by MEGAN NORTHCOTE
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series about traditional Appalachian crafts.

“When I do something that’s really inspiring and I’m in that zone of inspiration – it’s just really powerful,” Boone ceramic artist Jeff C. Martin said.

But it wasn’t always that way for Martin. 

It began about four years ago when Martin attended Appalachian State University as a prospective geology and sociology major. 

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Martin said. “I never considered myself an artist.”

But then one day he discovered his calling after experiencing a series of recurring dreams. 

That’s when he decided to become a potter and never looked back.

After a four month apprenticeship, Martin went out on his own, making one-of-a-kind, high-end ceramic pieces.

He sells these pieces in a variety of locations in Boone along with his Gocco prints, watercolor paintings and illustrations.

“I really believe that you can do anything you want if you’re able to get in line with your soul,” Martin said.  

For the past four years, Martin has been designing and creating black and white, wheel-thrown pottery using the sgraffito technique. 

Sgraffito is Italian meaning “to scratch” and involves painting several coats of a colored slip onto the pottery and then carving designs onto the surface to reveal another color underneath.

Martin starts with a traditional form like an urn or a bottle and then applies his own creative, modern twist, frequently adding quotes and phrases in Italian, Latin, Spanish and English.

“I’ve always considered myself more design oriented than materials oriented,” Martin said.

He draws inspiration from underground graffiti artists and from images that form in his mind while listening to Pandora music as he works in his home studio.

Martin sells his work, which ranges from $32 coffee mugs to $800 statues, and provides commission work.

But as Martin has come to find out, a lot of work is involved in running a full-time pottery business.

“I’m the sweeper [of the studio] and I’m the finished product maker and I’m everything in between,” Martin said.
For Martin, “everything in between” includes buying his materials, making the work, selling the work, contacting shows and galleries to promote his work, maintaining customer relations and keeping up with the bookkeeping and taxes.  

However, there was a time when the life of this potter wasn’t quite as demanding as it is now.

When Martin was starting out, he was introduced to Eric F. Reichard, director for the Craft Enrichment Center at Appalachian. 

“I ran [pottery] production out of his [Mr. Reichard’s] studio until he kicked me out,” Martin said.  “I owe a lot to him.” 

“[The Craft Enrichment Center] is the biggest service to this community of anything this university does,” Sally S. Atkins, professor of human development and psychological counseling and coordinator of the Expressive Arts Therapy Program, said. 

Atkins is currently enrolled in the advanced pottery class taught by Reichard that meets every Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. in the pottery studio of Katherine Harper Hall.

“[The Center] gives students, faculty, and staff a creative outlet,” Reichard said. 

The Craft Enrichment center offers a wide variety of craft classes open to all levels including weaving, jewelry, woodworking and metalworking

Pottery classes average around $145, which includes the cost of clay, firing and all other supplies. 

Registration for pottery classes as well as any other spring semester craft classes can be completed online at craftenrichment.com. 

“We live in an area where crafts are taken to the level of fine arts,” Atkins said. “Students take one class and they get hooked and want to learn more.”

Pottery offers a lot to learn including the basic techniques of pinching, coiling, slab building and throwing pieces on the wheel.

Other traditional techniques include imprinting leaves and objects from nature into the pottery.

“Clay connects you so much to the earth,” Peggie D. Laine, a retired school counselor and member of the advanced pottery class, said as she sculpted the sides of her dish .  “It calms you. It keeps you centered and focused and mindful.”

Both Laine and Atkins agree making pottery is about letting go and getting in touch with your inner self, much like Martin has done through his work.

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