Three Potters Symposium

Celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Three Potters Symposium, “Elements: Form and Fire” will highlight the Asheville, NC area. We are pleased to present Eric Knoche, Joey Sheehan, and Will Dickert as our 2023 Three Potters. Each artist will share their stories, inspirations, and techniques learned through the years.

About the artists 

Eric Knoche 

"My most important artistic influence was the annual ‘Whitman’s Sampler’ boxes that my grandma bought for Christmas; the kind where each chocolate is a different shape and style and there is a key on the inside of the box to tell you what’s what.  Of course there are other things that have influenced me, but I think that is the earliest and strongest. 

But seriously, I try to make things that have some potential for visceral communication -- meaning at a level below language.  Maybe somewhere along the edge of the subconscious. I also want the things I make to be pretty and interesting to look at." - Eric Knoche 

Joey Sheehan 

"I began my explorations in clay over 20 years ago and was immediately captivated by the material and the wheel.  The realization that I could create something beautiful and useful at the same time was profoundly invigorating.  As I began to grasp the concepts of making and form, my interest fell more into surface and color.  I use textural porcelain slips and layered glazes to create bright, flowing, and volatile surfaces.  As I have grown and matured in life, my work has followed.  I am still fascinated by glaze and surface, but with a higher understanding of form and flow.  I am deeply influenced by classical shapes and why and how they were made.  I attempt to embrace these studied forms but with a contemporary twist.  In my current method of firing in a large two chamber wood kiln as well as a newly built gas “car” kiln, I am exploring the interaction between form and fire; building a relationship in each piece between  function, the surface of the pot, and the story of the firing process.  I have also been pushing my own limits of making and firing with large scale figurative and abstract sculpture.  These pieces present challenges in making, moving, and firing; ensuring that I am constantly studying and learning.  Each piece is made and placed conscientiously in the kiln with expectation and openness.  A desire for success, and a pupil’s acceptance of result." - Joey Sheehan

Will Dickert

"My work is woodfired stoneware that is formed either by hand building or wheel throwing, or both. During the workshop, I plan to make several pieces. One piece will use my hand building techniques- paper stencils, slabs and coil and pinch.  Another will be made using the wheel and potentially incorporate sectional throwing, or multiple thrown components. The third piece will be made using both handbuilt and wheel thrown techniques and components." - Will Dickert