Travel Guides
Pottery Itinerary for the Seagrove Area -- Stop 2 Crystal King Pottery
As you leave the North Carolina Pottery Center, turn right (south) out of the parking lot onto Old Plank Road, and then left on Route 705, the Pottery Highway. The first stop, Crystal King Pottery, is three miles down the road in the Whynot community, and on the way there – and between all of the suggested stops – you will pass a great many other potteries, also great places to visit. Crystal King Pottery is on your left, at 2475 Hwy. 705.
Crystal King is one of today’s prominent young potters, the daughter of Terry and Anna King (whose own shop is northwest of town, at Reeder Road off of Burney Road). Crystal’s parents were trained by the late Walter and Dorothy Cole Auman, owners of Seagrove Pottery and influential teachers and mentors to many potters in North Carolina. While she makes plenty of wheel-thrown vessels, King garners most attention for her sculptural figures, which are built rather than thrown. Potters in this area often refer to small clay statues as “whimsies,” or, simply, “folk art.” King hand-builds animals – lions, hares riding atop turtles, and many others – and political figures like Uncle Sam, and specializes in depictions of Biblical scenes. King’s Noah’s Ark sets are a wonderful marriage of her talents for meaningful Scripture-based work and charming animal figures. Crystal King also builds face jugs, or “ugly jugs,” hand-thrown pots with facial features applied – one of the most recognizable and widely collected forms of Southern folk art.
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