An example of work featured in the upcoming 19th annual Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour.
Photo credit: Hilltown 6, the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour
The Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour is returning for its 19th year later this month, offering another unique art experience.
On the last weekend of every July, the Hilltown 6 potters and their guest artists invite the Western Mass. community into their studios to witness ancient art in action during the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour.
This year’s tour will be on Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The tour is free and open to the public.
Potters will welcome attendees to watch as they showcase various techniques and materials with scheduled demonstrations and participatory events throughout both days. The artists will share how they shape earth into beautiful and distinct objects.
“The tour allows our guests to see the variety of functional ceramics being made right here in this community, in the fascinating settings where potters work,” said the Hilltown 6 in a joint statement about their history available on their website. “The itinerary offers an invitation to get out into some lovely backcountry — potters tend to thrive in secret hollows and on quirky hilltops.”
One of the original Hilltown 6 members, Mark Shapiro, told Reminder Publishing the tour was born almost two decades ago after he and other potters came together to brainstorm how they could recreate a local version of a popular pottery tour they learned of in Minnesota.
“We had been guest potters on that tour,” said Shapiro. “So, we saw that, and we saw how successful the tour was in Minnesota and we were kind of like well, what are we waiting for. Let’s take control of how our pots are seen and how the process of acquiring them happens. I think what’s really significant to me about that is people get the chance to experience the work where it’s made and meet the person who made it.”
During the tour, visitors will watch as clay artists craft teapots, vases, pitchers and more from start to finish. They will also see artists throw pots on a foot-powered treadle wheel, walk inside a giant wood-burning kiln and taste fresh bread baked in a ceramic flame-proof cloche.
“It’s a very different sense of consuming something whereas when you buy something that can be made anywhere — do you know where your T-shirt is made, or who made it? So, it’s a fairly unique experience to use and acquire something that you actually go to the place where its made and you meet the person who actually made it with their own hands,” added Shapiro. “So that struck us all as a very powerful and a different model for how we could go forward in our careers and our lives.”
The Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour makes for a family-friendly weekend spent traversing the scenic hills that rise out of the Pioneer Valley and taking in all that the hilltowns have to offer. Happening during the peak of New England’s picturesque summer, visitors will also encounter farmstands and small businesses supplying the locally grown bounty of the season, from fresh eggs to homemade preserves, to artisanal brews.
The event has only grown over the years, added Shapiro, and they continue to work entirely as a cooperative organization. As popularity has grown, so have efforts to improve on the event and add to it. One example of a successful addition to the experience is the rolling demonstrations at each studio during the tour where people can see firsthand demonstrations on a pot or theme the artist is interested in.
“It’s another way of deepening the experience. You buy a pot, end up using it a few times. You remember, ‘Oh, I know how that was made. I saw how that was made.’ That changes the experience of owning and using and so that’s been really great and I’m really happy that we’ve done that and it works really well,” said Shapiro.
This year, the Hilltown 6 is celebrating the event’s community spirit by donating a portion of each artist’s proceeds to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Visitors to the 2025 pottery tour will not only get to experience the close-knit feel of the hilltowns and support local artists, but they will also help put food on the tables of those most in need.
Shapiro added that with the rise of food insecurity being felt in communities everywhere, raising funds in support of the Food Bank was a no brainer for the Hilltown 6.
“I feel like it’s a very positive response to the cuts that we’re seeing. We want to stand with people who are less fortunate than we are who might not have access to the kind of food security that we enjoy,” said Shapiro. “There’s also a natural thing about pots and food. We’re potters, we make pots for people to put their food on. It’s kind of natural association I think to want to support something like that because so much of our thinking is around how people eat and making that a positive cultural experience. Having a sense of abundance. So, anything we can do to support those institutions is very timely right now.”
With the combined beauty of handcrafted art and the Western Mass. landscape, the tour has become a nationally recognized event. In past years, the event has drawn company from all corners of the state, as well as New York, Boston, Hartford, Albany and beyond.
The Hilltown 6 is a group of now eight nationally renowned potters based in the Hilltowns all within 45 minutes of Northampton. The group features Shapiro, Robbie Heidinger, Christy Knox, Maya Machin, Michael McCarthy, Hiroshi Nakayama, Constance Talbot and Sam Taylor. This year’s tour will also feature 18 guests from around the country.
For a complete demonstrations schedule, a map of studios, information on artists and more, visit hilltown6.com.
“What we do is we kind of make something from nothing. We take earth, or dirt, and we turn it into these useful and potentially beautiful things and that strikes me as a very if not noble, a certainly worthy endeavor at this moment,” said Shapiro.
