On our roadtrip across the country from L.A to New York, we went through North Carolina in order to visit some potters. North Carolina has more potteries than any state by far; it's a hotbed of ceramic activity. I met Doug and Patti Hubbs whilst at La Meridiana Ceramics School, in Tuscany. I was an assistant and Doug a student with Patti coming along for the trip. They were both lovely, and I saw that Doug was an excellent potter. We kept in touch and they supported our India project, so when we knew we'd be in the vicinity a visit was definitely in order.
Their house is on "Over Creek Road" and you quite literally have to cross a creek to get to the house. As Lauren's red Toyota (Lucille) whooshed through the water and we made it across it felt like we were in a magical place. The grounds are encircled by forest and their house is built into the side of the hill. Everett the cat greeted us first; he is a magnificent cat, a mountain cat.
About twice the size of normal house cats, we thought he must be a
Maine Coon. Apparently he catches rabbits amongst other things. Doug, Patti and Everett took us on a walking tour of the property to see the veg patch, pond, pottery gallery etc. As night was falling we saw a deer run across the glade.
 |
| Doug and Patti's house. |
 |
| Everett the big friendly cat |
 |
| Fireplace |
 |
| Doug's Pottery Gallery |
 |
| Lauren holding the pot they gave us as a wedding present. |
 |
| Back window of the gallery |
 |
| Side window |
 |
| Window sill pots |
 |
| Pot graveyard |
 |
| A plate I found in the graveyard |
 |
| Guardian Elephant |
 |
| Pig pot |
 |
| Lauren with Everett. Look how big he is! |
Patti and Doug asked us to choose a pot as a present for getting married a few weeks previous to our visit. It was a tough choice, but we went for a large shallow bowl similar to the ones below. We almost hung it on the wall but it's too useful, holding all of our onions, garlic, potatoes etc in the kitchen.
The gallery was stocked floor to ceiling with pots from multiple different firings. The ones at the bottom of the picture below were super shiny metallic from a heavy reduction raku.
 |
| Many unusual pots! |
Doug's signature technique is to chatter his pots at the leather hard stage to give a textured finish to them. Here's a clear example:
 |
| Top shelf. |
 |
| Horse hair firing |
 |
| Great red colouring on this low fired pot. |
 |
| Drinking vessels |
 |
| I particularly like these ones, they seem so alive. |
 |
| Tea set. |
 |
| Various ladles |
 |
| A beautiful plate made with glass; unfortunately, it cracked in the firing |
Doug doesn't just make functional ware, though; he also experiments with sculpture, such as these lively face jugs:
 |
| Big wise face jugs |
And finally, two little critters who were hiding in the corner of the room. I nearly missed them...
It was a truly lovely visit and we can't wait to go back at some point.Here's a link to the Cave Creek website:
http://cavecreekpottery.com/
