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– Kenneth Neilsen will be the featured potter at the 5th Annual Sanford Pottery Festival, May 6-7. The event is the largest pottery festival in North Carolina and will be held at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center, in Sanford.
With more than 130 participating potters, the event brings the largest selection of traditional, contemporary, utilitarian and fine art pieces to one venue.
Neilsen is delighted to be in the spotlight for this year’s festival. “To be recognized amid a field of such professionals as this show draws is a huge honor to me,” he said. “I taught myself, asking questions whenever I could. I created my own challenges and love my chosen career.”
He has spent his entire working life as a full-time potter for more than 25 years.
Growing up in Cary, North Carolina, Neilsen watched Don Hudson, a neighbor, throw clay and create pots on his wheel. A fascinated Neislen got his own hands in the clay. He recounts, “I started making small pots in various styles and colors. But, I never was satisfied. I wanted to see what else I could do. When I mastered one level, I pushed myself to the next. Now, I love making the big pots. The bigger, the better!”
In 1980, Neilsen and Hudson formed D.K. Clay Potter in Sanford. Since, it has become one of the largest and most technologically innovative studios in North Carolina. Such resources have allowed Neilsen to develop a “signature line” of pots that includes very large pieces and religious items, such as chalices, baptismal fonts and funerary urns.
In 2003, he opened the Kenneth Neilsen Studio & Gallery in Historic Downtown Sanford to showcase his artistry and that of other potters and crafts people.
A master potter, Neilsen enjoys showing school children how to work with clay. Throughout the years, he has shared his love for the art with thousands of students and has offered classes and studio space free of charge to art teachers. Some of the exhibitors in the festival took their first pottery classes from Nielsen. He works very closely with local educators by providing resources for their classrooms.
The 5th Annual Sanford Pottery Festival will be open on Saturday, May 6, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 per person. Groups with 10 or more members may purchase discounted tickets for $3.50 by calling 919-777-9933. The deadline to order group tickets is April 30. Parking is free. The Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center is located at 1801 Nash Street, in Sanford. For more information, call (919) 777-9933 or visit www.sanfordpottery.com.
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