The brick installations at the Old Marshall Jail feature bricks made by my Asheville Potter son Josh’s mobile brick factory, stamped with stories that he took from interviews and by everyday people in the Marshall community and beyond. Their readings by Josh were recorded during my recent visit. I think they read like spoken word […]
– A trip to Marshall isn’t complete without a visit to my son Josh’s property, a complex really with three kilns, pottery studios, a brick pizza party plaza, a labyrinth garden and more. Check out the family barn-raising of the building pictured above HERE. / Our World Tuesday
Marshall NC is a mountain town somewhat like Floyd but with two stoplights. Like it’s neighboring Madison County town, Hot Springs, it has a red railway car in it, trains going by and the ancient French Broad River, along with some cool shops (including my son’s wife’s Carolina Flowers Mercantile), an old-time dance hall, a […]
My son’s wife Emily is a flower farmer, florist and store owner. She, the founder of Carolina Flowers, had three weddings on Saturday to pick, arrange and deliver flowers for. October is their busiest month for weddings, but as busy as she was, we managed to squeeze in some weekend visit time, enjoying the flower […]
The three Floyd artists showing at Benji Obsborne’s 16 Hands Studio Tour site are visiting-artist Shanti Yard, a woodturner and 16 Hands members Benjie Osborne, a woodworker, and my son Josh Copus, a ceramics artist. Shanti was impressed that our grandson Liam knew the gemstones inlaid in his wood pieces. He learned them from playing […]
This was the first fall 16 Hands Studio Tour that the tour didn’t include my house. For the past 7 years, my son Josh Copus, a 16 Hands member, has been showing his pottery at our cabin, his childhood home off The Blue Ridge Parkway. This year, he’s showing at Benji Obsborne’s woodworking studio on […]
My son Josh and his beloved Emily got married! I was calling it a “wedding festival.” Others described it as epic. There was a flag procession, readings that made people cry, love professed, poetry, music, storytelling and more. A garland of marigolds from Emily’s flower farm was draped along the wedding platform that Josh built. The […]
You get some cute children You don’t get arrested You get family reunions You probably get some costumes And homeruns Some team spirit And class pictures You get communities mixed with communities And a communal spread of food and drink You get some freestyle moves And funky grooves You don’t get a hurricane You might […]
The plan was for Joe and I to spend the weekend visiting my Asheville Potter Son Josh and his fiancé Emily and to help them get “The Land” ready for their wedding in September. The Land is in Marshall, 20 minutes outside of Asheville, where Josh and Emily live. It’s a complex of kilns, gardens, […]
I tried to tell the AEP powerline guys who were clearing the lines and cutting trees in our yard that they needed to haul the logs out by Thursday because I had hundreds of people coming to my house over the weekend. I don’t think they believed me, but it was true. On Friday people […]
These photos were taken at the tail end of the flower season and the day before Emily was expecting a first frost. Emily is my soon-to-be daughter-in-law who lives outside of Asheville with my son Josh. She is a past journalist for Asheville’s Citizens Times and is currently a farmer and the owner of Carolina […]
The Brick Factory is a mobile public art project that was created by my Asheville Potter Son Josh Copus and is currently taking place at the Old Marshall Jail in downtown Marshall NC. Check times HERE. The idea is about building community. Visitors stamp their words and stories on a brick, created from clay dug […]
