The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail sprouted up in the Pioneer Valley in 2005 and has grown to include 29 potters with guest artists from 10 states.
The 20th annual studio tour will take place April 27 and 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with stops at eight studios.
Pottery will be available for sale in a wide range of wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramics for tabletop, home and garden. Visitors will also have the opportunity to talk with the artists about their work, techniques and sources of inspiration.
“Over the years my work has grown and changed because I have grown and changed,” said potter Lucy M. Fagella of Lucy Fagella Pottery in Greenfield, one of the founders of the tour, named for one of the popular crops of the area. “It would be sad if there was no change in all these years. Family life changes, my kids have grown and flown. This has left me with uninterrupted time to work.”
As an artist/potter she keeps evolving, and her materials have changed from porcelain to white clay for the past 22 years. “This past year the clay that I am using is a beautiful rich brown stoneware. I am also using local clay that I dig from my backyard for use as a slip, (clay that is watered down and refined to use like paint on the surface of the pot). This all makes for very rich earthy surfaces,” she said.
Visitors to her studio will see an array of her functional pottery and funerary urns. Prices for functional pottery for the kitchen range from $25 to $175; funerary urns sell for $50 to $800.
Potter Donna McGee, of Hadley, was one of the people who began the pottery trail 20 years ago and again will be participating. She will be selling pots, stoneware vessels and a series of plates and platters with an emphasis on the gestural, loosely drawn imagery that has become her signature. Prices will range from $35 to $1,900.
She enjoys having people go into her studio for the first time “and are just in awe,” she said. “In awe at the size of my studio, at the quantity and quality of my work, mostly at being in the actual ‘inner sanctum’ where the magic takes place.”
“Beautiful, functional objects and a connection to those who make them are what the Pottery Trail is all about,” said potter Tiffany Hilton, who has been one of the hosts for 19 years. “The pandemic heightened our need for human connection as well as our appreciation for the objects we choose to live with in our homes.”
The self-guided pottery trail winds along scenic rivers and through the historic villages and college towns of Western Massachusetts. Look for distinctive yellow pottery trail signs guiding visitors to studios clustered in three areas: Florence/Northampton/Hadley, Greenfield, and the Mohawk Trail village of Shelburne Falls.
Pick up a Pottery Trail Passport at your first location. Those who have their trail passport stamped at all eight studios will be entered to win a mug or cup. Twenty-nine prizes will be awarded. No purchase necessary.
The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail launched an annual Early Career Fellowship for BIPOC Ceramic Artists in 2022. After receiving applications from throughout the country two fellowships have been awarded to Jessica Ayala of Brooklyn, New York, and Joshua Wong, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, were chosen to be guest artists for the 2024 tour.
Fagella attributes the pottery trial’s longevity to three factors: People really like to get out on a spring day after a long winter and tour around the beautiful valley, and they like to see the studios and meet the potters. “It’s one thing to buy handmade pottery, but it is extra special to see the studio where it is created. When you purchase a handmade piece of pottery you are getting a little piece of the potter who made it,” she said. “Seeing the studio and the artist’s surroundings gives more information about the maker, thus creating memories each time you use the piece that you have brought into your home.”
The third reason for the longevity is that the potters involved work well together as a group.
For more information about the potters and the Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, contact Tiffany Hilton at 413-824-6506 or email high_fired@hotmail.com. You can also visit asparagusvalleypotterytrail.com or apotterytrail.com.
