A Legacy Forged in Clay: The Life and Art of Benjamin Wade Owen III To understand the soul of North Carolina ceramics, one must look to the hands of Benjamin Wade Owen III, a master potter whose life work serves as a living bridge between ancestral American utility and the refined elegance of global ceramic traditions. Born in 1904 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, but deeply rooted in the fertile pottery soil of Seagrove, North Carolina, Owen’s identity was shaped by the rhythmic turning of the potter’s wheel and the heavy, honest scent of damp earth. His journey was not merely one of indiv…