Project Description

Maybe my children and great grandchildren would, you know, pick up a piece that, that I sent them and remember me.

-David Bridge

David Bridge, an 81-year-old resident of West Jefferson, found pottery 13 years ago when his wife, Candace, signed him up for a four-hour hand-building lesson. As health troubles led him to leave behind a corporate career in pharmaceuticals, pottery provided Mr. Bridge with a newfound purpose.

Today, Mr. Bridge operates his own studio, Whiskey Mountain Pottery, out of a barn adjacent to his home in downtown West Jefferson. His workshop is included as part of the Blue Ridge Craft Trail and he welcomes visitors into his space year-round. Mr. Bridge, whose pottery is sold in local establishments such as Bohemia and West Jefferson Specialty Foods, is proud to support local businesses and families through his craft.

Finding both motivation and serenity in his craft, Mr. Bridge plans to continue creating pottery for as long as he can. In this short film, Mr. Bridge meditates on aging and what it means to leave behind a legacy.

A darkened pottery studio with a wheel and pots on a shelf
Hands run along the side of a spinning pot
A dog with a brown head and white snout rests on its owner's leg
A sun rises over a mountain scenery
An older man leans over a potters wheel as he makes a utensil holder
A set of recently made pink plates sit on a table
An older man with a camo hat on smiles at the camera
A handwritten receipt with a pencil and sculpting tools on it
A man scores a mug while others sit in the image foreground
A hand rests on a large, somewhat squished piece of clay
A man walks through the French doors of his studio
A man's hands sit on a pot as it spins on a wheel

More Stories

  • Hands on a piece of pottery on a wheel
  • Woman cooking in a food cart reaching over to food
  • Man with white hair and beard looking upwards
  • A shirtless man holds out a stone to a little girl in the water
  • Paint supplies scattered on a table
  • Woman kissing her daughter on the cheek as they embrace
  • Man with a graying beard sits at a kitchen counter
  • Rows of tubs of cheese sitting on a counter
  • Man casting a fishing line in a river
  • A painting of a girl hunched over in a green jacket sits in the branches of a tree
  • A man's hands tie fabric together
  • Two women talk in a grocery store filled with food and trinkets
  • Control panel at a radio station
  • Girl strums a guitar