Fred Johnston
North Carolina

Ceramic
Functional
9"w x 6.5"l x 6.25"h

About the Teapot
Hand thrown with local clay, salt fired and copper glazed.

About the Artist
In the 1980s, while working odd jobs—cutting wood and cleaning Mark Hewitt’s wood kiln in Pittsboro, NC—Fred found his way to Seagrove, where he began making pots for several renowned family potteries, including Ben Owen and Dover. This experience became the catalyst for his commitment to the pottery vernacular, sparking both an education and an adventure.
He earned his BFA with honors from Alfred University’s School of Ceramics and was later awarded a full scholarship to Penn State University, where he completed his MFA. He continued his studies at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, spending a year as an Artist in Residence.
In 1997, Fred and his wife, ceramic artist Carol Gentithes, established Johnston & Gentithes Studio in Seagrove, NC. In 2010, they received the NCECA International Artist Residency in Jingdezhen, China, spending time at the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute to explore ancient and contemporary Chinese porcelain.

Artist Statement
My origins in clay are rooted in the southern folk pottery traditions of North Carolina. Growing up in the rural south has given me access to its colorful history and characters, which serves as a wellspring of ideas.
Storytelling is a regional pastime. Consequently, I question how a pot can tell a story. Yet my work draws from many cultures: Greek, Korean, Chinese, Pre-Columbian, European, and Mimbres.
Every era must write down its own ethical Baedeckers. But to know only one’s tribe is to be primitive, and to know only one’s own generation is mentally to remain always a child. We all need perspective in historic time and in ethnic space in order to assess, indeed even to sense, the naïve quiddity of our own day. Imprisonment in the contemporary is the worst of all intellectual tyrannies.
(Weston La Barre)
At the moment, I am interested in the abstraction of nature. I question how mark making and decoration accentuates form while at the same time contemplating what forms are best suited for a particular zoomorphic motif. I rely on intuition, spontaneity and what is visceral as a mode of creating and believe that a pot truly reveals itself over time and use. Only through deep investigation can one begin to internalize their ideas into a growing and evolving personal vision. The journey continues.

*Teapots that are purchased will remain on display in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition, through September 14, 2026.
After the show closes, teapots will be carefully packed and shipped by September 28, or they may be picked up at the gallery.