Lockbridge Pottery show will include guest artisans

May 8—The evolution of shows at Lockbridge Pottery continues this week as guest artisans will be bringing honey and locally crafted jewelry for purchase, adding to eats on Saturday, during the two-day event just outside Meadow Bridge where the proprietors, Jeff and Donna Diehl, are adding a game of skill as well.

But the star of the show remains Jeff's pottery.

Now in his 50th year at the wheel, Diehl, along with his wife, Donna, will be hosting the show on Friday, May 10, from 4-7 p.m., and on Saturday, May 11, from 10-4 p.m.

Their studio and farm are about halfway between Beckley and Lewisburg, not far off of Interstate 64 at the Green Sulphur Springs exit. Jeff has built signs in the shape of teapots to help direct the curious, the interested and the faithful to the complex in the rural recesses of Summers County in Lockbridge, an unincorporated community located south of Meadow Bridge along the narrowest of blacktop roads.

On display for purchase will be pots and platters, dishes and tumblers, mugs and bowls, pitchers and vases, bird feeders and water fountains, items big and small, worthy of a dinner table or a wall on which to hang. There will be pots in both clay and ceramic in a variety of shapes and colors and textures — and stories that Jeff gladly shares.

The Diehls set up shop out at the farm in 1980 in what was a two-room schoolhouse. They have been hosting shows there for 25 years while developing a clientele by exhibiting their work up and down the East Coast. They used to have exhibits in various local venues, but in recent years have pulled back.

Diehl, a Beckley native, agreed to a Q and A in advance of the show.

Q: So you are celebrating 50 years of making pottery. How is this possible?

A: I started my pottery apprenticeship at Berea College in 1974. I was fortunate to be assigned to work in the Ceramic Apprenticeship Program as my labor assignment. All students at Berea participate in the labor program to offset the cost of their tuition. I worked in the program there for five years and also completed a year apprenticeship in Germany before moving to Lockbridge in 1980.

Q: What can we expect from your spring show this weekend?

A: We have had a very productive spring here at the pottery. We have fired the salt kiln, the reduction kiln and the crystalline kilns. Shea Newton will be joining us with her beautiful handmade jewelry on both Friday and Saturday. There will be honey available from the Hidden Quarry Honey. We will have a potter's wheel on Saturday for our guests to experience what spinning clay feels like. Oh, and the Bridge Cafe will be here Saturday with their delicious edibles.

We are also having a golf chipping contest on Saturday with a canoe out in the field with a pottery prize for the luckiest or perhaps the most skilled golfer.

There will also be a chance to decorate a small vase, free with your purchase, with honey or horsehair.

Our show special will be a porcelain crystalline bowl. This is a glazing and firing technique where crystals grow on the surface of the clay during firing. The crystals are similar to ice crystals on glass, but these are grown with heat and these are permanent. I mix zinc and silica in the glaze with oxides as colorants creating a fascinating varied surface.

Q: After 50 years of making pots, what motivates you to keep creating?

A: Every kiln load opens new roads of possibilities. I see the finished pots and ask myself dozens of "What if?" questions. What if this glaze was fired a little hotter? What would this surface look like on a different form? What if this handle was a little thinner or thicker? What if this vase had a wider foot? You get the idea. The possibilities are without limits. It is also very motivational to know that my customers use and enjoy the pottery that I make and are always excited to see my latest creations.

Q: One more question. So, 50 years. How many more?

A: There are so many more pots that I want to make, I really cannot imagine stopping. I hope to continue for many more years. I'm still having fun and plan to keep it up.