I'm still in shock over how extraordinary this Studio/Gallery/Supplier/Taproom/Coffee Bar/Theater and more was to visit! I CANNOT recommend enough! If you are and artist or an art enthusiast, you truly need to make the trip to StarWorks. I wanted to enter though the front- there is a giant sculpture out front that was already dazzling me before I made it inside! Walking through the giant front doors- the gallery/shop space inside was incredible! Art everywhere- pottery, glass, metal and more! It was overwhelming! I browsed and John came over with the look- like he knew he was stuck there, lol. I happily sent him through the double doors to find the tap room. Go enjoy beer, while I skip around and explore this place! Behind the first storefront room, there is another gallery space set up that is part gallery and part museum and throw some science in there too. Great information on local clays. Starworks is also a clay supplier- with local clays. Behind that space, there is the hot shop- glass blowing. Live demos are going on throughout the day and they had numerous glory holes and annelears. I was nerding out since I took a couple of classes for glass blowing and know more about the process than the average person. I saw that over the summer they had John "Sleepy" Moran working in the hot shop!!! I was so jealous. Downstairs- I joked it was the dungeon, you find the pottery everything. They have the testing studio, studio for residents, gally space, kiln room and outside- more kilns. The pottery supply store is downstairs on the backside of the building too. I snagged some pottery tools and went home with wild clay! The new Catawba clay! A mossy green look when wet- I bought some for myself and two fellow potters at home and I am grateful I will be back in March so I can grab more!!! I befriended one of the Residents and bought a couple of sake cups from him direct. Things I didn't explore- the metal shop. My sculpture class at school was metalworks and I love metal pours! I also know they have theater space- but I can only guess that was upstairs. There was also a huge event space in between the main store/gallery and the tap room. We had to walk through it a couple times. They were setting up for a fundraising gala that evening! They hold huge events here- you should check them out if you are traveling near here. You never know what you will find! My only suggestions- I think the bathrooms need an artistic makeover- I went into the one on the taproom side & more artsy t-shirts for Starworks. They had some generic ones, but they weren't in my size. I can't wait to stop back in!!! read more