Both James and I attended a pottery workshop around the end of our first year of having taken our beginner ceramic class. So, this was pretty early on in our ceramic journey. The pottery workshop was organized by Rising Sun Pottery owner Gary Lee. The workshop was held at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, NC, which is located in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Getting To Wildacres
James and I live about four hours east of Wildacres. It was pretty easy for us to get there because the drive is almost all done via highway. Near the end, we were driving on winding roads. I’m not a big fan of winding roads but that is the price you have to pay to get to the mountains and I just love being in the mountains.
James and I always look forward to taking long road trips. I’d have to say that we are good traveling companions. We love to listen to audio books when we are in the car for awhile. I have to admit that I sometimes fall asleep while the book is on and therefore, I miss parts of the story. Luckily, James will bring me back up to speed.
Once, you get to Wildacres, you see that it is set up pretty nicely with everything located pretty close together. I love this because I’m always afraid of getting lost and being late.
The facilities are pretty great. Everything is well kept and clean. It’s also very peaceful up there. I find that it’s a great place to just relax and James can unplug from technology. There’s only like one spot on the grounds where you can get cell reception. The rooms are actually quite large but the beds are very uncomfortable in my opinion and because there isn’t any air conditioning, it can get pretty hot in the summer. There are no phones or TV’s in the rooms and there aren’t any locks on the doors.
The Clay Studio
The clay studio is set up really well. There are 10 or 12 wheels to be used for throwing pots. I think there are about 4 big tables (I can’t remember exactly) that you can use for hand building and place your works in progress. There is a slab roller, extruder, and quite a few forms and such too. They also have a dry box. This was something we hadn’t seen or used before. It’s just a big wardrobe type box that uses a light bulb to provide heat and a small fan to move the air around. It cuts the drying time of your piece way down.
There is a very large deck on the back of the studio overlooking the woods. It’s a great place to relax. You can put the pieces you are working on on the railing to dry but you had better keep an eye on your works because things can dry really quickly out in the sun. We also use the deck to do all of our glazing.