporting his family.

  After a 27-year career in business, as an entrepreneur, he moved to St. Francisville, Louisiana and sold his business.  He then decided after several years that he would engage in art again.  He and his wife now reside in Brevard, NC.

  All of the designs and pieces are fired to 2190 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes them dish-washer, microwave and oven friendly.  Each piece he creates is unique and all glazes have been developed by him or modified from other glazes to have a unique effect.

All work is functional (dishwasher and microwave friendly) as well as art.  Use and enjoy!

Based in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Tree of Life Potters embodies the flora of our diverse temperate rainforest ecosystem by impressing flowers, leaves and other plant parts into handbuilt stoneware clays. 

   Tree of Life started many years ago when a Danish man named Gene Franck moved to the Appalachians to settle down. As he fell in love with the plants and energy of the sacred land we call home, he was inspired to create a ceramic expression of the dense forest plants and flowers. Being an experienced photographer and potter, he developed a technique of impressing plants into clay and staining in their images with iron-oxides. Through the channel of his vivid imagination and creative wit, Tree of Life Potters was born. 

  Later he took my father Jimmy under his wing and taught him the technique, eventually selling the business and name to him. My father taught me as I grew up, and eventually I realized what a gift it was and picked it up with my own style and intention. Now we co-create the vision he shared with me and the magic has been passed from father to son. We are grateful and honored to unveil the evolution of this unique art form!

www.treeoflifepotters.com

Mike earned his Masters' degree in studio art at Western Carolina University in 1996. In addition, he has studied the art form at the prestigious Kansas City Art Institute and at Alfred University in New York State with such great American ceramists as Ken Furguson, Val Cushing and Victor Babu.

In addition to his own work, which has been on display at the Orlando Biennial, Key West Art Festival, the Winter Park Autumn Art Show and Festival of the Masters at Walt Disney World, his ceramic students have won awards, honors and scholarships bringing him recognition as one of the best art teachers in the nation. Each year he hosts workshops with some of the best ceramists in the nation to benefit his students learning. Some of those included having been Don Davis, Chris Staley, Bobby Silverman, Jeff Oestreich, Stephen Hill, William Hunt, George Timmock, Paul Soldner, Josh DeWeese and Suze Lindsey.

Mike has also served as a resident potter at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. He now teaches pottery at Young Harris College in Young Harris, GA.

www.mikelalonepottery.com

In 1994 I took a pottery class and fell in love with clay. To learn more and to keep pottery a constant in my life, I took an apprentice job with a local production potter. While there, I became aware of my need to develop my own style with clay and to discover my own abilities in form and function.

Adding humor was a natural avenue. I began making simple pots (very simple) and in 1998 at a craft fair I was in awe as I watched a potter sculpt a face on a cup and I knew at that moment that I could to that. So I went back to my basement and did.

I have been making faces ever since. I have never enjoyed anything as much. The sculpting is the fun part, but I still have to do the simple stuff. That’s what life is all about, keeping it simple.