Raving about Craven

Donna Craven with her BIGWARE

Raves usually take place in dark rooms filled with laser lights, strobes, and DJs. I'm sitting here playing DJ at Starworks amongst tons of clay about to rave about last night with Donna Craven at the home of Jennie Lorette Keatts. Jennie's home is a shrine to the wood-fired work of North Carolina. There are hundreds if not thousands of pots from so many in this state. To name a few Hewitt, Johnston, Johnson, Stuempfle, Matisse, Sand, Jones,  Hitomi and Takuro, Brown, all the Jugtown clan - Vernon, Pam, Bayle, and Travis. Many others!

That's the wood-fired and then there are the cupboards and sideboards full of other potters not working in wood firing.

The big power pieces of which there are dozens is the work of Donna Craven. Donna Craven works alone without technology, lasers, and strobes. There might be a cold beer after a long hard day of making, moving and firing her signature wood-fired salt-glazed BIGWARE.

Donna Craven seems to be a cult figure around these parts. JLK is a member of that cult and I am a new inductee.

*Blog entry by Tony Clennell, MFA, RCA, is a second-generation potter that has been making pottery for over 35 years. He has taught workshops in Canada, the USA, Japan, China, Korea, Wales, and Italy. He has a Master of Fine Arts from Utah State University and is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He is author of “Stuck in the Mud” a book of irreverent tales, BS and nonsense.*

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