Bley Pottery Blog

Buy Local this Christmas Season

12/01/2011 13:46:00

With the Christmas Season fast approaching, now is an excellent time to re-

dedicate yourself to buying your gifts from a local business, artist, or craftsman.

Shopping locally is smart economics and the patriotic thing to do.

But far more important than gifts, give the gift of yourself this year and spend time with friends and family. This time of year is an excellent time to reach out to a long lost friend. I recently had the chance to give a 20 year overdue "thank you" to someone. It felt great to be able to do that.

Hope you have a meaningful holiday season.

Bruce

New Monster in the Works

10/25/2011 20:30:00

New Monster in the Works

I worked on this guy during the Face Jug demonstrations at the Cotton Depot last Saturday. He is just about dry enough to go into his first fire.

Doing Business at Home

10/18/2011 17:30:00

I’m not an old man, but I have lived long enough to see a good size chunk of America die. I’m sure you have seen it too on almost any main street in any town you might pass through. I see storefronts with locks on the doors and plywood over the windows. These same buildings used to be meat markets, dress shops, grocery stores, Western Autos, hardware stores, barber shops. Now they sit empty and sag, soon they will be an overgrown lot for sale.

The man or woman behind the counter was often the owner. They raised a family on what that shop brought in. They knew your folks and you went to school with the kids. They went to your church and may have been your scout leader. Alan Jackson sings about him in “The Little Man.”

I’m not trying to rage against the “Ultra Mart” stores of the world. They are here to stay and in many respects they have become a neccessity of life.

More and more, my inner conscious has been pushing me toward better stewardship in the areas I choose to spend money. Specifically, I find myself working harder and harder to spend my money in the local economy. I have resolved to follow the following goals:

Whenever possible or practical, I will:

1. …buy from local merchants even if it requires going to several stores instead of one "Big Box."

2. …eat at local restaurants

3. …in season, buy from local produce and farm stands

4. …give gifts that I have made myself or have been made by local/regional artist and craftsmen.

I’m not getting any younger, but I hope to live long enough to see lights on Main Street burn bright again and plenty of “Open for Business” signs in the windows.

Btw…I would encourage all of you to take a look at the website at www.the350project.net.

The Mountain Preacher

10/11/2011 19:05:00

"The Mountain Preacher" payes tribute to the deep spiritual heritage of the Southern Blue RIdge Mountains. In this project (still drying at the time of the photo), you see the preacher standing at a simple pulpit. His hand holds out the Bible to his congregation. His head faces upward as he lifts a prayer to God.

Welcome to the New Blog Site

10/05/2011 15:50:00

One of the best things that has come out of working with clay has been the connection with the people, both customers and other potters, I have made from show to show. In time, I find myself looking forward to seeing those people again, if not at the next show at least at the same show the next year.

Driving up to Ferguson Pottery this past Saturday, I started wondering who might be there. I was looking forward to seeing old pottery friends like Marvin Bailey and Stanley Ferguson and hoping some of the potters I have more recently met like Randy Tobias and Joel Patton would have the chance to make it up to the show. I was certainly looking forward to seeing some of the people who have bought pottery from me there as well. Some of these folks I only knew by face or maybe first name.

The Ferguson show was a great show, maybe the best one yet. Met a lot of new people and got to renew a lot of connections from last year. Occasional reports on the UGA game were favorable. Sold some pottery. The weather was perfect and someone had made my all time favorite, Mexican corn bread. Hard to beat an October Saturday like that.

As I was packing up, I began to think what a shame it was that the friendships, both new and renewed, were getting packed up and stored away like the pottery geting ready to head home with me.

This blog, and the e-mail newsletter that will accompany it, is my effort to keep those precious connections alive between the shows. Hopefully, you will drop in to see what's going on in the shop or in my head. I know I will check in often in hopes of hearing from you guys.

So until the tents pop up, the pottery gets unwrapped, and we get to say hello in person once again, please know each of you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Bruce