Berkshire Pottery Tour Opens Eight Studio Doors
A self-guided drive through the southern Berkshires includes a chef who fires pottery in a 2,300-degree wood kiln he built himself
Saturday–Sunday, September 26–27, 10am–5pm | Southern Berkshires, MA
The Berkshire Pottery Tour opens its 13th annual edition on September 26 and 27, a free, self-guided driving tour through eight working pottery studios spread across Richmond, West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, Housatonic, Great Barrington, and Monterey. Visitors can start at any studio and set their own pace, following the tour's orange and white road signs; detailed maps and studio video previews are posted online ahead of time, with paper maps also handed out at each stop.
The eight host potters—Paula Shalan, Ben Evans, Michael Marcus, Ellen Grenadier, Daniel Bellow, Lorimer Burns, Harry Levenstein, and the Berkshire Art Center's studio program—each bring in guest artists for the weekend as well, more than doubling the number of working ceramicists visitors can meet in a single trip.
Michael Marcus's stop is particularly notable. Better known locally as the chef-owner of Bizen Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Great Barrington, Marcus has spent over five decades pursuing a parallel life in ceramics. He apprenticed in New York in the early 1970s, then sold everything and moved to Japan to study the language and immerse himself in Japanese pottery traditions before returning to the Berkshires to build his own five-chamber Noborigama—a wood-fired kiln made from more than 10,000 firebricks, housed in Monterey. He practices yaki-shime, a 1,000-year-old unglazed firing technique that colors stoneware entirely through contact with flame and ash rather than applied glaze; the full cycle, from splitting and drying wood to a 12-day, 12-night firing reaching 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, produces around 1,500 pieces at a time. Visitors to his studio, Joyous Spring Pottery, can see the kiln itself as well as the finished pots—many of which end up on tables at his restaurant.
Studios across Richmond, West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, Housatonic, Great Barrington, and Monterey, MA. Free. Map and details at berkshirepotterytour.com.
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After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
