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Recognition comes: The results are unbelievably detailed and ornate designs that have brought the couple much recognition in the past few years, including Best in Show at Art in the Park in Blowing Rock last summer as well as having four platters chosen for upcoming Lark Books release "500 Platters, Plates and Chargers."

They even decided to cancel their annual spring studio sale this year so they could produce enough work for summer craft shows and their solo exhibit this month at Nature Art Gallery inside the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Laying the groundwork: "Things were OK before, but two years ago they started really clicking for us," Garland said.

"A few years ago we made the decision to apply to bigger and better shows," Paul said. "We had a designer design a new display; we bought some new equipment; and we really stepped things up. We said, 'If we're getting into these better shows, we really need some exceptional work.' "

One of Garland's highlights was having their work accepted at Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor. "I used to walk through there and think, 'I wish I could get in here someday.' So that was a real pivotal point, and also getting into the Carolina Designer Craftsmen," the statewide artisans guild that new members must be juried into.

All about pottery: Next on the couple's list is to apply to the prestigious Smithsonian Craft Show, held every spring in Washington.

"We're waiting until John retires for that one," said Paul, noting that Garland plans to leave his job in the next year or two to devote all his time to ceramics instead of squeezing it into evenings and weekends. "Pottery is such hard work that we have to do it while we're still young."

Meanwhile, they'll continue to collaborate.

"We both have a real appreciation for all kinds of pottery," Paul said. "When we do social things, it's usually with other potters, or we go to pottery shows. We eat off and drink out of pottery. Pottery is our lives. And when we have a good show, we buy things from other potters."

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