Art is his passion and pastime
By Jinida O. Doba, Star-News, March 1, 1998
Bob Furr loves pottery. He really loves it.
He loves it so much you would think pottery has been his life. But it hasn't.
The love affair began six years ago when he left his “relationship” for a new passion.
That relationship was with the U.S. Justice Department, for whom he served as accountant for 16 years. At age 55, the High Point native retired to Yaupon Beach in 1985 to pursue his new love, art.
The result of that liaison is apparent in the new offspring, a new pottery and furniture shop, aptly named Pottery by Bob, featuring functional pottery and hand-painted furniture from Sidney Arthur Inc. of High Point.
“Instead of someone taking one of my pots and sticking it on the shelf, I want them to use it,” he said. “That gives me more satisfaction.”
The shop features the work of two other potters besides Mr. Furr. There are four display rooms and the fifth room is a studio in the front of the shop, where he will throw his own stoneware in full view of outside passers-by.
While preparing for its grand opening last weekend, Mr. Furr said his first reason for learning how to create pottery was to pass the time with his new life. But from the moment he made his first pinched pod bowl, it was love at first sight.
“I took up painting because I had to have something to do,” said Mr. Furr, who studied watercolor with Wilmington artist Mary Ellen Golden. “I saw an ad for a clay class, and have not picked up a brush since.”
Mr. Furr said he learned all he knows about pottery from Wilmington potters Hiroshi Sueyoshi and Dina Wild-Ramsing.
But he did let some of his friends from High Point use their brushes.
The four display rooms are painted to match the theme of the hand-painted furniture.
For example, the central piece in one room is a night table embellished with bunny rabbits and florals. That same theme is continued along the walls, as if the furniture and the rest of the room are one.
Mr. Furr said the functional pottery and furniture just seemed to fit well together.
“On this side of the bridge we didn't have anything like this,” he said. “I thought it could be something nice combined with the furniture. It seemed to go hand in hand.”
Mr. Furr is still a supporter of the arts community in Southport, which is just about eight miles away, though he will likely compete with it somewhat now. He has organized artist's workshops for the Association of Artists of Southport for the past three years, and he has also been chair of arts and crafts exhibits for Southport's annual July Fourth festival for eight years.
The functional pottery at Pottery by Bob included wheel-thrown pieces as well as slab-built pieces.
“The things I'm buying is stuff you couldn't make on a wheel, because I love throwing,” he said.
He especially likes the slab-built stoneware and porcelain pieces by Stephen Jepson, a master functional potter from Florida.
“I liked his glazes, I liked his forms and shapes,” Mr. Furr said.
The only piece in the shop that is not for sale is a stoneware piece with his trademark dragonflies imprinted inside, called “Dragons Do Fly.” It was part of a juried exhibit in December at St. John's Museum of Art.
“I'm real proud of that piece of pottery,” Mr. Furr said. “I love the flow of them (dragonflies). They seem to have a lot of movement and they're peaceful looking.”
Mr. Furr is still green enough in the pottery game to be pleasantly surprised by what he sees after a pot has been glazed and fired.
“I love throwing on the wheel, but the glazing is particularly a test,” he said. “A nice pot can be messed up so easily when you glaze it.”
“It's just like Christmas every time I open that kiln.”
© The Yaupon Tree, The Designatorium, Rachel Spence 2007