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Fans of the ceramic arts gather at Tallahassee Pottery Market

Just one of 35 booths set up at the Pottery Market.
Tom Flanigan
Just one of 35 booths set up at the Pottery Market.

The ceramic arts are seeing a surge in popularity. That fact was obvious on Saturday as nearly three-dozen local potters were showing off their wares at the Tallahassee Pottery Market event.

Those artists and hundreds of their creations were spread out both outside and inside the United Church of Tallahassee on Mahan Drive. Debbie Lightsey specializes in wheel-thrown vessels that serve practical, every-day functions. Although she insisted every one of them is a unique, individual work of art.

"I've never made a set of anything because someone will say, 'I want 4 bowls.' And I say, 'You have to use the approximation method, because this is all handmade.'"

And some of Lightsey's work could even be around centuries from now. The oldest piece of pottery ever found was in the Czech Republic and estimated to be nearly 30,000 years old.