Uwharrie Crystalline Pottery - Duke Eye Center Concourse Display

"William Kennedy was born in Moore County , NC and a descendant of the Kennedy gun Factory from the late 1700 hundreds and early 1800's in Robbins , NC when it was called Mechanic's Hill. It was the largest employer at the time in the area by David Kennedy, my fifth Great Grandpa. Our love for pottery all started because our love for rocks and arrowheads we found growing up and every chance we could on weekends and even weekdays. Just by chance I had seen Crystalline pottery in 1978 and I had never forgot about it. Crystalline was the art of growing crystals on pottery during the firing. One day I was telling my wife Pam about it and from that day forward I ordered the only 3 books about it and we started trying to figure out how to grow crystals on pottery. Very little luck for months but we did get small crystals to grow over time. That same month my job of 23 years left the country. For the next 4 months we lived off of unemployment and fired pottery everyday. Around that time we were in Seagrove and I told Pam if we had a building in town I thought we could make a living. As we were leaving she said look there's a building for rent , We called the owner and rented it the next day. Without any training in pottery we opened up our shop Uwharrie Crystalline Pottery in Seagrove, NC. May 23th 2003. We take pride in the fact of being Self Taught and Mastering the Art of Crystal growing on pottery." - William Kennedy