A Name, A Loss, A Tradition

This is the time of year Traylor must have had in mind when he named the Nuthouse Cottage. Squirrels and chipmunks are busy storing nuts. From my upstairs bedroom window, I watch them scurry from tree to tree, dive into the fallen leaves, and leap out with stuffed cheeks. They dart about and spring up into the boughs of trees, down into rotting stumps, under overturned flower pots and empty, undisturbed relics, all in a frantic effort to assemble a stash of winter food.

It was July, though, when Traylor got his idea. We were enjoying the annual Winefest on the New River by River House where Rob and Bet Mangum, the potters of Turkey Knob, had filled a vendor booth with some of their best new work. Rob was into sculpting large clusters of acorns, shiny with textured caps. We chose our favorite composition for the mantel in our new guesthouse, an appropriate work of art. And when Traylor placed it, he officially dubbed the house around it the Nuthouse Cottage.

We've added other pieces the Mangums created over time including a "Betisse" (Bet's painted, glazed and framed tiles in a composition modeled after Matisse) hanging near the mantel on the wall , but sadly, nothing more of Bett's can be added. She died of lung cancer near Christmas of 2009. I miss her work, but I miss her presence, too. She was a petite blonde with a pretty smile who played guitar and sang, who created beautiful pottery, a mother, a wife, a friend, a teacher.

Each November there was a tradition at Turkey Knob, a Christmas Open House and Sale, usually Thanksgiving weekend. Traylor and I looked forward to seeing what was new and liked to drive our guests over for a shopping excursion if not just an art gallery experience. Last year, at his Open House, Rob spoke of selling Turkey Knob. It was a sad time.

This year, acorns have fallen more abundantly than ever around the Nuthouse Cottage. Legend has it that a good year for nuts is a good year for small mammals which are a critical part of the deer tick life-cycle. An abundance of acorns in the fall leads to a proliferation of deer ticks the following summer. I like to think of the acorns left behind, though, the ones with the potential of unfolding into a seedling with the potential to become an oak tree.

Again for 2011, Rob Mangum announced his traditional Christmas Open House and Sale at Turkey Knob, open the weekends of November 25-27th and again on Dec. 2-4. I hope you can go. It's an exciting event if you love beautifully crafted pottery and learning about how it was made. 

Traylor and I will go with bells expecting good things, new things. Time heals and while this tradition celebrates the creative past at Turkey Knob, it gives us hope of a productive, artistic future there, too, with clay acorns evolving, oh...maybe into the equivalent of clay oak trees. 

See for yourself at www.turkeyknob.com