Appalachian arts and pottery shape picturesque art in region

BY GRACE FICARA

Bob Meier, owner of Doe Ridge Pottery and Appalachian State University alumni, gives faces to mugs and life to clay.

While initially entering university with a major in Industrial Arts and Vocational Education, Meier took a pottery course to check off a requirement and ended up making the craft his career. With multiple mugs, lamps, dishes and other assortments of pottery to choose from, Meier describes how tourists from out of state come to North Carolina for the wide selection of pottery. In his own shop, he has approximately tens of thousands of dollars in inventory at a time and currently homes 16 other potters work as well as his own.

From the piedmont to the coast, Meier said that North Carolina has always been a place where potters can come together.

With a thin line of topsoil, the clay became easily accessible to anyone interested in pottery. Although making the clay suitable for pottery is an extensive process, Meier said that the easy access benefitted artists interested in clay making.

Meier added that “potters like being around potters,” which accounts for the high volume of pottery in

North Carolina and why he believes it plays a significant role in the state’s economy. Meier said that people react to mass-produced items, which is part of pottery’s draw. Since he knew nothing about pottery before starting at Appalachian State University, Meier assumed the interest in pottery was the same everywhere.

Then, one day, four women walked into his store from Illinois and were taken aback by the amount of pottery. After the women walked around for a bit, Meier remembers one of them speaking up and saying “Well, this is it.” It sure is.