Mud in the Blood: Wood-Firing Potters Carry the Torch in Rural Western North Carolina

Mud in the Blood: Wood-Firing Potters Carry the Torch in Rural Western North Carolina

[Series note: People have been making pottery in the mountains of western North Carolina for thousands of years. This Living Traditions series focuses on the contemporary artists and makers who are maintaining pre-industrial pottery practices.]A little before five in the morning, Metallica’s ‘Disposable Heroes’ blared on a bluetooth speaker. The rest of Marshall, North Carolina, was asleep. But Mary Pugsley, Joseph Clayton, and Ayden Krzmarzick …