Texas Clay Festival
Gruene, Texas

When: late October

From under the shade of a tall live oak, a potter practices his centuries old art, shaping clay into a vessel that will be both decorative and functional. Nearby, another potter uses a different pottery technique called "raku", taking a creation from a kiln and sitting it in combustible materials to spark a chemical change and leave a rainbow of spectacular colors on the artwork. Another potter demonstrates hand-built pottery using inlays of colored porcelain.

This is the Texas Clay Festival in Gruene, just north of San Antonio on I-35. The free festival is scheduled for every October on the grounds of Buck Pottery. The event features the work of over 50 renown Texas potters. "Every artist makes his own style of pottery," explains festival organizer Dee Buck.

Dee, along with his wife Terry, started the Texas Clay Festival as "a way for all of us to get together as a potters' group. There are hundreds and hundreds of potters who work in clay in Texas, so this is in no way a complete representation. This is an overall sampling of Texas clay." To show the diversity, stages will feature demonstrations throughout both festival days.

Even if you don't have the chance to visit Gruene during the Texas Clay Festival, you'll find Dee and Terry hard at work on their stoneware pottery, blending and kneading several types of clay then, with the aid of a potter's wheel, shaping the clay into creations that range from plates to pitchers. During the firing at 2400 degrees for 16 to 18 hours, the pottery receives a coat of wood ash created by two cords of wood consumed during the process. The final result: a one-of-a-kind piece of pottery, glazed by the wood ash that collects and melts on the piece during the firing process.

IF YOU GO

Getting There: From San Antonio, take I-35 north past New Braunfels to Canyon Lake exit FM 306. Turn left and continue for two miles to the traffic light and Hunter Rd. Turn left and continue to Gruene.

For more information: visit Texas Clay Festival