Our History

A little history of how we became Pottery Camp! When our daughter Rebecca was 10 years old, she attended a summer camp session at a contemporary ceramic studio in Apex. After her first day, she was "on fire" and so was I (we stayed and painted until they ran us out at closing time). That summer, Rebecca returned for two more weeks of camp in Apex. By the end of the summer we were exhausted from driving 1.5 hours round trip to Apex so Rebecca and I decided to talk to Dad about opening a store like that one in the Clayton area. Being from a family of entrepreneurs, my husband (Mike) and I engaged Rebecca in developing a business plan. Of course, Rebecca didn't know that she was helping us create the business plan...she just thought she was teaching me about the paint types and colors, the different ways to paint pieces, what the kiln was about and what some of the different pieces were that we could paint "one day". After selecting our perfect location, we "happened upon" our first store manager, Kendall, who had graduated 3 months earlier from the University of the Arts in Philly with a degree in ceramics. Shortly after opening, we bought some molds (which was Kendall's concentration)...we jumped at the chance to produce some of our store offerings. So, Kendall proceeded to teach me how to "pour" and we...SHE soon became the production for Pottery Camp. By February 2008, Kendall was producing over 85% of the stock in the store but production would slow down because she had a wedding to plan...to our son, Andy. Andy and Kendall married in April 2008 and the happy couple moved to Charleston, SC, where Andy was in the Navy Nuclear Program...and our production moved to Charleston, SC with them. Kendall continued to produce until the Navy moved them to San Diego California..and production moved back to Archer Lodge NC!

During the summer of 2007, Kendall became full time production so we began our search for a new store manager. Literally within 2 weeks, our prayers were answered by our first applicant...Emily! Emily continues to be our manager...I cannot express what Emily does for Pottery Camp and our family...she's one of our own!

We've grown, rearranged, downsized, rearranged, and plateaued with part time counselors. Turner has worked with us since the summer of 2008 learning all of the facets of the store and adding untold creativity. Turner is attending ECU (Go Pirates...Aarrrrr!) and will only be working occasionally. Rebecca is attending JCC but she will continue to help out wherever she's needed in the store. With all of the changes in 2011 we're most excited about our new family addition...Andy & Kendall delivered into the world Claire Elizabeth Hyatt born July 30th. Claire looks just like her Daddy but we're hoping she has the creativity of her mommy!

As of December 2011 over 99.9% of the store stock is produced by the entire PC staff! And...5 years later here we are...happy as a bunch of pots in the kiln!