Recovery after Hurricane Helene
Dear friends and supporters,
I am reaching out for your help as I navigate the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Despite my studio being on the second floor of Riverview Station in Asheville's River Arts District, the floodwaters rose a historic 24.5 feet, causing over 3 feet of water to flood into the second floor, devastating my workspace and supplies.
The impact has been immense: both of my pottery wheels were completely submerged in water and toxic mud, and I lost many wood throwing bats and tools that were essential to my craft. Several pottery pieces were damaged or lost, my glaze buckets and much of my clay have been compromised. Additionally, many metal tools have rusted beyond repair, and my torch, shelves, and countless other supplies were also lost.
On top of this personal loss, I have also lost my main income job as Operations Manager at The Village Potters Clay Centerv(TVPCC), and my job as a Beginner Wheel Throwing Instructor at the same location. TVPCC was situated on the first floor of Riverview Station, and the entire 14,000-square-foot facility was completely submerged by the flood, causing complete devastation to the business and teaching facilites. TVPCC is looking to relocate and start anew, at which point my jobs will be restored, but we have no idea how long that process will take.
I am asking for your support to help me recover and rebuild my pottery business. Thanks to the amazing Kelsey Schissel of Plays in Mud Pottery, I will have a space to start making work again as soon as I have the supplies to do so. Your donations will go directly toward replacing essential supplies, allowing me to return to work as a full-time potter again and regain my livelihood. Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a difference and is deeply appreciated.
Thank you for your kindness and support during this challenging time.
With gratitude,
Keira Marie Peterson
Aerial view of my studio at the height of the flood. My studio is in the lower right corner. The river is normally on the far right side of the picture, with a greenway, road, and large parking lot separating it from my studio.
A look at my compromised wood table with my destroyed torch, toolbox full of ruined tools, and the pile of my favorite tools ruined from a whirlpool in a heap on the floor.
Shelf of compromised bisqueware, works in progress.
I had to leave behind my two wire shelves as there wasn’t a safe way for me to remove them. You can see the layer of mud on the third shelf showing how high the waters rose. Thankfully I could salvage my work and supplies on the third shelf up. Everything below the third shelf was ruined and not salvageable.
My studio’s glaze room. I was able to save two buckets of glaze, but many buckets and test batches, as well as greenware works in process were ruined.
Looking into the room that use to be my office at The Village Potters Clay Center.
Thankfully I was able to save the clay on the higher shelves, but all the clay on the same shelf as the one labeled “65” and below were compromised, including a few bags of expensive porcelain.
Wood display shelf that was not salvageable, with some finished works I was able to save on the top shelf.
My wood top Soldner wheel (top left) and Shimpo wheel (middle top with the yellow splash pan) were completely submerged in flood water and covered in toxic mud. Among the wreckage was also all of my masonite wood throwing bats, my stool, ware boards, several buckets of reclaim clay, my three brand new rolling dollies, and several tools.
Above is a full view of the damage to my main working space. Below is the several inches of thick mud and clay we had to carefully walk through to salvage what we could, and the many wood bats I could not save.
The flood water line on the exterior wall of my second floor studio.