Twenty years ago, Cummington potter Christy Knox had a vision: a pottery tour hosted by local artists in the Hilltowns. The inspiration struck after two of her friends had returned from a tour in Minnesota and raved about the experience. Meanwhile, Knox and her friend and fellow pottery, Constance Talbot, had recently taken part at a craft fair and didn’t care for how much packing and unpacking it entailed. Wouldn’t it be nice, Knox thought, for her and her friends to be able to showcase their work from their own studios instead of having to travel?
With that, Knox made some phone calls, and the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour was born.
“It started as a little fledgling tour,” Knox said. “Along the way, lots of wonderful things got incorporated into it.”
The Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year when it returns on Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The self-guided tour includes stops in Ashfield, Cummington, Westhampton, Williamsburg, Worthington and Windsor. Potters will also give live demonstrations of pottery techniques.
This year’s host potters, besides Knox and Talbot, are Robbie Heidinger, Maya Machin, Michael McCarthy, Hiroshi Nakayama, Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor. Each will also bring guest artists, most of whom are from the Valley.
Guest artists include Normandy Alden, Noel Bailey, Hayne Bayless, Abby Berkson, Lucy Fagella, Dan Finnegan, Tyler Gulden, Tiffany Hilton, Donna McGee, Mathew Meunier, Lisa Orr, Mary Risley, Ikuzi Teraki, Jeanne Bisson, Kate Sprankle, Brian Taylor, Cara Taylor, Sumiyo Toribe, Evelyn Ward, Ben Bonsall, Garrett Sanders and Tom White.
“It’s a great honor,” Machin said. “I can confidently say that every single member of the tour is exceptional in their own way and very different from each other, too.”
Over the last six months, Knox prepared for the tour by shaping a new collection of functional tableware — including dinnerware and teapots — adorned with botanical imagery from her travels abroad.
“My shelves are now chock-a-block full of a lot of cool new pots,” she said.
Yet for Knox, the real excitement of the tour isn’t just showcasing new work — it’s connecting with the people who come to see it.
“It’s glorious to just fill my studio with all of these old friends and new friends and show people around my studio and let them get a little closer view of my work and what goes into it and what inspires me,” she said. “It’s about community, and it’s about people. … That’s what I most love about this tour. It just warms my heart.”
Knox and Machin both agreed that pottery is a special art form.
“I love the smell of the clay. I love how tactile it is. I love the fact that whether you’re 4 or 94, whether you have a lot of experience or no experience at all, everyone has the capability of expressing themselves through this material,” Knox said.
“I’ve been a full-time potter now for 45 years, and I still can’t wait to get into my studio every morning, and I have to just pull myself away from it every evening,” she added. “There’s endless possibilities.”
“I think it’s such a unique medium. It’s the only thing that I can think of that completely transforms from the material that you originally start with, which is basically just mud,” Machin said with laugh. “And you end up with something that is really durable and will last millennia.”
Machin is the newest member of the group, so she hasn’t been around to see the full extent of the tour’s growth since its inception, but she does have a piece of advice for visitors: pace yourself.
“It is possible to do the whole tour in one day, but it’s a lot,” she said.
Instead, Machin recommends visitors go to half of the studios in one day, stay somewhere local (if they don’t already live in the area) overnight, and visit the rest the next day. It would be a shame, she added, if someone had to miss visiting even one studio because they were too burnt out from a long day of driving.
“At every stop, there are so many wonderful things to see,” she said.
Admission to the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour is free and open to the public. A portion of the proceeds from sales will be donated to local food pantries. For more information, visit hilltown6.com.
