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Date: 7/13/2021
HILLTOWNS – After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the annual Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour to take place online in the fall of 2020, the tour will return in person and online on July 24 and 25.
Michael McCarthy, one of the founding members of the Hilltown 6 tour, said the tour initially started around 13 years ago with six artists.
“There are a lot of really good ceramic artists who live out in Western Mass and about 13 or 14 years ago, a group of us got together and decided to do a pottery trail in the Hilltowns to showcase the artisans that live and work out here who you might not know are your neighbors,” he said.
McCarthy said the tour began as a way to show how pottery is made to residents across the area.
“One of the reasons it came about was to show how we potters work together and it makes sense contextually to see where the art is being made. It allows folks to not only see the finished product but also to the studios, understand where the artists live and understand the process of making,” he said.
Now, McCarthy said the tour has expanded to nine different host potters from the original six.
“There are nine host potters throughout the Hilltowns so we have Westhampton, Cummington, Williamsburg, Windsor, and Worthington. I believe we also have 20 guest artists as well,” he said.
While it was nice to reach an online audience in 2020, McCarthy said he missed interacting with people at his studio.
“We did have an online event last fall and it was a great way to reach people we might not have otherwise, but part of the whole reason for the tour was to interact and connect with people. Not having that was sad,” he said.
Because of the online version in 2020 McCarthy said he had to put descriptions of each of his pieces and found himself missing the in-person interaction because of that, especially since pottery is one of the forms of art people can touch.
“Last year I put all my pots online and I wrote descriptions for each pot. I found myself describing a lot, which on one hand was an exercise but it also made me miss being able to interact and have people engage with the art. There are some regulars and we have not seen those people in a couple years,” he said. “The great thing about ceramics that you do not necessarily get with other art forms is you can interact with it physically, to not have that was sad.”
He added that there will still be an online component this year and many of the artists are participating both in person and online.
“We are back in person this year, but we did keep an online component. We left it up to the individual artist, but I think everybody is in-person and online,” he said.
For this year’s tour many of the locations will feature outdoor displays and people can experience the tour in any order they would like.
“It is a self-guided tour, and each artist has their own studio. I imagine most of it will be set up outside so people can come and tour the pots, for example, I will be outside. There is no correct way to take the tour, anyone can start wherever they want to and go from there,” he said.
McCarthy said he is looking forward to interacting with people during the tour.
“It will be so nice to actually interact with people. What is great about the tour is you see some old friends; you make some new friends. It ends up being a very enjoyable social experience and way of engagement,” he said.
One group of regulars that comes every year is a group from a girl’s summer camp.
“There is a girl’s summer camp that comes and does the tour every year. It is always kind of hilarious to see the van pull up and they are always in high visibility shirts, so they do not lose any campers, and we have gotten to know the counselor who brings them because they have a ceramics program,” McCarthy said.
As with previous years, the tour will take place the last full weekend in July. The tour runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days and participants can find the map of the tour on www.hilltown6.com/map.