SEGMENT 1
Today’s topic will be pottery in the mountains, but first Joseph talks about crafts. Joseph reminisces about creating pottery in grade school. He dives further into the history of crafts in the mountains, starting with weaving and moving into more recent developments such as craft competitions. Eventually, craft guilds developed, turning into craft shops which became tourist attractions. Joseph introduces today’s guest, Terrance Painter, who is also joined by his son Caden. Terrance and Joseph talk about their experiences growing up by the Meadowlark Motel. Terance goes on to talk about how he went from being an engineering major to an artist. Next Kaiden discusses his journey from a successful IT career into art.
SEGMENT 2
Terance talks more about how he made his decision to become a full-time artist and the struggles he faced along the way. For a long time, Terrance was one of the few artists in the area, but the culture has really developed, with art, pottery specifically becoming more popular. Terrance talks a little about the clays used and the characteristics of the pottery in the mountains. He discusses the variety of potteries from around the world from which he has taken inspiration.
SEGMENT 3
Terance talks about the variety of pottery he makes, from plates to tile wall hangings, to jars, etc. For the landscape drawings on some of his works, Terrance often takes inspiration from the trees in the mountains. He goes on to discuss the changes he’s seen in his art since his son joined him, focusing on the drums they are making. Kaiden and Terrance are interrupted by their dog and talk a little about how well having a dog around pottery works. Caden discusses their process of creating a drum, from sound to look. Terrance discusses the origin of his shop’s name. Joseph asks him to talk a little about potters who influenced him.
SEGMENT 4
Terance talks about the inspiration for the book he wrote with his wife. Caden and Terrance joke about how guests in the shop often assume that a career in pottery is relaxing, but it really is a job for them. They enjoy being able to make a variety of pottery, creating work that speaks to them.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:34.620 –> 00:00:40.470 Joseph McElroy: howdy thanks for joining us on this week’s episode of gateway to the smokies.
00:00:40.950 –> 00:00:47.520 Joseph McElroy: This podcast is about America’s most visited National Park, the great smoky mountains National Park.
00:00:47.850 –> 00:00:57.480 Joseph McElroy: and the surrounding towns. this area’s filled with ancient natural beauty a deep story history and rich mountain culture that we explore with weekly episodes.
00:00:57.960 –> 00:01:09.360 Joseph McElroy: I am Joseph Franklin McElroy man of the world, but also a deep root in these mountains my family is living the great smokies for over 200 years my businesses and travel, but my heart is in culture.
00:01:10.080 –> 00:01:28.380 Joseph McElroy: Now today we’re talking about pottery in the smoky mountains, with a very well known pottery otters artists, but I’m a first let’s talk a little bit about crafts in the mountains, I was a grown-up craft art were an important part of smoky mountain living now I remember.
00:01:29.460 –> 00:01:37.380 Joseph McElroy: I will, one of the things that everybody, I think, did I don’t know if this happened over the States, but it happened, the mountains, we all had to learn how to make pottery and in grade school.
00:01:38.880 –> 00:01:52.410 Joseph McElroy: And I came home with these wild interpretations of candle holders and ashtray as and sort of reinvented the definition of what they were my brothers and sisters would be more.
00:01:53.430 –> 00:02:03.360 Joseph McElroy: You know originalist in their intent and came back with stuff that functional mind wasn’t done, but I am the one that still has some of my original artwork in the potteries phase.
00:02:04.530 –> 00:02:11.910 Joseph McElroy: I think there’s all disappeared, over time, I also remember, making the dolls how to record shucks that’s pretty big.
00:02:12.360 –> 00:02:21.480 Joseph McElroy: that’s a pretty big craft in the mountains, as well as I also made a little mice people out of marbles with glue them together and make a little felt clothing and.
00:02:21.870 –> 00:02:39.390 Joseph McElroy: And I remember painting on saw blades so there’s a whole lot of tradition of craft-type activities in the mountains and as a part of the fabric of life from quilt making the chainsaw sculptures you can’t drive a mile without seeing some crass.
00:02:40.800 –> 00:02:46.710 Joseph McElroy: But, and there is this long history, but you know, there was a time when the crafts are dying out because of poverty.
00:02:48.390 –> 00:02:56.640 Joseph McElroy: And then in 1890 a Presbyterian missionary named Francis l Goodrich arrived in western North Carolina near Asheville and she
00:02:57.720 –> 00:03:05.760 Joseph McElroy: And a lot of the traditional crafts, like weaving and spinning and blacksmith thing we’re not doing too well, because it was an impoverished area.
00:03:06.360 –> 00:03:19.560 Joseph McElroy: But she got this cover lit that was woven in what was called a double bock bow not pattern, where the golden brown on a cream-colored background and it had been dyed with chestnut okay and.
00:03:20.130 –> 00:03:25.200 Joseph McElroy: it was a revelation to her, she never really seen anything you know coming, for I think.
00:03:25.770 –> 00:03:33.030 Joseph McElroy: You know Baltimore or somewhere like that, and it really opened our eyes to the craft movement crafts, to you know the craft.
00:03:33.450 –> 00:03:42.840 Joseph McElroy: available in the mountains and she’s there she found that these mountain neighbor women, many of them still had the skills of hand skills of doing this, so she would their encouragement.
00:03:43.890 –> 00:03:51.000 Joseph McElroy: would encourage them to start weaving colorless and then she did made a northern market for those crafts, she ended up creating.
00:03:52.200 –> 00:04:04.260 Joseph McElroy: A craft business that was eventually rolled into the southern Highland craft Guild in night when she retired in 1930 she was very much the succession she retired asheville.
00:04:06.030 –> 00:04:14.280 Joseph McElroy: And she was a lot of several other mountain crafts leading crafts people organize the southern highlands.
00:04:14.850 –> 00:04:22.620 Joseph McElroy: Any graphic it was still exists, to this day, and it was it was instrumental in launching the southern appalachian handy gaffer handicraft revival.
00:04:23.100 –> 00:04:29.940 Joseph McElroy: And is considered one of the oldest craft gills in the country, second only to the Boston society of arts and culture.
00:04:30.390 –> 00:04:39.900 Joseph McElroy: And participants today are active active and educator she mission of the Gill, taking parts and crafts and demonstrations fairs and special events and things like that.
00:04:40.350 –> 00:04:46.530 Joseph McElroy: Now for the tourists they hold a I have a couple of big events, each year, they have a heritage weekend in.
00:04:47.460 –> 00:05:06.870 Joseph McElroy: In in September around the second or third week weekend in September and its traditional music dancing stairs storytelling and lots of heritage craft demonstration and they have a 30th and they have this year I think i’m the 30th annual we jaw how women digital competition.
00:05:08.370 –> 00:05:13.410 Joseph McElroy: that’s a mouthful a women did is an appalachian mountain toy made from two sticks of wood.
00:05:13.770 –> 00:05:24.060 Joseph McElroy: knocks as a carbon one piece and a propellers attached to the other and rubbing the stick with the propeller against the not the not stick makes it G spin to the right or hot turned to the left.
00:05:24.510 –> 00:05:34.260 Joseph McElroy: So it’s a it’s a it’s a fun it’s a fun event to go to and you see a lot of traditional arts and crafts and it’s a national North Carolina the folk art Center, then the.
00:05:35.400 –> 00:05:43.680 Joseph McElroy: The southern graph can also holds one of the oldest since 1948 laws and largest juried craft fairs and it’s a major.
00:05:44.640 –> 00:05:52.170 Joseph McElroy: exposition Peter featuring the latest work of crafts, crafts people all around the area and it’s at the actual civic Center in October.
00:05:53.070 –> 00:06:05.130 Joseph McElroy: So please go to craft guild.org to find out more about that now I don’t want to only talk about smokies also includes Tennessee and gatlinburg is also a big area for crafts.
00:06:06.120 –> 00:06:17.790 Joseph McElroy: And it’s and it actually has one of the largest organizations have independent artisans in North America and it’s in gatlinburg is called the smoky mountains arts and crafts community and they.
00:06:18.600 –> 00:06:23.370 Joseph McElroy: They they make lots of beautiful and wonderful crafts, as well known, and it was.
00:06:24.210 –> 00:06:30.870 Joseph McElroy: It was created in 1937 seem the 30s was a big time for creating all these craft gills and colleges and things.
00:06:31.170 –> 00:06:39.210 Joseph McElroy: So it was there was a word Karma named john Calvin who decided that they didn’t just want to sell the stores in gatlinburg.
00:06:39.480 –> 00:06:49.800 Joseph McElroy: They wanted to sell directly to the client so he organized the community of classroom so people can build visit their studios and things like that, and so it became this thing this Community.
00:06:50.340 –> 00:06:55.050 Joseph McElroy: crafts going let’s now a big tourist attraction and go there, look around.
00:06:55.800 –> 00:07:11.430 Joseph McElroy: there’s just three miles out of gatlinburg and it’s an eight mile loop on route 321 bucks Warren glades road and there’s over 100 shops featuring craft, ranging from elaborate crypt crips to brooms to handles pottery and all sorts of stuff.
00:07:12.780 –> 00:07:20.790 Joseph McElroy: And it’s got and you can actually see people working on their craft while it’s going out there’s also they also have.
00:07:21.480 –> 00:07:32.220 Joseph McElroy: A gatlinburg art tour and a trolley going through gatlinburg that will reach a lot of the arts and crafts so it’s the whole area of the whole smoky mountains area has a lot of.
00:07:32.910 –> 00:07:44.760 Joseph McElroy: Wonderful crafts and a lot of features pottery and that’s what we’re going to be talking about for the rest of the show my guest today is Terrence painter he’s here with his son kayden painter.
00:07:45.090 –> 00:07:52.020 Joseph McElroy: And he is a member and Terrence is a member of the Piedmont craftsman craftsman another organization formed in the 30s.
00:07:53.670 –> 00:07:58.230 Joseph McElroy: And he was won many awards and has and has worked in collections all the War world he has been a.
00:07:58.440 –> 00:08:05.040 Joseph McElroy: full time part of potter for more than 38 years he combines his first love of drawing and painting texts to detail landscape scenes.
00:08:05.310 –> 00:08:16.830 Joseph McElroy: On clay forms kayden left is successful, it career in 2018 to apprentice with his father and now has become a successful potter himself Hello Terry and caden.
00:08:18.930 –> 00:08:21.450 Caden Painter: hey Joe how are you good to see you.
00:08:21.630 –> 00:08:27.600 Joseph McElroy: good to see you so so one of the one of those little things that that’s that’s a.
00:08:28.920 –> 00:08:44.010 Joseph McElroy: real joy for me is that that your studio is located, very close to my motel and Maggie value the metal or motel and what what little piece of trivia here is that your dad actually built the metal Arc motel and you, like me, spent our.
00:08:44.730 –> 00:08:50.700 Joseph McElroy: Our part and part or all of our childhood growing up at the middle or motel how you like those days.
00:08:51.450 –> 00:09:03.960 Caden Painter: yeah it was a great place to grow up it really was you know I met people from from all over the country, and it was a fabulous place to be a kid really was.
00:09:04.170 –> 00:09:09.600 Joseph McElroy: yeah right do you, what do you remember your favorite thing to do and Maggie valley those days was.
00:09:10.170 –> 00:09:13.020 Caden Painter: I couldn’t keep my feet out of Johnson creek.
00:09:14.370 –> 00:09:23.910 Caden Painter: Johnson creek large large stream runs right to the backyard of the metal art and gee whiz I spent.
00:09:25.170 –> 00:09:28.410 Caden Painter: hours and days and weeks in Johnson creek.
00:09:29.250 –> 00:09:29.940 Joseph McElroy: Listen, I use.
00:09:30.510 –> 00:09:33.210 Caden Painter: it’s part of the State trout waters so.
00:09:33.270 –> 00:09:34.320 Joseph McElroy: yeah there’s a lot.
00:09:34.320 –> 00:09:40.170 Joseph McElroy: of very active about fishing now Jonathan green yeah I used to tubing that quite a bit yeah when.
00:09:40.200 –> 00:09:42.120 Joseph McElroy: Especially when you had a little bit of Ram.
00:09:42.180 –> 00:09:52.440 Joseph McElroy: You in there to go tubing and everything else now, it was a it was it has this huge recreation area, so it was really a really great place so.
00:09:54.030 –> 00:09:56.940 Joseph McElroy: When did you get interested arts and pottery.
00:09:59.070 –> 00:10:01.890 Caden Painter: Well, when I was a kid.
00:10:03.300 –> 00:10:18.900 Caden Painter: I was about 12 years old, and there was a lady Helen Sylvia that had a painting studio just diagonally across the street here and started painting with her and I had some success added a soul painting at the middle Arc.
00:10:19.260 –> 00:10:19.740 yeah.
00:10:21.060 –> 00:10:22.590 motel and.
00:10:24.450 –> 00:10:26.610 Caden Painter: Are we still come in through the frozen up.
00:10:26.670 –> 00:10:30.630 Joseph McElroy: We can we can see you freeze up, but your voice is coming through five yeah.
00:10:31.980 –> 00:10:34.020 Caden Painter: Okay, go all right and.
00:10:35.100 –> 00:10:38.790 Caden Painter: My parents both school teachers, as well as motel operators.
00:10:39.900 –> 00:10:45.150 Caden Painter: made it clear career and art was not going to be a possibility for me and.
00:10:46.440 –> 00:10:56.610 Caden Painter: They they sent me off to a well known school of engineering, to try to become an engineer, I was very, very unhappy in that pursuit.
00:10:57.270 –> 00:11:06.780 Caden Painter: dropped out of college for a semester, and they decided at the end of that that may be coming in art major wouldn’t be the worst thing.
00:11:07.500 –> 00:11:15.360 Caden Painter: That happened to their son so went to Western Carolina university as a painting and making major.
00:11:16.050 –> 00:11:31.890 Caden Painter: And pottery looked very unappealing to me, I put it off put it off, I had to take one required course in pottery finally caved in took that course and within two weeks felt like this is why i’m here.
00:11:32.910 –> 00:11:40.710 Caden Painter: Well, ironically, my great great granddad Joseph painter i’m episodes of pilling i’m sorry.
00:11:43.020 –> 00:11:51.000 Caden Painter: was a potter in candler that’s about halfway between here in asheville he was a potter there in the late 1800s.
00:11:52.290 –> 00:11:56.730 Caden Painter: You son carried on the pottery up into the 1920s.
00:11:57.750 –> 00:12:02.940 Caden Painter: They were not artists, they were craftsman potter’s making strictly functional where.
00:12:04.080 –> 00:12:20.190 Caden Painter: my grandmother who had worked in the pottery as a child always felt like it was genetic it was it was in my blood just resurfaced after a couple of generations dormant for a while, but, but the love of pottery came back in me so maybe she was driving I don’t know.
00:12:21.270 –> 00:12:28.770 Joseph McElroy: Well, I guess that runs into blood kayden have come you decide to come, become the potter after having a successful I seeker well.
00:12:28.800 –> 00:12:35.880 Caden Painter: I I grew up here in the pottery studio with my dad and every summer.
00:12:37.650 –> 00:12:50.400 during school we you know when school’s out the summer I would come and work here with him in the studio and and make things with them and I just I had that memory and I.
00:12:52.350 –> 00:12:54.780 I went off to study.
00:12:55.860 –> 00:13:08.010 It and got a master’s from an engineering school and project management and thought that that was really going to be my my pursuit.
00:13:09.510 –> 00:13:19.650 But I just always had this kind of nagging feeling like I missed making things I had this drive to to make things and.
00:13:21.060 –> 00:13:29.640 I was, I was not getting that that need met and what I was doing and so yeah and.
00:13:31.020 –> 00:13:37.260 took my dad and my mom out to dinner and made this proposition.
00:13:39.000 –> 00:13:44.790 Caden Painter: I become his apprentice, and they all thought I was crazy.
00:13:46.770 –> 00:13:51.990 Joseph McElroy: Really crazy right it’s a it’s a mountain tradition for a person’s default.
00:13:53.190 –> 00:13:55.590 Caden Painter: We are having the time of our life.
00:13:56.700 –> 00:14:00.210 Caden Painter: we’re having having the best time working together yeah yeah.
00:14:00.330 –> 00:14:08.400 Joseph McElroy: All right, well, when we come back from the break we’ll find out a little bit more about your history as a potter and then we’ll get into the art of okay.
00:17:07.980 –> 00:17:16.860 Joseph McElroy: howdy this is Joseph Franklin McElroy back with the gateway to the smokies podcasts and my guest parents whiteness white like.
00:17:17.610 –> 00:17:37.560 Joseph McElroy: The tears painter with his son kayden painter and so Terrence you know jumping into the arts was one thing, but inside they make a full time career of a potter is another and how did you decide to do that, well, I was young and naive and.
00:17:39.300 –> 00:17:39.960 and
00:17:42.360 –> 00:17:51.570 Caden Painter: owned nothing and had no other responsibilities and was able to really dive into it and just devote myself heart and soul.
00:17:52.260 –> 00:18:04.560 Caden Painter: To it I think that’s that the real hard part of becoming a successful artists or craftsman is to get past those first three to five years.
00:18:05.310 –> 00:18:19.470 Caden Painter: In there and it’s really, really a huge huge challenge and those things just kind of happened at a time in my life when when I could accommodate those challenges and survive the first three.
00:18:19.620 –> 00:18:25.410 Joseph McElroy: First, until the business kind of began to take hold and yeah.
00:18:26.550 –> 00:18:37.320 Joseph McElroy: So you you studied in school, and then you came he did you study anywhere else or did you come back to the area yeah came back to Western Western Carolina universities right.
00:18:38.490 –> 00:18:44.340 And, and we searched for a good while for a studio space.
00:18:46.560 –> 00:18:57.630 That we could move into, and this place just kind of fell in our in our lap when I was growing up normal rodgers he was the principal of Maggie valley school.
00:18:58.020 –> 00:19:07.410 This was his home this all log cabin he built his cat and with his bare hands, you know back in the 1930s and it’s just been a great studio.
00:19:08.010 –> 00:19:19.620 For us, I was in graduate school because still no one in the family, thought that I could make a living doing this and this building came available to us.
00:19:20.700 –> 00:19:24.810 Joseph McElroy: And I left graduate school, I saw temporarily.
00:19:25.980 –> 00:19:36.150 Joseph McElroy: To get the business off the ground, well, that was 1980 and i’ve been making pots full time ever since I never went back yeah finished the masters, I remember, I remember, I remember.
00:19:36.780 –> 00:19:50.850 Joseph McElroy: I remember the opening of you, opening up and that was like a potter it was like the different the different drummer now it’s like you know Maggie valley at the time was still a very much.
00:19:52.200 –> 00:20:05.250 Joseph McElroy: You know ghost town town right, it was a it was a ghost towns amusement Park, and it was you know families coming in, on mass to go to ghost town and that’s what it was for so opening up an art studio.
00:20:07.470 –> 00:20:15.810 Joseph McElroy: i’m sorry go ahead yeah yeah here here’s here’s the thing, though, that we that we have discovered about Maggie valley in this area.
00:20:17.220 –> 00:20:18.210 We have.
00:20:19.530 –> 00:20:30.870 Joseph McElroy: So many beautiful inspiring natural resources, right here in our backyard of course smoky mountains National Park there’s the blue Ridge parkway is only five miles away.
00:20:31.890 –> 00:20:33.480 we’re surrounded by.
00:20:34.500 –> 00:20:44.820 Caden Painter: The pisco national forest, we have the shining rock wilderness area just right here in our back door, and we literally see people from all over the world.
00:20:45.750 –> 00:20:57.510 Caden Painter: On highway 19 passing by in front of our shop here so, even though it seems like it would be just a ghost town town a ghost town, being a theme park.
00:20:57.690 –> 00:20:59.940 Joseph McElroy: yeah that was here in Maggie.
00:21:01.140 –> 00:21:06.630 Joseph McElroy: It really is a lot more than that because of, I think, because of the geographic location.
00:21:07.500 –> 00:21:19.950 Joseph McElroy: No, I you know I you know I think he proved it right yeah but you know superficially if you’d looked at it, you know it was you know it was there wasn’t a lot of art compared to say waynesville or silver.
00:21:20.370 –> 00:21:26.730 Joseph McElroy: You know, or even national there you know there wasn’t a lot of art and going on going on, you know one point my dad.
00:21:27.330 –> 00:21:41.790 Joseph McElroy: My dad was mayor, you know and one point he tried to you know that little motel beside the festival grounds right that that’s been empty for years he tried to hit the town to buy that and make it into an artist Community right, but that was like a no go.
00:21:43.470 –> 00:21:47.790 Joseph McElroy: Right so but I see, I think, several attempts at.
00:21:48.810 –> 00:22:06.930 Joseph McElroy: trying to get an artist Community going here, you know we were we were all alone, for a long, long time any other craftsman to speak up in a wood county but that’s really changed always change this change, a lot of people have grown into in the in the in the area, so.
00:22:08.160 –> 00:22:14.910 Joseph McElroy: yeah North I think North Carolina has a reputation of being a pottery state, probably the best pottery state why do you think that is.
00:22:18.270 –> 00:22:21.210 Some of it, I guess is just happenstance.
00:22:22.980 –> 00:22:33.450 There are three major pottery areas in North Carolina there’s of course seagrove down in the eastern part of the state of widely widely recognized unknown pottery Center.
00:22:34.890 –> 00:22:52.770 And then there’s the top of valley pottery tradition down around hickory and then of course there’s this asheville kind of kind of within the orbit of asheville and I really mean the whole appalachian range from from boon to Murphy.
00:22:53.940 –> 00:22:56.340 Joseph McElroy: has drawn has drawn artists.
00:22:57.750 –> 00:23:12.720 from all over the country they’ve moved here kayden tell them some why you think they’ve come to us here yeah I mean I think a lot of it, and I have no data necessarily to back this up, but it seems to me that we see a lot of artists here.
00:23:14.250 –> 00:23:16.440 Because of the the aesthetics.
00:23:17.940 –> 00:23:21.450 Of the region that there’s a lot of.
00:23:24.330 –> 00:23:40.380 there’s there’s a lot of inspirational resource here and all year long you know whether it’s you know that that neon green fresh spring the lush summer, of course, the colors of fall and.
00:23:40.800 –> 00:23:56.340 And then kind of the starkness of winter, even when you know all the underbrush dies back, and you can really see deep into the forest there’s just a lot there’s a lot there, and of course there’s you know the grand scale of you know, the long views.
00:23:57.420 –> 00:24:00.690 You know the high mountain views, but also on kind of a macro level.
00:24:02.460 –> 00:24:06.180 there’s just a lot there’s a lot of inspiration to pull from.
00:24:07.290 –> 00:24:20.070 Joseph McElroy: Would you also say that now it’s it’s it’s enhanced because you can sell your pottery online you don’t have to go to go to places is that is that a benefit is that something that’s helpful.
00:24:23.430 –> 00:24:30.390 Joseph McElroy: Yes, I would say, I would say that, certainly, you know that that’s certainly an extra tool that, yes, but.
00:24:32.850 –> 00:24:33.720 You know I.
00:24:34.860 –> 00:24:43.380 Joseph McElroy: We sell most everything we can make right out the front door here yeah so cool well you’re you’re you’re on a highway that gets a million people and you’re coming.
00:24:46.170 –> 00:24:48.180 Joseph McElroy: Not everybody has that sort of day.
00:24:50.760 –> 00:25:12.570 Joseph McElroy: Something that Internet exposure has really done for us the it draws even more people to us right, no, we find that when people are visiting the southern appalachian region, whether they’re in nashville or over in Tennessee for boom blowing rock.
00:25:13.740 –> 00:25:25.830 Joseph McElroy: They they find us online and they might not have driven by the front door of the shop in the past, now they can they can locate is really, really easily with a couple of clicks.
00:25:26.430 –> 00:25:36.330 Joseph McElroy: Their cell phone give them directions about how to drive straight to our shop so yeah we’re seeing a big impact on that and other you know some other mediums might certainly.
00:25:36.870 –> 00:25:50.460 Joseph McElroy: They may see a lot more, you know business through in a website and, of course, you know, like I said, our websites a great tool for us but there’s something about pottery that oh you gotta touch it yeah especially good stuff i’ve seen it it’s.
00:25:52.710 –> 00:26:03.930 Joseph McElroy: Now you is there, do you get materials from the mountains, you get materials to make any of your work or is that too specialized yeah there really aren’t.
00:26:06.210 –> 00:26:21.180 Many at all of commercially mind materials in the mountains now you know there’s certainly play deposits and the old timers dug their clay locally, obviously we did not.
00:26:23.190 –> 00:26:25.770 Like in our stone where it plays.
00:26:26.910 –> 00:26:35.100 Caden Painter: The fire clay comes from Missouri the ballclub comes from Kentucky we use a kale and from a North Florida so.
00:26:35.610 –> 00:26:53.340 Caden Painter: It it tends to be regional in in that sense there’s kind of a just kind of an East West divide Potters who tend to be on the west coast, they have their own sources out there potter’s who are on the east coast these plays that are their mind out this direction.
00:26:54.120 –> 00:27:06.000 Joseph McElroy: Well, if you if you had to give you one statement about what would be characteristic of the pottery and the smoky mountains, what would be that characteristic well that’s.
00:27:06.780 –> 00:27:17.100 Joseph McElroy: that’s a tough question because we, we are not traditional Potters, even though I have traditional pottery in my family heritage.
00:27:19.200 –> 00:27:34.080 Our influences are much, much broader than that you know i’ve i’ve studied everything from and I draw a lot of inspiration, not just from pottery but i’ve looked at everything from.
00:27:35.910 –> 00:27:39.600 song dynasty Chinese pottery porcelain.
00:27:41.010 –> 00:27:59.130 He dynasty Korean bronze castings i’ve studied the architectural border patterns in Angkor Wat in Cambodia, you know I haven’t been there, personally, but I, but I have collected many, many books and resources on these things.
00:28:00.360 –> 00:28:15.300 But even looked at pre Columbian South American very interested in in architectural motifs and I look at a lot of my pot architecturally I feel like I feel like it’s it’s almost like a.
00:28:16.530 –> 00:28:18.390 Like a dwelling like a structure.
00:28:19.530 –> 00:28:38.160 Caden Painter: When I make it i’m thinking in those terms of a foundation of walls of a crown or or eve of the piece yeah that’s just kind of the way I look at it, so my personal inspirations come literally from from all over the world, now I will tell you.
00:28:39.570 –> 00:28:56.280 Joseph McElroy: The reason that I think pottery is so resonant with people is because it is a piece of personal functional art most crafts gills craft show organizers even gallery owners will tell you.
00:28:56.670 –> 00:29:15.450 Joseph McElroy: The two things that make the craft world go around pottery in jewelry hmm those are always the two biggest sellers the items that are your typical craft fair both of those are personal art.
00:29:16.860 –> 00:29:32.880 it’s not it’s not our that’s on a law somewhere for public viewing it’s art that you use personally you wear that piece of jewelry you you hold that mug you cradle that mug in your hand and I think that speaks to people on a level.
00:29:34.350 –> 00:29:36.000 That that.
00:29:37.080 –> 00:29:49.500 Joseph McElroy: that’s hard to achieve in other art forms cool well when we come back we’ll talk more about your specific the details of your work and some of the kinds of things that you may.
00:29:51.810 –> 00:29:52.350 Okay, great.
00:29:53.610 –> 00:29:55.410 Caden Painter: Talk radio nyc.
00:32:39.480 –> 00:32:57.780 Joseph McElroy: howdy this is Joseph Franklin McElroy back with a gateway to the smokies podcasts, then I guess Terry painter and the sun kayden painter both master craftsman and Potters and Maggie valley North Carolina and they have a they have a wonderful shop called the different drummer.
00:32:59.460 –> 00:33:02.340 Joseph McElroy: Not right near my place and then Lord motel and Maggie Valley.
00:33:03.540 –> 00:33:18.810 Joseph McElroy: So Terry and why don’t you talk about some of the things you make you got a lot of beautiful things in the background, there, what kind of a what kind of things do you make yeah we’re we’re set up in one of our showrooms here to studio.
00:33:20.040 –> 00:33:34.500 And we we cover a pretty wide gamut of the things that we make, I do have a love for functional pottery, and so we we make a lot of straight ahead functional work.
00:33:35.850 –> 00:33:44.160 We we do a lot of dinner where there’s a whole wall over here covered with dinner plates and bowls and salad plates and.
00:33:44.910 –> 00:33:51.210 So that’s an important part of what we do, but you know I backed into this from a fine art background.
00:33:51.690 –> 00:34:03.600 So I couldn’t leave my landscapes behind when I left painting behind I had to find a way to keep expressing the landscapes, and so we have a series of.
00:34:04.500 –> 00:34:17.820 tile wall hangings and covered jars that that have Bob relief landscapes on them, the landscape of course i’m taking inspiration from the surrounding area, the smokies where we are.
00:34:18.240 –> 00:34:27.330 Almost all of them are tree oriented love trees of all kinds, and you know we have many, many, many kinds of trees here in the smokies to draw.
00:34:29.970 –> 00:34:50.970 Joseph McElroy: Do you draw those the do draw those designs yourself before you put on them, are you taking traditional emblems or anything like that, no, no it’s all 100% original, I will start with a pencil drawing very frequently converted into a pen and a drawing to flesh out the design and then.
00:34:53.580 –> 00:35:01.170 Joseph McElroy: We will convert it into a Barber leaf sculpture yeah i’m looking here in the steps.
00:35:02.460 –> 00:35:20.550 Joseph McElroy: what’s that many steps yeah everything yeah I don’t know I like process, you know I like I like a lot of steps to things and this really this really satisfies that because there’s there’s many, many steps you have to go through to bring one of these pieces off very involved.
00:35:21.780 –> 00:35:35.160 Joseph McElroy: So I see on your side that you know I saw I saw things like a cutout tree GEO landscape and hardwood tree inlay landscape so you’re you’re you are extending their skills into other areas besides just pottery.
00:35:37.350 –> 00:35:38.220 yeah we are.
00:35:39.630 –> 00:35:45.960 Joseph McElroy: One of the things i’ve discovered, you know I spent most of my career working in solitude here at the shop.
00:35:46.500 –> 00:35:57.660 Joseph McElroy: And there are advantages to that there are disadvantages to it, since cade came on board the collaboration between the two of us has created some new.
00:35:58.470 –> 00:36:09.630 Joseph McElroy: directions for us it’s really, really nice to have another creative person typically someone you’re on the same wavelength with yeah here in the studio to make and bounce ideas off of each other and.
00:36:10.320 –> 00:36:21.690 Joseph McElroy: We have a line, in particular, a lot of drums that we’re producing hand drums it’s a stoneware base but we’re doing a laminated wood.
00:36:22.290 –> 00:36:41.640 Joseph McElroy: mahogany or birch top to the drums and then we’re taking our pin and eat drawings and using a laser to burn so so we’re real 21st century there were using a cnc laser to burn our drawings into the top, this is one right over my shoulder.
00:36:42.750 –> 00:36:43.230 So this.
00:36:44.250 –> 00:36:52.230 Joseph McElroy: idea of one of the cotton drones were there, and you say you were inspired by some Brazilian drums you but you made some right.
00:36:53.580 –> 00:36:55.710 yeah yeah tell me about yeah we.
00:36:57.090 –> 00:36:57.810 got a visitor.
00:36:59.010 –> 00:36:59.790 From our dog.
00:37:04.620 –> 00:37:07.980 had to come check out what was going on here, let me go put her back, but.
00:37:10.470 –> 00:37:10.710 Caden Painter: yeah.
00:37:11.760 –> 00:37:12.210 Joseph McElroy: there.
00:37:13.320 –> 00:37:17.280 Caden Painter: Were yeah we always have to have a pottery shop dog, you know.
00:37:18.450 –> 00:37:25.080 Joseph McElroy: Not the same without a without a dog oh that’s kind of interesting they’re sort of bounding around right.
00:37:26.700 –> 00:37:34.950 Joseph McElroy: yeah you know say we’ve we’ve had a series of dogs here in the shop over the years, and you know they.
00:37:35.400 –> 00:37:44.430 Joseph McElroy: don’t know they understand they work really well around around the pottery so we don’t have any trouble Oh, I thought that might be a test if it can withstand a dog can withstand the thirst.
00:37:47.280 –> 00:37:57.600 Joseph McElroy: yeah you’re going to tell about the home oh yeah yeah yeah so we’re both musicians and we play a variety of instruments would, of course.
00:37:58.170 –> 00:38:10.080 Joseph McElroy: What we’ve always enjoyed is to come home and so Brazilian box drawing the wouldn’t face on it is just it’s a really great tactile experience.
00:38:10.560 –> 00:38:21.060 Joseph McElroy: And, and so that was definitely something that was important to us, we when we were thinking and planning, you know how’s this going to look how’s it going to feel what’s it going to look like.
00:38:22.500 –> 00:38:22.980 We.
00:38:24.540 –> 00:38:32.160 Of course, the sound is very important to us, but also the tactile experience was very important as well we wanted something that that felt good to play and so.
00:38:33.300 –> 00:38:34.680 The kahan was was.
00:38:35.850 –> 00:38:46.200 Right up front for foremost in our our mind when we were thinking going on man, you know doing a wooden head like that would be would be really, really nice on.
00:38:48.990 –> 00:38:53.610 Joseph McElroy: But it’s fabulous you know my I was telling you that my wife is a Brazilian percussionist.
00:38:55.440 –> 00:38:59.760 Joseph McElroy: she’s she’s actually a member of a 70 or 70 women band.
00:39:00.780 –> 00:39:03.360 Joseph McElroy: that’s actually a worldwide band called box.
00:39:05.940 –> 00:39:07.380 Joseph McElroy: One to call back to La.
00:39:08.760 –> 00:39:25.470 Joseph McElroy: And she is she’s the one of the elite members and so there’s a 10 Member group and she’s gotten to do things like you know play Brazilian drums on Saturday night live open for the Rolling Stones that so we’re gonna come by check out your drums they look fabulous they look like collectors.
00:39:26.580 –> 00:39:34.740 Joseph McElroy: We also we’re also hosting at the middle Arc a monthly drum circle when it’s when it’s more right a lot of people coming from asheville you might.
00:39:35.430 –> 00:39:51.510 Joseph McElroy: You might stop over there it’d be great I love these these look that they play they said they play well right yeah yeah yeah yeah it’s kind of cool you know you never you don’t think of drums have been part of pottery, but these are these are.
00:39:52.740 –> 00:39:53.130 Joseph McElroy: yeah.
00:39:53.190 –> 00:39:57.570 Caden Painter: Let me throw one thing out there, of course, the shop is called the different drummer.
00:39:57.810 –> 00:40:10.110 Joseph McElroy: yeah I know that yeah for the last few years we’ve had a lot of people come in the door and see the drums and say okay now I see where the name comes from, no, no, no, that the main came like.
00:40:10.740 –> 00:40:21.960 Caden Painter: 38 years before the drums the name is philosophical and in Ted it comes from the passage by Henry David thoreau and Walden.
00:40:22.410 –> 00:40:31.770 Joseph McElroy: yeah beat of a different drummer and so back when I was leaving engineering behind and all my high school friends were becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers.
00:40:32.190 –> 00:40:46.800 Joseph McElroy: And I was becoming a potter well Henry David thoreau and helped me feel a little bit better about the path, I was on so that’s why the shop is you know, I was, I was working a full time job was on the fast track that IBM and I had that experience to.
00:40:47.880 –> 00:41:05.970 Joseph McElroy: So I get it, I just walked out yeah so I started a different path so what you know what Terrence What would you say, are the major you know you’ve mentioned a bunch of worldwide influence and things are there, specific people specific specific styles that have influenced your pottery.
00:41:07.980 –> 00:41:16.230 um yeah there was a there was a connection made again I guess it was back in the.
00:41:17.340 –> 00:41:22.680 1950s and 60s a potter in England called Bernard leach.
00:41:24.000 –> 00:41:46.200 made a connection with a Japanese potter and I really don’t know the correct pronunciation of his name Sochi hamada or hamada i’m not sure how his name is pronounced, but they together kind of revived the crafts or studio pottery movement in England.
00:41:47.340 –> 00:42:06.330 Joseph McElroy: hmm and in Japan as well posting those rules yeah rah rah right post war yeah Japan they helped to revive that tradition there as well, and a lot of people, a lot of Americans apprentice with Bernard leach and.
00:42:08.010 –> 00:42:17.490 A professor of one of my professors actually studied in England was leech and I became very, very influenced by.
00:42:19.320 –> 00:42:24.870 Caden Painter: The Asian techniques of making pottery so so that the techniques that we employ here.
00:42:26.430 –> 00:42:38.610 are not even really mainstream European they are Asian pottery forming techniques and it’s a little different it’s a little looser little more relaxed.
00:42:39.630 –> 00:42:48.510 Joseph McElroy: than than like the northern European style of, and this is i’m talking about working on a potter’s wheel style of throwing.
00:42:49.320 –> 00:43:09.510 Joseph McElroy: So that lends itself very well to the other organic designs and features that the trees and things that we take inspiration from from our surrounding and you know apply and incorporating into the pot that I think those those two approaches go really well together, plus.
00:43:10.740 –> 00:43:29.460 Joseph McElroy: they’re the Asian approach to the potter’s wheel I find to be very musical and it’s very much like playing a musical instrument, I find it to be internally kind of the same thing.
00:43:30.360 –> 00:43:39.780 Joseph McElroy: At least a very similar now my hands are doing different things when i’m throwing a pot versus playing a guitar or a drum but.
00:43:40.260 –> 00:43:46.350 Joseph McElroy: The the gears that are turning inside your head, I think, are about the same cool.
00:43:47.100 –> 00:43:59.220 Joseph McElroy: All right, well, we would we gotta go to break when we come back we’ll finish up with a little bit more about what inspires you and then how people find more information and find things to look at it Pottering the carolinas.
00:44:00.270 –> 00:44:00.600 Great.
00:44:02.490 –> 00:44:04.020 Talk radio and my.
00:44:06.210 –> 00:44:07.110 Key in.
00:46:17.490 –> 00:46:24.630 Joseph McElroy: howdy this is Joseph Franklin McElroy back with the gateway to the smokies podcast my guest Terry.
00:46:25.290 –> 00:46:42.600 Joseph McElroy: Terry painter and the sun kayden painter of the different drummer pottery and Maggie valley North Carolina so Tara you and your wife wife wrote a book called centered inspiration from the hands of a potter what was the inspiration for that and what’s it about well.
00:46:43.020 –> 00:46:43.560 yeah.
00:46:45.150 –> 00:46:46.290 I have a.
00:46:47.370 –> 00:47:04.710 Talk that idea of a a spiritual inspirational talk that I gave with my potter’s wheel began as many, many years ago and that just kind of grew organically I don’t know, I was invited.
00:47:06.000 –> 00:47:08.790 Actually, to illustrate a.
00:47:10.500 –> 00:47:18.810 Our pastors message at our church with the potter’s wheel, and one thing led to another, and before long, I was, I was illustrating my own.
00:47:19.500 –> 00:47:37.380 talk with the potter’s wheel and people wanted something tangible that they could take away from that so at that time my wife had been a professional photographer for many years and we thought this was something that we could do completely in house and she did all the photography.
00:47:39.180 –> 00:47:52.770 For this thing and we basically what’s funny is when I sat down and tried to ride out what what I said i’d completely what I said, and one of the.
00:47:54.090 –> 00:47:59.190 Joseph McElroy: Blank so we had to contact some places where I had spoken before.
00:47:59.190 –> 00:48:01.470 Caden Painter: and get tapes from.
00:48:03.000 –> 00:48:22.560 So different you know, being in from an audience having that feedback the the atmosphere and everything it was all different, and I found out that I did it different every time it was just very off the cuff and spontaneous so we kind of tried to take the best of.
00:48:23.850 –> 00:48:41.220 Joseph McElroy: Several talks that I had given and condense it down into a book and I need to photographed it and yeah it’s something that we self published, we have copies available here in the shop, so I found that I believe I found I found a link an Amazon link for it on on Amazon.
00:48:41.610 –> 00:48:42.960 Joseph McElroy: So I.
00:48:43.890 –> 00:48:53.520 Joseph McElroy: was good, so I put the link up on our website so if people want to find the get that book, I recommend going to the website and getting that link and go buy that book.
00:48:55.140 –> 00:49:00.150 Joseph McElroy: So, so do you find there’s something spiritual about making pottery.
00:49:01.260 –> 00:49:03.600 Joseph McElroy: and your approach well you do yeah.
00:49:04.710 –> 00:49:12.240 yeah certainly meditative if, if nothing else, we laugh about it a lot because.
00:49:13.980 –> 00:49:27.330 Often, often I will have people come in the shop and they say oh you’re so you’re so lucky, you know I just love to bake pottery and you get to make pottery every day and relax, it must be so relaxing.
00:49:28.380 –> 00:49:29.520 Joseph McElroy: I always tell them.
00:49:30.390 –> 00:49:33.750 Joseph McElroy: Try paying your mortgage little balls play.
00:49:34.620 –> 00:49:37.710 Caden Painter: making things out of it see how relaxing that is so.
00:49:37.800 –> 00:49:58.620 Joseph McElroy: yeah I will say i’ve been doing this soon will be 41 years full time and I still look forward to coming to work every single day it’s the kind of proceed that I would never stop it was something I would never retire from so long as i’m able.
00:49:59.700 –> 00:50:05.040 Joseph McElroy: To keep looks good I mean you know I I was you know it’s interesting to me about how much.
00:50:05.460 –> 00:50:15.540 Joseph McElroy: You know practicality and spirituality go into making art it’s always a question I you know i’ve done a little heart in my in my time and i’m actually in a museum for some some some work.
00:50:15.990 –> 00:50:24.180 Joseph McElroy: yeah so in my studies of it, you know it was funny I saw a quote, I think it was Henry Mathias his son and so who’s been to a lot of events with his father.
00:50:24.390 –> 00:50:34.800 Joseph McElroy: You know, and things like that and people mash them once or you know what’s it like when all those poets and artists to get together, he said, we know the funny thing is when artists and poets get together at all, they talk about is money.
00:50:40.470 –> 00:50:41.280 Joseph McElroy: So.
00:50:42.390 –> 00:50:57.840 Joseph McElroy: A lot though yeah yeah we we also we’ve talked a lot about how so much of what we make, is what we think it’s important for and, and this is one of the reasons why we make so many different things is.
00:50:58.920 –> 00:51:13.290 Joseph McElroy: We want to make things that are interesting to us yeah and and and pursue those ideas and passions and when when when something comes along that you lose sleep over.
00:51:15.630 –> 00:51:16.830 you chase that.
00:51:18.240 –> 00:51:20.880 Joseph McElroy: Well it’s uh yeah we we really have a.
00:51:22.860 –> 00:51:37.650 Joseph McElroy: Sorry, we really have a theory about about making things to sell to other people, that if we satisfy ourselves first if we make work that we genuinely like.
00:51:38.280 –> 00:51:42.780 Joseph McElroy: That there’s a percentage of the population out there that’s going to be on the same wavelength.
00:51:43.590 –> 00:51:59.190 Joseph McElroy: That we’re on and that work will speak to them as it speaks to us so so we don’t go off trying to chase other other paths we we make work that we like and just speaks.
00:52:00.030 –> 00:52:13.530 Joseph McElroy: It speaks to us, we have well it’s a it’s a gift it’s a gift in life to have that happen so is there a besides your place which is Maggie Valley, and I think you can find out about a different drummer pottery calm right.
00:52:15.000 –> 00:52:24.360 Joseph McElroy: Is there other pottery places you recommend people to visit in the mountains, a couple you know, two or three we only have a couple minutes but yeah ah yeah my devers.
00:52:25.410 –> 00:52:26.100 Over.
00:52:27.720 –> 00:52:34.050 Caden Painter: balsam gap there on the other side of the balsam range from my shop.
00:52:34.620 –> 00:52:36.930 Joseph McElroy: My dad was definitely worth checking out.
00:52:37.980 –> 00:52:38.850 And then.
00:52:40.620 –> 00:52:43.950 The River would shops over in hillsboro.
00:52:47.010 –> 00:52:52.410 A couple of long time good potter’s there in hillsborough and then, of course.
00:52:53.520 –> 00:52:57.510 A lot potter’s that I know are now in the River arts district.
00:52:58.800 –> 00:53:00.120 Over in asheville.
00:53:01.980 –> 00:53:07.710 Joseph McElroy: A lot of people, a lot of people who used to be kind of out in the country, somewhere, have now.
00:53:08.820 –> 00:53:17.610 Joseph McElroy: moved their studios to the River arts district for for that exposure, so any other shout out you want to make a name for social media, you want to mention anything.
00:53:18.630 –> 00:53:29.130 yeah so you mentioned the different drummer pottery.com also crop drum.com that will take you it’s a sub page of different term pottery.
00:53:29.400 –> 00:53:39.060 But it’s specific to the drums and we have DEMO videos and some tutorials for our personal playing style that we that we’ve come up with.
00:53:39.990 –> 00:53:57.240 As well as follow us on Facebook and instagram the different underscore drummer underscore pottery and we often make updates there anything we’re working on anything new we’re going to talk about it there first and.
00:53:58.770 –> 00:54:13.590 And if a new firing is out, what will we always announce whenever a new work is out there yeah we fired the kill about every three to four weeks so we want to get the message out when there’s a new batch of pots.
00:54:15.300 –> 00:54:25.500 Joseph McElroy: Well, thank you very much for being on my show and be sure to let us know we’ll we’ll put you out there every time we get a chance, and I will promote it as if even out there.
00:54:25.890 –> 00:54:32.250 Joseph McElroy: You know, everybody that’s listening, you can go to gateway to the smokies dot fun to find out more about this podcast.
00:54:32.610 –> 00:54:45.480 Joseph McElroy: I have some links up there, I got the like I said I have terry’s book up, there are a couple other books related to the show about the original a woman that founded the southern appalachian Guild.
00:54:46.920 –> 00:54:59.580 Joseph McElroy: And now I you know, we want to I want you to imagine something imagine a place evocative evocative of motor cortex of the past, the modern and vibrant within seek appalachian feel.
00:55:00.000 –> 00:55:06.360 Joseph McElroy: a place for adventure and for relaxation imagine a place where you can fish in a mountain heritage trout stream.
00:55:06.720 –> 00:55:15.960 Joseph McElroy: grill the catch on the fire and need accompanied by fine wind or craft beers imagine a place of the old time music and world cultural sounds.
00:55:16.260 –> 00:55:25.380 Joseph McElroy: There is no other place like the metal art motel in Maggie valley North Carolina nestled in the great smoky mountains National Park Area.
00:55:25.920 –> 00:55:40.140 Joseph McElroy: We are the starting point for all your adventures, in fact, your smoky adventure mountain adventure starts with where you stay the middle earth motel so I want you to remember that take away, if nothing else, no i’m kidding.
00:55:42.570 –> 00:55:53.040 Joseph McElroy: i’m really promoting the gate with the smokies is a place to come and I actually have a site called smokies adventure that’s plural smokies is adventure calm.
00:55:53.430 –> 00:56:01.950 Joseph McElroy: which is dedicated to publishing all sorts of information and listings about the smokies and that’s both Western North Carolina East Tennessee.
00:56:02.280 –> 00:56:08.730 Joseph McElroy: We have an emphasis on outdoor recreation outdoor life cultural events you know, crafts arts.
00:56:09.510 –> 00:56:21.990 Joseph McElroy: weddings adventures, and then we provide information about lodging and entertainment and events and conventions and honeymoons and things like that, and the goal is to become the leading information portal for the smoky mountains.
00:56:23.280 –> 00:56:30.570 Joseph McElroy: We also have a Facebook page, you can get to a Facebook COM slash gateway to the smokies podcast.
00:56:31.680 –> 00:56:41.640 Joseph McElroy: i’m also a part of the where traveler network, we have a we have a hub they’re called great smoky mountains, where travelers and a two year old magazine here.
00:56:42.090 –> 00:56:48.480 Joseph McElroy: And we’re very proud to be on there, and I want to mention that we’re on talk radio dot nyc.
00:56:49.260 –> 00:57:00.660 Joseph McElroy: pod podcasts live podcast station, with many programs on here, I recommend you sticking around and listening to them they’re great shows there’s one after this about New York.
00:57:01.230 –> 00:57:11.790 Joseph McElroy: Visiting New York so stick around and listen to that one I appreciate it’s been a great guy a great podcast Thank you guys and see it and see you next time can listen to us next week.
