Near our Cabin: Pottery by Jeff Diehl

Within walking distance from Star Song Cabin is Lockbridge Pottery, home to the very talented potter, Jeff Diehl. Their studio, gallery and home are in the old schoolhouse. They don't have a sign or "business hours." But you can often catch them in the studio working. Jeff and wife Donna will be glad to show you around. In his more than 20-year career as a full-time potter, Jeff has developed both a thriving studio and a lifestyle as beautiful, unique, and functional as his pottery. In 1980, Jeff and Donna established Lockbridge Pottery by turning the abandoned country schoolhouse into a ceramic studio and home. Neighbors who had attended the school as children helped the Diehls remodel the beloved building. One of the old classrooms serves as Jeff's studio, where he spends 45 to 50 hours per week throwing clay.The Diehls added bedrooms and a kitchen, bathroom, firing room, wood shop, and newly finished gallery to the school. The family helped Jeff construct one of the most unique features of the property is the traditional, German salt kiln. Using rocks salvaged from dilapidated local buildings, the Diehls constructed a round outbuilding to house the kiln. The practice of salt firing originated in Northern Germany, where potters used driftwood for wood-fueled firing. Sea salt from the driftwood left unique patterns on the finished pots. Potters in Southern Germany eventually refined the process into an established art form. During a single firing, Jeff uses up to 100 pounds of Morton table salt to achieve beautiful salt-pattern surfaces. He is among the few potters in the United States trained in the art of salt firing. Although Jeff fires a majority of his work in a gas reduction kiln, he feels a special fondness for his salt-fired pieces. His ceramics appear in collections worldwide at such prestigious establishments as the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. He has won eight best-of-show awards at the Appalachian Arts and Crafts Show in Beckley, a merit award at the Mountain State Arts and Crafts Fair, a craft fellowship from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, and a professional development grant from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Now, Diehl sells his work almost exclusively through home-studio shows and commissions. The Diehls host four studio shows per year that are a festive combination of games, music, pottery lessons, food, and, of course, an opportunity to purchase Diehl's work. Erik and Andrew jam jazz and blues tunes on piano and harmonica, and guests rove amid clay-throwing contests, golf-chipping games, and canoe rides. Diehl encourages his visitors to try making a pot themselves. He has developed special clay that allows for immediate glazing and firing in a fast-firing Raku kiln. Guests can take home their own 'masterpieces' the same day. For more go to Jeff's website at LockbridgePottery.com. (Exerpts from above by Lucia K. Hyde, writer for the Wonderful West Virginia Magazine.)