Looking For Some Local Handmade Gifts This Holiday Season?

CHARLESTON - Why fight the crowds at the mall and big-box retailers this holiday season?

The Charleston area is full of talented people producing handcrafted items that make great holiday gifts. One such artisan is Kris Neal of .

With more than 15 years experience throwing pots on the potter's wheel, Neal has honed his craft to an artform. He also offers classes at his gallery and studio at 1417 Ashley River Road.

"I'll either be making pots for my gallery showroom here or giving lessons," Neal said of his daily routine.

And there is plenty to choose from in the gallery, from large platters to teapots to vases and coffee mugs, Neal creates a wide range of pieces from clay and his imagination.

Neal graduated from the Heartwood College of Art in the mid 1990s.

"After that it was set up my studio in my mom's garage," Neal said. "You can only be shown so much, then you have to get your hands on some clay and do it."

"You learn through making mistakes, what not to do," he continued.

Neal, a Maine native, moved south with his girlfriend at the time in 1999.

"She wasn't from Maine and she moved up there in the fall and went right into the winter," he said. "After that she was ready to head south."

They ended up in Charleston because of a job, and Neal said the change has been great for his art.

"I feel better when the weather is good," he said.

Neal set up a small studio and began selling his work in the Market, but said he always wanted a place with a gallery where people could come to see his work, rather than lugging it all out to another location to sell it.

"Bringing my work to a place with a lot of people and hard concrete floors every week was scary," he said.

Neal bought his studio and gallery, a converted home, on Ashley River Road in 2003 and opened Fire & Earth the following year. He built his own kiln out back to dry and cure his work, and Neal makes all of his own glazes.

"You can buy glazes or buy a gas kiln, but you wouldn't be as connected to the pottery," he said. "There's no shortcuts to take, everything is made on my wheel, one by one."

And with all the space inside the old home, he was also able to set up a teaching studio, something he had wanted to do since leaving school himself.

"I wanted a place where I could teach people, where local people could come to learn how to do it," Neal said. "It's good for people to see the amount of work there is in making pottery."

When Neal found the house his studio and gallery now occupy he said the location felt perfect.

"I feel like West Ashley is close to everything, in the middle of everything," Neal said. "I have students from all over, from downtown, from Summerville, Mount Pleasant, from the whole radius of the area."

Classes run in 8-week sessions. Each session accomodates up to six students one night a week, 7 - 9 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Neal also offers individual, hour-long lessons during the day, depending on his and his student's availability. One-on-one sessions can run for six weeks, or for a single lesson.

"The classes tend to fill about a month in advance, so it's best to register early," he said.

Over the years Neal has taught hundreds of students to throw pots, and many of them sign up for multiple sessions so they can continue using the wheels in his studio and get better at the craft. One of his students has even graduated to teaching classes herself, he said.

The lessons, both the group classes and the individual lessons, include all the supplies needed, Neal said. Group classes cost $25 per lesson, so $200 total for the entire 8-week session. The 6-week one-on-one lessons cost $33 per lesson, or $200 for the entire session. Single one-on-one lessons are $45.

More information about signing up for pottery lessons is available on the Fire & Earth website.

Neal said the next group of classes, slated to begin in January are already nearly full, so it's probably too late to sign up and make your own Christmas gifts this year, but there's plenty of time to get ready for next Christmas if you have the urge to hand out gifts with a personal touch. Or signing up a crafty relative or friend for a session of classes could make for an unconventional holiday gift.

And There are hundreds of examples of Neal's work for sale in his showroom at Fire & Earth.