The inaugural Northern Illinois Pottery Tour is set to take place Saturday and Sunday including locations in Aurora and Sandwich.
Along with the two Fox Valley spots, the free self-guided tour will also include sites in Chicago and Villa Park.
Organizers said the new event “will give the public a rare glimpse into the studios of local professional potters.”
Plainfield resident Amy Song, lead organizer of the tour who also owns a ceramics business, said there have been a number of pottery tours in the upper Midwest and “that really laid the groundwork for an annual event that brings people together to celebrate pottery and for collectors.”
“We really have a lot of great talent in the area and having an event that really celebrates what’s going on here locally, it seemed like there was a hole that needed to be filled,” Song said. “We know there are a lot of art shows in the area throughout the summer, but this is really kind of special when it’s specific to pottery. Our goal is to educate our community about what’s possible when you create art out of clay.”
Visitors to a pottery-only show, Song argues, “are coming for handmade objects that can be used every day.”
“A lot of potters will also come to this to meet the makers that are their cohorts in the field,” Song said. “Pottery has that utilitarian nature and when you’re using pieces that are handmade at your table or filling your cup of coffee in the morning, it’s something that is very refined. Having a show focused completely on clay helps to grow an appreciation of pottery in everyday use.”
The Aurora site will be the Artisan Loft Gallery at 2 S. Stolp Ave. The show will be hosted by Jonathan Pacheco of Jonathan Pacheco Ceramics, who also lives in Aurora.
“I do functional wood-fired ceramics. I work in both sculptural and functional,” said Pacheco, 37. “It’s kind of hard to separate one from the other sometimes. I’ve been doing pots for 12 years and working in clay for 20 years.”
Pacheco said in his view, the first-ever pottery tour “is more about education.”
“I really want to educate,” he said. “I’m a teacher too and I think Illinois will really benefit if we educate the community about ceramics and what it can do. That way they (visitors) have an understanding when they go to other art fairs. The artists showing are also art teachers and we’re very much on the side of education to help give everyone experience on pottery.”
Song said the show’s 20 artists were curated by Pacheco “who teaches at a lot of places in the area and has a lot of connections to the best talent.”
“Jonathan Pacheco is a beloved educator at many of the area’s art centers,” Song said. “As such, he is well connected to both established as well as emerging artists in the area. The tour reached out to those who have a distinct voice in the field. Future years will be a mixture of new and returning artists to maintain connection but also to bring fresh voices to the table.”
Song said there will be five artists displaying work at the Aurora show.
Other sites include one in Sandwich, with Cory McCrory hosting six artists at her home studio.
In Chicago, Susan Messer McBride’s studio Mind, Clay, Body will host four artists and in Villa Park Benjamin Buchenot will host five artists at his home studio.
Participants can go to northernilpotterytour.com to download a map and the addresses of the studios.
Participants in the tour will be able to view a variety of functional and decorative ceramic styles including wood-fired, earthenware, gas-fired stoneware, porcelain and paper clay, organizers said.
The Aurora location’s hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. The rest of the locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
