Ash Cove Pottery
Susan Horowitz
Harpswell, Maine
I started making pots in 1970 when I was in high school. My father needed a hobby, and he and I took a Saturday morning class together. I’ve been making pots ever since. Early on I got hooked on throwing pots on the wheel, on the magic of taking a lump of earth and “pulling” it into a cylinder and then shaping it into a vessel. I am a production potter, and enjoy making multiples. Each individual piece is an attempt to embody an ideal that lives in my mind. With each throwing cycle the ideal evolves and the forms change slightly. Over time these forms have become clearer and bolder, like a photo coming into focus. I established Ash Cove Pottery when I moved to Harpswell in 1985. I am fortunate to live in a beautiful place, surrounded by the stunning beauty of Ash Point Cove. I share my life with my partner Gail and our daughter Rose. We aim for a balanced life of work, time for family and friends, and maintaining and enjoying the gardens that we have created here.
I see myself as a dinosaur with an important role. There is no “need” to make or use hand thrown pottery in the 21st century, yet I feel it is especially important to do so now. We live in a globalized world of mass produced goods where people are more likely to text their online friends than to have tea with their neighbors. It takes effort to maintain contact with our earth, nature, each other. Handmade pottery is not silent; it has a presence that comes from the soul of the one who made it. More and more I see that the contact I have with my customers is as important as the making of the pots themselves. People crave a connection to people and place, to something real. When you use my pots you meet me in the irregularities and differences between one piece and another. My pots connect you to me and my wonderful life in Harpswell, Maine.
