....for having such lovely work!

On the Monday after the Cambridge Pottery Festival we thought that it would be nice to do a bit of sightseeing on the way home from our hotel in Madison, WI. We looked online and we read the promotional guide book that was in the hotel and nothing was jumping out at us. We had asked our friends on facebook for some suggestions and we decided to skip all those and head back to Cambridge. In Cambridge there is a production pottery house called 'Rowe Pottery'. We noticed that there was a store in the downtown so we thought that it would be interesting to stop by and see what it is like. There were a couple of potters at the festival that work at Rowe Pottery and it would be nice to see what they do.
The Rowe Pottery store was indeed very interesting. It was strange to look at a whole store full of very rustic, country-ish style crockery. It was all so very different than what Michael does and it was so very different than hanging out in the galleries that we normally go to. It was fun to see large blow-up pictures of our acquaintances in the store. There were big posters of Glen & Ric throwing on the wheel; larger than life. Click here to see what Rowe Pottery looks like.
On our way out of town we remembered that we had seen a sign for another pottery place. We decided to check it out. What a treat that was! Cambridge Wood-Fired Pottery is a delight of a place. You drive up a long driveway and then you turn a corner and this is what you find.

At first no one was around and we ambled about looking at all the different pots. All of these are made by one person, Mark Skudlarek. This guy is one prolific potter! This is his wood-fired kiln.

Michael came around and we got to talking. On the spot Michael and Mark traded. Mark got a reading glass that say's "R-tist" and Michael got a really cool plate. I used it today, as a matter of fact, for my lunch salad. I'm thrilled! Mark had to take off and go pick up one of his kids but he said we could wander around and take some pictures. I like these of his throwing room. I find it really interesting that he kind of stand/straddles when he is throwing...

The second one is my artsy fartsy shot.
We will definately stop by here again when we come back next year for the Cambridge Pottery Festival. Click here to go to Mark's website and check out his pottery. Thanks to Mark for bartering and for having such great work!