Thanksgiving Wood Kiln Opening near Blowing Rock November 28

Story by Anna Oakes

Watch out for flying elbows as shoppers make a dive for their favorite pieces at the annual Thanksgiving wood kiln opening at Bolick Pottery and Traditions Pottery on Saturday, November 28.

Want To Go?

Date: Saturday, November 28
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Traditions and Bolick Pottery studios, south of Blowing Rock
Cost: Free

As part of their Thanksgiving family tradition, the Bolicks and the Calhouns invite you to join in the fun as they fire up the old-fashioned groundhog wood kiln on Saturday, November 28.

Traditions Pottery and Bolick Pottery—two generations of potters with studios located just south of Blowing Rock—typically fire their creations with modern electric kilns. At Thanksgiving and on the last Saturday in June, however, they stoke the fire of the wood kiln for one-of-a-kind, functional works of art.

“That’s our little Thanksgiving tradition,” said Janet Calhoun, co-owner of Traditions Pottery and a sixth-generation potter from the Owens family of Seagrove.

The event begins at 9:00 a.m., when the pottery from the wood kiln is unloaded and priced. You’ll want to arrive early if you want to purchase wood kiln pieces, as most of them are gone in an hour. The two studios are also stocked with pottery and will remain open until 5:00 p.m.

On top of that, the studios will serve chili all day and feature Christmas carolers at the top of each hour. Calhoun said they might also demonstrate apple butter making.

Calhoun said the potters—including her husband Mike Calhoun and parents Glenn and Lula Owens Bolick—stick to traditional pottery shapes for the traditional wood kiln. Those include face jugs, Santa Claus jugs, lizard jugs, Monday/Friday two-face jugs, vases, candlesticks, teapots, sculpted chickens and more.

“It’s all handmade stuff. We make it here at the shop,” Calhoun said.

A wood kiln is built into the ground to help retain heat. The roof of the structure is rounded in a half circle. Wood is burned in the front of the kiln, and chimneys are located in the rear.

The potters load the wood kiln with about two pickup loads of several kinds of wood, including dry wood and green wood.

“We’ll load it the Tuesday before Thanksgiving,” Calhoun said. “It takes three people to load the little kin.”

It then takes about six to 12 hours to fire the kiln on Thanksgiving Day, Calhoun said, with several hours spent stoking the fire. The wood kiln reaches a temperature of about 2,200 degrees and cools on Friday and Saturday.

The pottery fired in the wood kiln typically turns out in hues of reddish coral or deep or bluish-purple, often with unique variations and iridescent colors.

Glenn and Lula Bolick started Bolick Pottery in 1972, and Calhoun and her husband opened Traditions Pottery close by in 1991. Traditions and Bolick Pottery also operate a gallery in the Martin House on Main Street in Blowing Rock.

The wood kiln opening will take place at the Traditions Pottery and Bolick Pottery studios, located at 4443 Bolick Road, three miles south of Blowing Rock. From Highway 321 South, turn left at Blackberry Road and right on Bolick Road and follow the signs.

For more information, call 828-295-5099 or click to www.traditionspottery.com.