Home About Home Gallery hours are 10am - Noon, M - F and Saturdays by appointment. To contact the Clay Centre: Call 919-967-0314 or email bjjhiggins@msn.com To purchase pieces pictured, visit the Gallery in Carrboro or order online at www.Etsy.com/shop/ClayCentreGallery. Order by phone from the Gallery in Carrboro at 919-967-0314. We accept credit cards and offer gift certificates for pottery. Click on the images to enlarge The courtyard in the Clay Centre Peach tumbler Bluebird Platter Bodhi Leaf Platter Gray matte bud vase Porcelain Pot Cherry Blossom Butter Dish Butter dish Gold Ginkgos Moss Green with Lenten Roses Barbara's functional stoneware and porcelain pots are wheel-thrown and handbuilt. Many pieces show her interest in texture and stamps of ancient symbols, which add depth and movement to the design. Her imagery is from the natural world - streams, dragonflies, cranes, turtles, and leaves. Love of this natural world is a recurring theme. Stoneware pieces are glazed with a saturated iron glaze or cobalt glaze over a stoneware body, and are fired in oxidation to approximately 2180 degrees Fahrenheit. Porcelain pieces are glazed with chun glazes in a soft palette. Her combination of patterns and symbols combine the contemporary with the ancient in a classical way. To make the slab pieces pictured, a slab is carved and bisque-fired, then a fresh porcelain slab is rolled over the bisqued slab to pick up the pattern. The piece is then cut from the wet slab and put together with slip and coils. Patterns are highlighted with underglaze and the piece is bisque fired, glazed and fired. The images are frequently water or stream images and include cranes, skies (clouds and moon), leaves, bamboo, turtles, dragonflies and more. A feeling of the ephemera of a day pervades each piece and urges us to absorb and relish every moment. Barbara trained at Penland School of Crafts in western North Carolina, and has taught ceramics in the Chapel Hill area since 1989. She is the developer and manager of The Clay Centre, a venue for artist studios and a gallery in Carrboro NC, which opened in June, 2002. Bluebird plate Blue bud vase Blue ginkgo pot 1 Gray crane tea bowl Blue ginkgo tea bowl Teal Bud Vase Sunflowers Leaf bud vase Sunflower dish 1 Folded bowl with Crane Bud Vase Blue crane dish Hummingbird platter Turtle tea bowl Espresso Set Cherry Blossom Sushi Set Home  ·   About The Clay Centre Gallery · 402 Lloyd St. · Carrboro, NC 27510 · (919) 967-0314