Sponsorship Opportunities

STARworks host Wood-fire NC, an international conference on wood-fired ceramics May 27-29, 2022. This conference is a fantastic opportunity for North Carolina to display its wood-fired clay tradition on an international stage, at the highest level. We are enormously proud of this opportunity to broaden our cultural and aesthetic perspective and would like you to become part of this event. Here is the sponsorship information, and below it is a full description of the conference and its worldwide reach. This is a fantastic opportunity to help support our state’s potters and showcase pottery not only from North Carolina but from around the nation and the world.

Sponsorship Levels

  • Flame: $10,000+

  • Ember: $5,000 - $9,999

  • Spark: $2,500 - $4,999

  • Glow: $1,000 - $2,499

  • Glimmer: $500

All Sponsors are eligible to have their names and/or logos on this site's home page and will be listed on a hanging banner at the event!

Questions? Email contact@woodfirenc.com if you have any questions.

Please submit Sponsorship payments to:
Central Park NC, 100 Russell Dr, Star, NC 27356.

Please make checks payable to Central Park NC.
Thank you for your support!

We’re doing it again!

In 2017, STARworks Center in Star NC hosted Wood-fire NC, an international conference on wood-fired ceramics. The event included potters from all over the US and the world, including from 20 countries! The conference kicked off with a pre-conference series of wood kiln firings around Asheville and Seagrove. Participants had an opportunity to fire a variety of styles of kilns, including six to eight kilns in the Seagrove and Asheville area and to try a variety of North Carolina’s unique clays. The event was so successful, we want to do it again! But we need your help to do it.

Why North Carolina?

North Carolina has one of the longest traditions of wood-fired ceramics in the United States. Yet there are many issues facing North Carolina wood-firers that also affect wood-firers all over the world, including environmental issues, changing aesthetics, and access to natural resources. Because it has one of the largest concentrations of wood-firers kilns and firers in the country, North Carolina is uniquely suited to provide a forum for many of these critical issues. A series of panels and demonstrations will explore all aspects of wood-firing, beginning with a lively discussion of historical, ethical, and environmental issues pertinent to our field. Interspersed throughout the proceedings will be plenary sessions and keynote address from some of our field’s most noted thinkers, as well as simultaneous demonstrations featuring sculptors and functional pottery makers.

Envision 2022: The 2 nd North Carolina International Wood-fire Conference

This year’s plenary speakers will include Anthony Schaller, curator, professor and founder of Schaller Gallery in St. Joseph, Michigan, Garth Johnson, Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art, and Elizabeth Perrill, Professor of art at UNC Greensboro and consulting Curator of African Art for the NC Museum of Art. Renowned potter Tony Clennell (Canada) will give a tribute to noted artist Ron Meyers, and Randy Johnston, retired professor and Department Chair at University of Wisconsin River Falls will honor the life of Warren McKenzie.

STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise

100 Russell Drive, Star, NC 27356

(910) 428-9001 | contact@starworksnc.org

Some of our international artists include Priscilla Mouritzen (Denmark), Jabulile Nala (South Africa), Clive Sithole (South Africa), Shikamaru Takeshita (Japan), Diego Valles (Mexico) and Carla Martinez Vargas (Mexico.)

US artists and presenters include Linda Christianson (MN), Bruce Dehnert (NJ), Randy Johnston and Jan McKeachie Johnston (MN), John Neely (Utah), Lindsay Oesterritter (VA), Mark Skudlarek (WI), Catherine White (VA) and Valerie Zimany (SC.)

NC artists and presenters include Josh Copus, Naomi Dalglish, Kim Ellington, Mark Hewitt, Michael Hunt, Fred Johnston, Kate Johnston, Matt Jones, Shane Mickey, Ben Owen III, Bayle Owens, Pamela Owens, Travis Owens, Vernon Owens, Joey Sheehan, Hitomi Shibata, Takuro Shibata and David Stuempfle.

STARworks will be the site of the conference and exhibitions of contemporary NC wood-fired pottery and of presenters’ work. It will feature a juried student exhibition, a special installation by artist Anne Pärtna, a North Carolina Wild Clay exhibition, and a fun pop-up show by participants. We’re excited to host this event and hope that you can join us in making it happen!

Thank you again for your support. If you have any questions about the details of the event or sponsorship, please contact us at (910) 428-9001.