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Pottery In North Carolina

WUNC | By Laura Lee,

Frank Stasio

Published May 7, 2015 at 12:21 PM EDT

A discussion about North Carolina pottery with Seagrove potter Ben Owen III; Mark Hewitt, president of the North Carolina Pottery Center; and Steve Blankenbeker, ceramics engineer with Taylor Clay Products

Pottery is one of the signature art forms of the Tar Heel State.

From the mountains to the coast, the unique clays of the Carolinas give potters creative materials to create exceptional work.

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil, a new exhibition at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, highlights the materials of pottery through the work of Seagrove potter Ben Owen III.

Host Frank Stasio talks about the materials and methods of North Carolina pottery with Owen; Mark Hewitt, president of the North Carolina Pottery Center; and SteveBlankenbeker, ceramics engineer with Taylor Clay Products.

Pottery by Ben Owen, III

Ben Owen, III

Pottery by Ben Owen, III

Potter Ben Owen, III, in his element.

Pottery by Ben Owen, III

Copyright 2015 North Carolina Public Radio

Laura Lee

Laura Lee began her journalism career as a producer and booker at NPR. She returned to her native North Carolina to manage The State of Things, a live daily statewide show on WUNC. After working as a managing editor of an education journalism start-up, she became a writer and editor at a national education publication, Edutopia. She then served as the news editor at Carolina Public Press, a statewide investigative newsroom. In 2022, she worked to build collaborative coverage of elections administration and democracy in North Carolina.

Laura received her master’s in journalism from the University of Maryland and her bachelor’s degree in political science and J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

See stories by Laura Lee

Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

See stories by Frank Stasio