The Maine Pottery Tour is just around the corner!

Possibly my favorite sign of spring! This year the pottery tour has 37 studios, from Kittery to Swanville to Phillips. The Maine Pottery Tour offers demonstrations and giveaways, a chance to meet the artists, shop for handmade pottery, and get a glimpse into life as a potter in Maine. You can even try the wheel yourself at some locations or paint a plate of your own.

What: The Maine Pottery Tour, a celebration of ceramic arts in Maine
When: Saturday May 4th, 10-5
            Sunday May 5th, 11 -4
Where: 37 Locations in Maine! 

In Central Maine, there are 13 tour destinations:

Fine Mess Pottery 131 Cony St, Augusta

Red Door Pottery, 14 North Pearl St, Augusta

Hallowell Clay Works 157 Water St, Hallowell

The Potters House 82 Stevenstown Rd, Litchfield

The Potter’s Shed 605 Hallowell-Litchfield Rd West Gardiner

d harwood Pottery 196D Main St, Winthrop

Maple Lane Pottery, 36 Greeley Rd, Windsor

Loken Pottery 26 Bowman St, Farmingdale

Whitefield Pottery 442 Howe Rd, Whitefield

Rob Sieminski Bog Pond Rd, Phillips

Martha Grover & Josh Rysted 630 West Bethel Rd, Bethel

Tim Fischer Pottery 394 Ridge Rd Lisbon

Barbara Walch Pottery 33 Knox Station Rd, Thorndike

On the Coastal leg of the Tour, there are 11 stops:

Chouinard Ceramics, 75 Main St, Wiscasset

Al Scovern/West Third Ceramics, 108 Congress St, Belfast

Van Der Ven Studios 257 Main St, Lincolnville

Fireside Pottery 1478 Camden Rd, Warren

Neighborhood Clay & Liz Proffetty Ceramics 590 Maine St, Damariscotta

Jody Johnstone Pottery, 135 Webster Rd, Swanville

Barbara Walch Pottery, 33 Knox Station Rd, Thorndike

Good Land Pottery, 487 Morese Rd, Montville

Pottery Farm 943 Belfast Rd, Knox

Everyday Pottery 103 Northport Rd, Belmont

Prescott Hill Pottery 261 Prescott Hill Rd, Liberty 

In Southern Maine, 13 studios are participating:

Zwellyn Pottery 20 Spencer Ln, Limington

Wendy Twitchell Porcelain 232 Beachwood Ave, Kennebunkport

Pottery Girl 1104 Pequawket Tr, Standish

Portland Pottery 118 Washington Ave, Portland

Homeport Pottery 131 Beachwood Ave, Kennebunkport

Peeper Pond Studios, 18 Mast Rd, Scarborough

Chris Davis Pottery 81 Seabury Rd, York

Shannon Wong Pottery 59 St George St, Portland

Delany Arts, 20 Center St, Yarmouth

Southern Maine Clay Guild, 22 Government Ave, Kittery

Ash Cove Pottery, 75 Ash Cove Rd, Harpswell

Ocean Fire Pottery, 23 Woodbridge Rd, York

Chase’s Garage, 16 Main St, York

First Crocuses, 2019

Spring is late this year! I'm a little surprised, because we didn't have an especially hard winter, although notably absent were the random warm days in January or late February. It was consistently winter-cold, nothing approximating a brief thaw.

Maybe that's why my crocuses are slow out of the gate! The popped their little green heads up about 3 weeks ago, but have made little progress since.

Come on, guys! We're all rootin for ya.

Maine Pottery Tour 2019

I'm Totally Doing This

Be Yourself...Unless You Get A Chance To Be Batman

My husband got a chance to be Batman, and he took it.

Not, you know, the Dark Knight...that guy's got a screw loose anyway. Don't be that Batman. But if you get a chance to be a hero to a bat, do it.

A few nights ago, I got up in the wee hours to check on my kiln (I'm a potter.) My husband Doug was kneeling beside the low flame of the burners, with what looked like a wet black washcloth cupped in his hands. As I watched, the washcloth extended one leathery wing.

It was a wet little bat! Well, technically, it was a wet big bat - Maine has Little Brown Bats & Big Brown Bats, and this one was the "big" variety, although clearly that's a relative term as it was only about 4" long. It had gotten in the house somehow, and then had the misfortune to land in the soapy water in the sink. At some point in the night Doug got up & discovered it struggling, and scooped it out of the water. He held it near the burner flame until it had dried off enough to fly.

I'm greatly relieved that it did, because I could see him gearing himself up to ask if we could bring it inside & nurse it back to health. I'm a big bat fan, as it happens, and I think we should encourage their population...in the wild. Bats charm me less in the house! But that proved unnecessary, as this little (big!) guy eventually made his way to the eves of out garage, and was gone by morning. Hopefully it's now busy eating mosquitos!

Unexpected Visitor

Saw this little cutie in Augusta today, on the bank of the Kennebec. To be on the safe side we called the Maine Warden Service, but they said it's not unusual to for seals to swim as far up as Augusta.

The Shapes & Colors of June

The flowers of mid-June make the best bouquets! The enormous raspberry heads of peony, the delicate deep purple shapes of Siberian Iris, the fizzy lemonade froth of Lady's Mantle. All easy to grow, too,  at least here in Maine.

I made the little pitcher that serves here as a vase. As often happens, it was unappreciated when it came out of the kiln - many more immediately eye-catching pots came out of the same firing, and it was overshadowed. Over time it's quietly served its functions, and become a favorite. Like people, you get to know pots slowly.

Happy June, the second-best month in Maine - the best being September, but it's a tight call.