Clay artists keep awareness alive

The Central Maine Clay Artists is a group of professional potters and ceramic artists working in the Kennebec Valley Area. To bring forth a few, they are Neil and Barb Loken of Loken Pottery; Mary Kay Spencer of The Potter’s House; Robbi Portela of Maple Lane Pottery; Martha Hoddinott of A Lakeside Studio Pottery; Diane Harwood of Mudgirl Pottery; Malley Weber of Hallowell Clayworks; Lori Watts of Fine Mess Pottery; Libbey Seigars of Whitefield Pottery; Whitney Gill of Alleycat Studio; Elizabeth Downs of Ditch Lily Pottery; Marie Palluotto of Red Door Pottery; and Shell Moore of Raw Earth Designs.

They work to promote handmade craft and the ceramic arts in Central Maine as well as around the state. Although a diverse group, working in clay, their work ranges from whimsical to spiritual, functional to decorative and classic to funky.

    The month of April Kennebec County for them is “Mug Season” and the CMCA artists join up with local coffee shops by selling handmade mugs to support local arts programming. These establishments offer to fill up their cup at no costs. So stop by the Downtown Diner and Bagel Mainea in Augusta; Slates Bakery, Hallowell; Gardiner Food Co-op, Gardiner; The Apple Shed, Kent’s Hill; The Olde Post Office Cafe, Mt. Vernon and Sheepscot General Store in Whitefield, to name a few.

Also another event during the first week of May, many potters in Maine open their studios to the public for the Maine Pottery Tour. Goers can meet the artists, shop for handmade pottery as well as see them creating their works.