Michael Mahan embraced the craft of making pots some thirty years ago when he dismantled and moved an old log house and built his first showroom called Wild Rose Pottery just outside of Seagrove, NC. Today, Michael continues making pots at his newest studio, From the Ground Up, seven miles south of his former showroom. He makes functional and decorative pottery, fired in both an electric kiln and a wood kiln.
“I mostly fire in a wood kiln now because of its serendipitous nature. Pick up my pots and feel the weight, the shape, the surface. They are made of strong stoneware, sometimes from clay that I dig nearby and often fired with wood that I cut and chop from the land around me. Any decorations on my pottery are inspired by my love of the outdoors, often depicting a peaceful moment with nature..”
For two months every year, Michael and his wife, Mary Holmes, make and sell pots in Ireland where Mary grew up and has family. They built a wood kiln and small studio at the family farm in Limerick.