If Alex’s last name sounds familiar, it’s because he comes from a long line of classical and contemporary artists. “ BMC’s influence on this area is without question it was equally influenced by Appalachian craftspeople, farmers, and artists,” says Kate Averett, community engagement manager at BMC Museum. At nearby Black Mountain College (BCM), Asheville’s bastion of the avant-garde, master ceramists like Karen Karnes, David Weinrib and Shoji Hamada made their mark on the contemporary movement alongside Appalachian craftspeople who were dedicated to rustic, yet enduring forms using salt and wood ash glazes. The craft is a time-honored tradition in and around the Blue Ridge Mountains. H e moved to the South for college but soon dropped out after discovering the rich seams of clay that run through N.C.’s soil and the tight-knit community of potters who revere it. They used regionally sourced, iron – rich clay, firing their works in a wood kiln that Alex built himself while Connie formulated colors for the glazes (a role she still fulfills).Īlex picked North Carolina as his home base, both on purpose and by accident. We were way out in the sticks.” At the time, Alex and Vigeland threw each and every vessel by hand themselves.
“We didn’t have things like three-phase power, natural gas, or roads to drive a tractor-trailer down. They started out in a crumbling farmhouse at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With a narrative-driven ethos, colorful glazes released by the “season,” and a fast-growing team of about 50, this Asheville, North Carolina–based company is poised to transform the way we think about American ceramics.īut w hen the trio founded East Fork, 10 years ago, things were less than glamorous. I don’t think it matters what you do… but there is a distinction.”Īs the founders of East Fork Pottery, Alex, his wife Connie Matisse, and John Vigeland have garnered cult status for their old-school approach to contemporary stoneware. “Potters have this bizarre dedication to a material, ” he says.
by Charlotte Stowell AndersonĪlex Matisse is quick to tell me he is not an artist. East Fork Pottery's Alex and Connie Matisse and John Vigeland are translating the ancient art into decidedly modern tableware.
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