Mark Hewitt, Potter
www.markhewittpottery.com
424 Johnny Burke Road Pittsboro NC 27312
919.542.2371
fax 919.542.6158
hewittpottery@mindspring.com
Born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Mark is the son and grandson of directors of Spode, the finechina manufacturers. As a student at Bristol University in the early 1970’s, Mark read Bernard Leach’s “A Potter’s Book,” and decided to become a studio potter rather than an industrial manager. This decision led to a three year apprenticeship with Michael Cardew, and later another with Todd Piker in Connecticut, where Mark met his wife, Carol.
In 1983 they moved to Pittsboro NC and set up their pottery. Mark built a very large wood-burning kiln and began making the distinctive functional pots for which he is known, specializing in very large planters, vases, and jars, along with finely made smaller items. He uses local clays and blends the different North Carolinian folk traditions together into a contemporary style that has attracted a sizeable following. His work has been featured in the Smithsonian Magazine and on the cover of American Craft magazine, he has written extensively in the ceramic press, and he has exhibited in London, New York, and Tokyo, as well as throughout the US. He is well represented in museum and private collections.
Mark and Nancy Sweezy recently co-curated the highly-regarded exhibition, “The Potter’s Eye: Artand Tradition in North Carolina Pottery,” at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, October 30, 2005 – March 19, 2006. UNC Press published a superbly illustrated catalogue/book.
Mark Hewitt moved to North Carolina in 1983 and specializes in the production of very large planters, storage jars and vases, along with a full range of high quality tableware. He mines and refines local stoneware clays, and his principal glazes are the traditional Southern alkaline glaze and salt glaze. All his work is fired in a big wood-burning kiln the size of a school bus, which he fires three times a year.
Mark and his work were featured extensively in the recent nationwide PBS TV series, “Craft in America,” and he is looking forward to two exhibitions of his big pots, the first, starting February 2010, at the Nasher Museum, at Duke University in Durham, NC, and the second, starting January 2011, at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans.
