Center at core of dispute
Published: Sun, Jul. 27, 2008 12:00AM
Modified Sun, Jul. 27, 2008 01:44AM
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closeThe N.C. Pottery Center is part of a simmering feud among potters in the five-county Seagrove area, with two groups now planning to hold separate pottery festivals on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
The Museum of N.C. Traditional Pottery in Seagrove will hold its 27th annual festival Nov. 22-23. The museum helped launch the center to promote the pottery industry. But disagreements between the supporters of the museum and supporters of the center escalated this year after the death of Richard Gillson, the museum's longtime director.
Museum supporters say that in the wake of Gillson's death, the center tried to take control of the festival. Museum opponents say that with Gillson's death, the museum has come under the influence of board member Don Hudson, a partner in the DK Clay pottery studio in Sanford.
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In an opinion piece Hudson wrote, he characterized the center as "Frankenstein's Monster," saying it had spent millions but had done little to increase the number of visitors to the area.
A breakaway group, unhappy with Hudson's leadership, will hold its own festival the same weekend. That group is limiting participation to potters who work in and around Seagrove proper and near N.C. 705, dubbed "The N.C. Pottery Highway" because of the number of potters working there.
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