North Carolina’s got a great pottery tradition, but it
always runs that line between art and craft. When
she saw these huge pots in this exhibition and it was
in the art museum ... she said, ‘This is fine art.’”
“Mrs. Goodnight had seen, in 2005 … an exhibit at the North
Carolina Museum of Art called ‘The Potters’ Eye’ and it featured the
large-scale pottery of Ben Owen III and Mark Hewitt,” Kick says.
“She loved it. That was a great show and she thought, ‘We really need
this in the hotel.’ North Carolina’s got a great pottery tradition, but
it always runs that line between art and craft. When she saw these
huge pots in this exhibition and it was in the art museum … she said,
‘This is fine art.’”
The color palette of both potters’ glazes complement the color
palette of the hotel.
“It really helped me become an amateur interior designer,” says Ben
Owen III. Working with hotel designer Frank Nicholson, Owen III
says it’s been a lot of fun designing what he looks for — proportion
and color.
Collaborating with SAS, the Goodnight’s software corporation and
The Umstead’s parent company’s art and scenic crew, Owen III over-produced
the dozen pots Ann Goodnight commissioned to allow her
the latitude to make choices. He delivered this larger body of work
and was pleasantly surprised to learn she accepted all of it.
“I love that story,” Kick says. “I think it’s so charming because it
was really hard for Mrs. Goodnight to say, ‘These are good and these
aren’t as good.’ She loved them all; she really loved them all.”
The pieces that are not displayed are reserved in the corporate
pottery barn and the hotel’s Promenade pottery case, which was
designed and fabricated by the art and scenic crew. Kick says the art
and scenic crew is critical in every way.
“They were the beginning crew that assisted and still assist
Mrs. Goodnight in art purchasing and placement. The team … not
only investigates art for her … they also frame and they hang and
have a huge studio … where they can put things together for her.
SAS’s collection is quite immense. All of their buildings have artwork
in them,” Kick says.
The crew also mounts the Promenade’s rotating exhibits that
change four times a year and nurses original pieces that may have
been accidentally damaged.
“There’s no one, like in a museum, who’s guarding the art. People
touch things, so whenever there’s a scratch or a piece that popped off
… they’re right over here, ready to get it fixed,” Kick says.
Hewitt’s and Owen III’s pots are considered the stars of the hotel.
In addition to what is now on display and in storage, both potters are
being commissioned to create new large-scale pieces for the hotel’s spa,
which is in renovation this spring for three months.
Owen III ponders better ways to build his big pots. Already, each
piece is created in stages. Large pots are made in three or four pieces.
Extremely large pots, five feet tall or larger, may be created in seven or
eight pieces.
Resolving pottery design challenges is a trait passed down from
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WBM may 2013