Once again we had to breeze through Apalachicola (pronounced with six syllables) much too quickly. The town is a picturesque fishing village located at the mouth of the Apalachicola River and Bay. What initially drew me to this area is the small town atmosphere, maritime history, and varied historic architecture. Apalach, as it's called by locals, boasts over 900 historic buildings.
There's a multitude of Victorian era homes, many of which are restored to their former grandeur. I could have spent all day just walking the residential streets looking at all the porches, roof lines, gingerbread details, and gardens. Many of the homes are painted summery pastel colors like celery, peach, pink, and aqua and just looking at them gave me a happy feeling.
I did take a bit of time to visit a couple of art galleries. I was happy I stopped in at 49 Palmetto since I had a nice visit with the owner, Anna-Maria Cannatella. In her restored building there's a gallery, artist studios, and a vacation rental upstairs, called "The Flat". Unfortunately The Flat was rented or we probably would have stayed there. Anna-Maria talked about the current gallery exhibit and artists, the building restoration, and the town. When she learned I was a potter she referred me to another gallery where I could see the work of two local potters, Leslie Wallace-Coon and Katie McFarland.
Leslie's studio is located at 49 Palmetto. Leslie Wallace-Coon is known for her folk style animal sculptures, especially dogs, one of which is pictured in the first photo. Each dog has so much personality you just want to take them home with you. She occasionally does commissions of people's dogs too.
Katie McFarland's studio is located in another gallery, Hand Made in Apalach. Although both potters were otherwise occupied, I was able to see examples of each potter's work at Handmade in Apalach. Katie McFarland uses a combination of hand building and throwing for her slip decorated terra cotta pottery and her color palatte reminded me of the colors I saw on some of the buildings.
As you can see I love this town and want to go back for a longer visit real soon. Meanwhile getting up at 2 am and driving home has messed up my internal time clock. I did make one new sculpture last night but am only thinking of others today. I made a big pot of vegetable soup in the crock pot and threw everything in there except the kitchen sink, broccoli, collard greens, carrots, tomatoes, spices, you name it. I forgot to take a photo though. Gary's busy searching the internet for a camper. More later, comments are very much appreciated.
