When this blog was new, it was hard to find online; there seemed to be many other people with blogs or websites with the same name. I thought, idly, I'd check who else is the village potter, googled the name, and quit looking on page 17, still finding some new and relevant websites named village potter, potters, pottery.
Why do so many of us choose this name?
Some simply are located in what I think is a village, like Guilford Village Potters, near Perth, Australia. Some are in commercial or would-be villages, like Village Potters in La Grange Park, Illinois. The name just seems to mean "I am in the village".
Others are really traditional potters in a folk tradition: I found websites with this name in Nicaragua, Malaysia, Vietnam, India. Some studio potters take on a tradition, like Ned Foltz in Lancaster County, PA, reviving and continuing Pennsylvania redware.
Many of us seem to mean something looser, making pottery that is traditional in style, homey, or aiming to give pleasure through functional pots in use, like the Village Pottery in Clifton Village, near Bristol, England, or in New London, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
For me, it is important to remember the traditional aspect of making pots by hand, for people's daily use, though I am not part of an ongoing tradition. The village potter was/is the one who makes useful items for local use and pleasure, need and fun, maybe sometimes art. That feels like home.
I suppose we could fight over rights to use this name and identity. I rather like the idea that we, who choose to be village potters, have something in common, all around the world.
