About Us
To be honest, I cringe at the notion of calling myself an artist. Almost all my life I've enjoyed drawing or painting. For years people told me I should become an artist...and for years I rejected that push and that title.
Art isn't magic. All it involves is employing a few well honed skills and combining them with a vision. The skills are pretty easy to obtain with practice. Forming the vision is where most people tend to sell themselves short. It's pretty easy to do in a world so filled with distractions.
I love crafting pottery because it recalibrates that focus in me. Each piece is more than just a mug or bowl. Each piece embodies a time, a place, and an emotion.
My inspiration comes from the the mountains of North Georgia, both its scenic beauty and well over a hundred years of pottery making tradition found here.
I hope you like my work and I hope it speaks to you as well.
Bruce Bley
Bley Pottery
P.S. I'd like to thank a few people...
All the great North Georgia potters, past and present, who's works are such a great inspiration.
Rose and Paul Handy of Wild Child Arts in Monroe, Georgia. You guys helped start this...you deserve some of the credit/blame (take your pick!) If anyone out there wants to dabble into their artistic side, you cant do any better than Rose or Paul.
My awesome wife and best buddy, Vickie. She has fallen asleep a lot of nights while I was out playing with mud. Not only does she tolerate my obsessions..she encourages some of them. I love you.
