Throwing the Finished Touch

Throwing the Finished Touch Tucked behind the Sage Bakehouse in the booming Railyard District is the treasure trove of Paseo Pottery. Featuring the handmade stoneware of eight local potters, Paseo Pottery combines the best of craft and design with a variety of beautiful kitchenware and decorative pottery.

P

ottery connotes anything made by hand with clay. Because it is a craft that takes time both to practice and perfect, people seeking to buy pottery pieces are intrinsically looking for something with a hand-finished touch. While Paseo Pottery has that in spades, most pieces available also represent the functional end of the pottery spectrum.

Owner and potter Janet Williams describes, “Most of our kitchenware can go in the oven, the microwave and the dishwasher – it’s very functional. We also have lamps and more sculptural pieces. Everything in here is handmade stoneware — a type of clay that’s high fired. Earthenware, on the other hand, is fired at a lower temperature, around 1800 degrees. It gets hard and durable at that point. In contrast, stoneware is usually fired around 2300 degrees, which makes it much more durable.

Stoneware is practically like stone when it’s finished, hence, the functionality of most pieces.”

Williams has owned and run Paseo Pottery for more than 20 years. She moved to Santa Fe in 1972. She had been an art teacher but wanted to pursue pottery. She followed a friend and fell in love with New Mexico. She also sensed the state would be a good place to be a potter. That instinct turned out to be right; after apprenticing for a few years with master potter Frank Willett, she met another potter looking for a kiln partner.

From there, things grew. Eventually, Williams and her husband bought the piece of property Paseo Pottery now sits on as a place for both his office and for her to display her pottery. Though her husband has since retired, Williams continues to make and showcase her pottery in the store.

In addition to Williams, seven other potters are exhibited at Paseo Pottery: Mike Walsh, Ron Strauss, Douglas Hough, Peter Dougan, Blue Yee, Ginny Zipperer and Bree Songer. All make durable wear with the exception of Zipperer, who uses a Japanese technique called raku. As opposed to the other potters, Zipperer’s work is decorative and non-functional, as the lower-fired raku technique is not intended to allow the ceramic to hold water.

Working in the time-honored tradition of perfecting each piece, every potter at Paseo Pottery produce their own distinct line of handcrafted dinnerware, accessories and one-of-a-kind pieces.

Whether you’re looking for a vase or lamp to add accent, a beautiful kitchen set to adorn the dinner table every night, or that highly functional pot that can withstand cold, heat, water and whatever yummy delight you decide to serve in it, Paseo

Pottery’s eight highly-skilled potters have you covered.

Paseo Pottery 1428 Paseo de Peralta 505.988.7687 Open Monday - Saturday 10AM-3PM www.paseopotterysf.com janetwilliamspottery@gmail.com www.janetwilliamspottery.bigcartel.com