Making Art Downtown

As I have stated before, I love living in a small town!  This Saturday was a great example of why...

Saturday was the Annual Spring Arts and Crafts Show sponsored by the Currahee Artist Guild.  One of the great things about this show is that they utilize the Grassroots Art Grant.  This allows visitors the chance to learn, for free, how to work in different types of art mediums.

For example, my son Knox is fascinated with making pottery!  When I heard that Spike (a.k.a. Jarad Kaup) was going to be showing folks how to use the potter's wheel, I knew I had to take Knox!  We've been to Spike's when he has started up his kiln and fired pots.  Check out the post I wrote about getting to participate in the firing.  The pottery is already made on these firing days.  Here Knox would be getting to make his own pot.

Downtown we went!  Even though it was misty raining, we went.  When we got there, one of the first booths we got to was Spike's.  There was a young girl already spinning a pot.  Spike asked Knox if he wanted to do a pot.  He looked around and shook his head. 

I said, "I can't believe you don't want to spin a pot!  You've always wanted to!  You sure you don't want to?"  All I got in response was a shaking head that couldn't take his eyes off the spinning wheel.  I could tell he wanted to "throw" a pot but he just wouldn't say he was going to do it.

We wandered on around the other booths, baby brother in tow!  We watched some folks learning to paint with oils.  Then we stood and watched a lady show a group how to get different types of effects with water colors.  I was tempted to create a painting with different types of textures until Hamp decided he wasn't going to sit idol in his stroller! 

We had gone around to every booth.  We had looked at all the art on display and had picked our favorites in the show.  This lead us back to Spike's pottery booth.  Knox was still zeroed in on watching the pottery wheel.  Spike and I kept asking him if he was sure he didn't want to "throw" a pot.  Finally, I asked why he didn't want to "throw" a pot.  He stated that he didn't want to do it in front of all the girls!

So, once most all of the girls had left, he got behind the wheel!  He had his apron on a made an awesome pot!  He even decorated it!  I was so shocked that he finally got one spun, that I forgot to take a picture while he was spinning his pot! 

He was so proud of his work!  I can't wait to see if it makes it through the firing.  Spike said he wasn't sure how many of the pots would make it because the damp weather causes the clay to be thinner than usual.

All-in-all, it was a great day!  We even got to enjoy our favorite meal--Sosebee's Hotdogs!!  I'll have to do a post about this favorite and famous establishment later!  The Spring Arts and Craft Show was a big hit and a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning with the kiddos!!