2008 Woodie Awards
Segal's pottery gets Newport "All Fired Up"
Allison Brown
Issue date: 3/2/08 Section: Entertainment
Watching Lee Segal, co-owner of All Fired Up, a pottery gallery on historic Thames Street, work his magic in finalizing a clay bread bowl before painting, truly is a fascinating experience. Segal, a Los Angeles native, has spent the past 30 years perfecting the fading art of pottery making and ceramics. Having lived up and down the California coast, Segal relocated to Rhode Island, and eventually settled in Newport. Segal opened up All Fired Up with co-owner Irene Parthenis in 1995. Previously, Parthenis had opened up a pottery store by the same name in Jamestown years before, but chose to relocate. The two of them craft and sell all of their creations in their two store fronts.
Having been inspired after taking ceramics his last semester of high school, Segal received his Bachelor's degree in ceramics at University of California Santa Cruz. He then lived as a hippie potter for a few years in Mendocino, before relocating to San Francisco, where he resided until moving to Rhode Island in 1990.
In addition to being a potter and business owner, Segal mixes up all the glazes used for his pottery, and he teaches a pottery class to a group of 12 in South County, near URI.
Q: What made you first get into pottery and ceramics?
A: I always liked working with my hands. I had good woodworking skills, little bit of furniture making. Took three years of woodshop in Middle School and high school, and got very good at it. But then took ceramics my last semester of high school, and it was a lot quieter to work with. There was the addition of live fire to transform the clay pots into a stoneware consistency, there was plastic, you could add color to it. It just really attracted me for a number of reasons, and then I continued; I started studying it full time at Santa Barbra.
Q: I see that you make all the pottery, and do you fire it here as well?
A: We fire it here, and we have other kilns, we have electric kilns, we have gas fire kilns, and we sometimes share firings with other potters in wood fire kilns…And then you're also dealing with high temperature and atmosphere in the kiln.
Having been inspired after taking ceramics his last semester of high school, Segal received his Bachelor's degree in ceramics at University of California Santa Cruz. He then lived as a hippie potter for a few years in Mendocino, before relocating to San Francisco, where he resided until moving to Rhode Island in 1990.
In addition to being a potter and business owner, Segal mixes up all the glazes used for his pottery, and he teaches a pottery class to a group of 12 in South County, near URI.
Q: What made you first get into pottery and ceramics?
A: I always liked working with my hands. I had good woodworking skills, little bit of furniture making. Took three years of woodshop in Middle School and high school, and got very good at it. But then took ceramics my last semester of high school, and it was a lot quieter to work with. There was the addition of live fire to transform the clay pots into a stoneware consistency, there was plastic, you could add color to it. It just really attracted me for a number of reasons, and then I continued; I started studying it full time at Santa Barbra.
Q: I see that you make all the pottery, and do you fire it here as well?
A: We fire it here, and we have other kilns, we have electric kilns, we have gas fire kilns, and we sometimes share firings with other potters in wood fire kilns…And then you're also dealing with high temperature and atmosphere in the kiln.
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