2026 Fall Hambidge Open House
Join us Oct 10, 2026 (12:00-5:00pm) for a once-a-year opportunity to visit, tour, and enjoy the Hambidge campus. Festivities will include open studios, art-making, homegrown food, musical performances, gallery sales, and more as we honor Master Potter Ben Owen III. Register below for general admission, or opt for an exclusive experience with chef-crafted bites, beverages, and private performances as you enjoy the day’s events by becoming a host or sponsor.
Tour our open studios for an intimate peek into the creative process of our artists-in-residence—Kris Grenier, Jordan Reynolds, Chris Childs, Jason Lord, Skye Jalal, and Mark Leibert— featuring work in photography, music composition, filmmaking, fiber and illustrative installation. Highlights of the day will include OkCello performing on the main stage, the Hambidge Anagama kiln in action, an interactive clay experience with ceramic artist Tiffany Thomas, a half-day weaving workshop with Angela Eastman, our 2nd annual cornbread competition, and of course our beloved U-Do-Raku.
Interested in being a part of the team that makes the big day happen? Visit this link to volunteer. We are very excited to have everyone on campus this spring and look forward to the connections and memories to be made.
OPEN HOUSE SCHEDULE+ HIGHLIGHTS
10:30 AM–12:00 PM | Host & Sponsor (VIP ONLY) Gathering for Porch Stories with Ben Owen III
Artist Studios - Visit artists working in photography, music composition, filmmaking, fiber, and illustrative installation. Studios will be open from 1:00-3:00 PM, see map upon arrival
Interactive installation - Experience a participatory installation “The Love Project” by Tiffany Thomas, exploring love through touch and clay. Open until 4 PM ––NOW HAPPENING IN BUNNEN COMMONS
Live Music - Enjoy performances by OkCello (1 PM), Rose Hotel (2 PM), Lee Johnson (3 PM), and Dug Down (4 PM) — NOW HAPPENING ON THE ROCK HOUSE PORCH
Foraging & Wild Weaving - Join artist Angela Eastman for foraging and wild weaving mini-workshop. Advance sign-up is required. 3:00-5:00 PM, register here. ––NOW HAPPENING IN BUNNEN COMMONS
Kiln Firings - See the Anagama and U-Do-Raku kiln firings in action—glaze, fire, and take home your own Raku piece!
Ben Owen III - Celebrate master ceramist Ben Owen III and his enduring legacy at Hambidge with an exhibition in the Commons and work for sale in the Antinori Village and Weave Shed
Gallery Sale- The weave shed gallery will be offering pottery by fellows and friends, special Nepalese Quilts, new Hambidge merchandise, and other handmade treasures. Artists included in the sale are: Andrew Hubert, Barb Williams, Bree Deck, Chan Suk Pak, Debra Dayan, Ester Lipscomb, France Dorman, Jason Sepulveda, Kimberly Shelton, Laura Foster, Lori Breedlove, Lyn-Nell Huffman, Martha Cook, Michael Klapthor, Molly O'Shaughnessy, Nancy Hostetter, Nicole Bellis, Nicole Vaccaro, Olivia Green, Rick Agel, Rick Berman, Suzanne Kleese-Stamps, Thaddeus Erdahl, and Tripti Yoganathan. —IN THE WEAVE SHED
Enjoy a meal for purchase or peruse our great food vendors like Dream Big Farms gourmet mushrooms
Book reading and signing (12:30pm) of “Stars at Noon,” by Hambidge Fellow Donna Mintz — NOW HAPPENING ON WEAVE SHED PORCH
Honoring Ben Owen III
This year, Hambidge is proud to honor Ben Owen III—master ceramicist, longtime friend of Hambidge, and the builder of our Anagama kiln. Ben's artistry, generosity, and vision have left an enduring mark on Hambidge and generations of artists who have worked here. Throughout Open House, special programming and tributes will celebrate his legacy and the lasting impact he has made on our creative community.
Ben Owen III is a potter from Seagrove, North Carolina. His forefathers came to North Carolina (NC) from England as early as the late 1700s to make a new living in the USA. Some of these early generations learned skills in craft by making pottery and furnishing storage jars along with other utilitarian wares for early settlers. Ben III studied pottery as a young apprentice first with his grandfather in the late 1970s-1980s and later at East Carolina University (1989-1993). Like his grandfather, Ben creates pottery that reflects a foundation in traditional early American designs, and incorporates influences from Asia, Europe, and Persia.
Ben has participated in workshops and conferences throughout the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and recently in China. His work can be found in many museums nationwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Smithsonian Museum of Art. Ben’s commissions grace the lobby of the Ritz Carlton Tokyo Hotel in Japan and The Umstead Hotel and Spa in NC. Singer/songwriter James Taylor and golfer Arnold Palmer are among the notables whose collections include works by Ben Owen III.
Host & Sponsors*
Trillium Sponsors
Susan & Ron Antinori + Lynn Pollard + Belinda & Ken Reusch
Raku Sponsors
Alisa Barry & Smith Hanes + Kay Betts & John Sibley + John Bluhm & John Gibson + Karen & Steve Boor + Martha Eskew & Chet Tisdale + First American Bank & Trust + Ford-Hutchinson Family + Helen Meadors & Craig Burkhalter
Village Sponsors
Rick Agel + Suzanne M. Arpin + Sherry & Jeff Cohen + Annette Cone-Skelton + Margaret & Dallas Denny + Didi Dunphy + Liz Gillespie + Ann Johnson + LDG Accounting Services + Jodi & Ross Mansbach + Suzanne Shaw & Daniel Biddy + Lisa D. Thrower + Barb & Thom Williams + Kathy & David Williams
Hosts
Anonymous + Louise Bray + Louis Corrigan + Brooks Franklin & Lisa Ezzard + Judy Harris + Anthony Healy Ph.D + Nancy Hooff + Emily Kolbinsky + Judy & Scott Lampert + Temme Barkin-Leeds & Steve Leeds + Marian Liou + Bari & Russell Love + Gordon Mansergh + Peggy Melton & Wen Copeland + Saundra Maass Robinson + Paula Francis Rogers + Karin Schaller + Dayna Thacker & Rich Gere + Lee & Susie Winton + Woodie & Steve Wisebram
In-kind Partnerships
Dream Big Farms + Osage Farms + What Chef’s Want + Isadora Popper
*List in formation
BECOME A HOST OR SPONSOR
We invite you to support Hambidge by being a Host or Sponsor of the Open House! Hosts and Sponsors help make Open House possible by underwriting the cost of offering this event to the public. Your support ensures that thousands of visitors can experience Hambidge's artists, programs, historic spaces, and natural environment while deepening community engagement with the arts. Pledge your support by registering below. For more information about packages and benefits, visit our support page.
MEET OUR MUSICAL PERFORMERS
Okorie Johnson, Main Stage
Musician from Atlanta, GA
Okorie "OkCello" Johnson is an Atlanta-based cellist, composer, looper, and storyteller whose work spans concert halls, corporate keynotes, and international stages. A Kennedy Center Artist Resident featured on the Tamron Hall Show, Okorie has opened for Maxwell and performed alongside India.Arie, De La Soul, and Big Boi. With four studio albums—including Funny How Things Work Out—and corporate performances for brands like Morgan Stanley and Pixar, he is also the inspiration behind the children's picture book Lil' Okorie and the Magic Cello.
Jordan Reynolds (Rose Hotel), Main Stage
Musician from Atlanta, GA
Jordan Reynolds is an Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who has released music as Rose Hotel since 2017. Her indie-rock sound blends psychedelic shimmer and folk, earning critical acclaim for her album A Pawn Surrender, named one of Paste Magazine’s "Best 100 Albums of 2024." A classically trained vocalist performing professionally since 19, Reynolds has toured extensively across the US—playing venues like Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and NYC’s Baby’s All Right—and contributed as a side musician for acts like Faye Webster and Susto.
Lee Johnson, Rockhouse Lawn Performance
Lee Johnson is a Stone Mountain, Georgia-based musician originally from Detroit, Michigan. Playing the banjo for over four years, she specializes in rhythmic clawhammer Old-Time music and her signature genre, "Groovy Banjo." Her uplifting, trance-inducing style aims to bring peace, joy, and connection to Black, Brown, and broader communities. While studio recordings are in development, Lee regularly performs across Atlanta and shares her musical expression with audiences through her Instagram and YouTube channels (@iamleejohnson_).
Dugdown Duo
Reaching for a compelling archaic sound, Dugdown plays low tuned fiddle and banjo music grounded in source recordings of historically significant traditional musicians from across the Appalachian region of the American South. As multi-generational Appalachian-Americans themselves, they seek to present tunes and songs that reflect the diversity of the people and cultures that created the syncretic music of the Southern highlands, music that continues to move people all around the world.
MEET OUR ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
Chris Childs, Garden Studio
Composer and Instrumentalist from Atlanta, GA
Chris Childs is an Atlanta-based composer, sound designer, and multi-instrumentalist creating richly textured soundscapes across film, podcasts, and immersive media. A classically trained percussionist and former Drum Corps International champion, Chris earned multiple Creative Loafing honors, including Best Modern Classical Composer. His versatile work spans free improvisation, chamber compositions, and art-rock ensembles like Faun and a Pan Flute and Hello Ocho. Today, he specializes in cinematic scoring, post-production, and detailed sound design for narrative projects, including short films and the iHeart Original podcast 12 Ghosts.
Kris Grenier, Fisher Studio
Visual artist from Cynthiana, KY
Kris Grenier is an artist and long-distance hiker with over 10,000 backcountry miles whose fiber art explores identity, memory, and the natural environment. Holding degrees in Fine Arts and Environmental Studies, Grenier uses 100% wool feltings and textiles to translate landscapes and foster a conservation ethos. A Kentucky Crafted juried artist and former Shenandoah National Park artist-in-residence, her work appears in solo exhibitions and regional collections. A recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Art Meets Activism grant, she also leads community art projects and workshops nationwide.
Skye Jalal, Mellinger Studio
Photographer from Atlanta, GA
Skye Jalal is a photographer and researcher exploring Black visual culture, community-based practice, and the ethics of representation. Her current project, Learning How To Photograph Black Life, centers Afro-Indigenous and Afro-Diasporic communities across Africa and South America. Grounded in long-term relationships and participant observation in Ghana, Kenya, and the Amazon basin, Jalal’s portraiture and landscape work offers an alternative to extractive documentary traditions. A Watson Fellowship recipient and Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts winner, she also writes and lectures on theology, photography, and the intersection of faith and race.
John Dierre, Foxfire Studio
Photographer & Filmmaker from Atlanta, GA
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, John Dierre is a cinematic artist guided by an intuitive sense of direction and a candid approach to the camera. His co-directed debut feature film, Meta Take One, won the Audience Award at the Atlanta Film Festival and the John Singleton Award for Best Debut Feature at the ABFF, becoming a 10-time award-winning film streaming on Apple TV and Amazon. As a filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor, Dierre brings a singular visual perspective to every project, believing cinema has the power to inspire others to tell their own stories.
Jason Lord, Brena Studio
Visual artist from Durham, NC
Jason Lord is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans drawing, artist books, assemblage, sound, video, and installation. Guided by curiosity and a 25-year background as an arts educator, Lord explores systems, language, ritual, pattern, and time through experimental materials and conceptual wandering. His work continually engages recurring themes like the balance between repetition and variation, the unfixed nature of meaning, and fundamental human questions. Seamlessly weaving together his daily life, teaching, and studio work, Lord creates inquiry-based art that investigates how we experience the world and what art can achieve.
Atlanta-based artist Mark Leibert, born in Honolulu, creates work spanning abstraction and figuration across painting, drawing, and photography. Represented by Sandler Hudson Gallery, his work is in collections like the High Museum of Art. Leibert co-founded Day & Night Projects and is a Professor of the Practice at Georgia Tech.
OUR INTERACTIVE MAKER STATIONS
In addition to our open studios and performances, we will have a number of opportunities for attendees to engage with material and make work themselves. We will have a table for making cyanotypes, sit and knit stations courtesy of Isadora Popper, and The Love Project by Tiffany Thomas.
THE LOVE PROJECT by TIFFANY THOMAS
The Love Project, one of our open house interactive maker stations, is an intimate, participatory installation exploring love through touch and clay.
Visitors enter a spiral of fired mugs created specifically for this experience. One by one, they sit across from artist Tiffany Thomas at a pottery wheel and, while creating a vessel on the wheel, share what love means to them. Tiffany’s role is to witness each story with her full attention and presence, without interruption. When the participant is finished, Tiffany washes their hands. In exchange for their presence, each participant receives a handmade cup chosen from the spiral. Tiffany then places the participant’s freshly thrown vessel in its place. As fired vessels are gradually replaced by unfired ones, the spiral transforms from into a collection of raw, collective tenderness.
WORKSHOP: WEAVING WITH WILD FIBERS, ANGELA EASTMAN
Weaving with Wild Fibers with Angela Eastman on Saturday, October 10, 2026 from 3pm-5pm at the Bunnen Commons Porch at Hambidge.
This workshop will take place during our annual fall open house! It will cover information on harvesting, processing, and weaving with wild fibers such as vines, bark, and leaves. We will work with material harvested from Hambidge's campus to create several small samples of weaving techniques. While we weave, we will discuss how using invasive and/or native plant material can carry imbue meaning into our work.
Experience encourage but not required. All experience levels are welcome, but please note, there is a small workshop fee for materials and registration is required.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
OUR EVENT WILL HAPPEN RAIN OR SHINE!
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Please use the following address in your GPS system or app:
105 Hambidge Court
Rabun Gap, GA 30568Please note that cell service will likely go out when you turn onto Betty’s Creek Road. Once you turn onto Betty’s Creek Road, drive approximately 3.7 miles (about 5 minutes). You will see the Hambidge Center entrance on your right.
Please note that this is a pet-free event.
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PARKING & SHUTTLES
VIP guests may park along Betty’s Creek Road. There will only be enough road parking for guests attending the 11:00 AM VIP event. Please pull completely off the road when parking.
No cars will be permitted on campus during the event.
If you require drop-off assistance for mobility concerns, please notify Hambidge staff in advance. Designated golf carts will be available to assist with mobility needs.
Satellite parking will be available beginning at 12:00 PM at:
Betty’s Creek Baptist Church
A Rabun Gap School bus will provide a shuttle approximately every 20 minutes between the Welcome Tent on the main campus and the satellite parking areas.
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Description teATTIRE
We recommend comfortable, close-toed walking shoes or boots and long pants as you explore the campus. The terrain can be uneven, particularly around the studios and outdoor activities.
Fall weather in the mountains can change quickly, so we recommend bringing a light jacket or rain layer and an umbrella.
There will be limited seating around campus. We encourage folk to bring folding chairs and blankets.