Welcome

Our work is created in the rich cultural environment of the Fairmount neighborhood, surrounding the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We are the Neighborhood Potters. We choose to make functional pottery because it enriches daily living. Pots help us connect with people on a very basic human level. In these times of fast food, where so much food is eaten out of paper, plastic or styrofoam, we feel that hand made pottery can bring some soul into the daily rituals of eating and drinking.

Our goal is to pursue and promote the creativity, diversity, and excellence of functional pottery being made in Philadelphia.  We strive to educate, inspire, and inform the Philadelphia audience and beyond, about this timeless art form.

In our work we strive to show the vitality of clay, especially through the use of texture. Most of Neil’s forms begin on the potter’s wheel and are then altered (faceted, ridged, cut and re-assembled.)  Most of Sandi’s forms are hand built and are either textured or decorated. While she also works on the wheel, Sandi finds that working with slabs offers her more versatility to develop her ideas with forms.  In our functional work we want to make pots that are beautiful to look at, friendly, and comfortable to use.

About Us and Sustainability

In our work we touch the Earth every day, literally. The stoneware and porcelain clay that we use is made from some of the most abundant resources on earth (Silica and Alumina.) We strive to craft objects of lasting beauty from this material to enrich and beautify life; to bring an aesthetic experience to the savoring of a cup of coffee or to the kitchen table.  We consider our stewardship of the materials we use an important part of our work. We recycle every scrap of clay and we use no lead or toxic ingredients in our glazes. We signed up to purchase wind generated electricity as soon as Pennsylvania offered electric choice (in 2004.) We only fire our electric kilns when we have full, efficient loads and in the winter we use the residual heat to help warm our recycled 1851 studio.  We strive to insulate our studio building and retro-fit it to be as energy efficient as possible. Recently we were awarded an Energy Audit (and modest grant) from the city to help with our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.  In the end we are trying to make the world a bit more beautiful through our work.

2034 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia, PA

Our retail shop is open every Saturday from 12–4pm.
The shop will be closed from Sunday December 24th, and will re-open Saturday, January 20th Noon to 4pm

Sandi and Neil believe it is important to engage with their community. They do so by organizing and hosting public events, and by teaching classes in their studio classroom. They were lead planners of the Fairmount Arts Crawl in the early years of the event, and helped to grow the Arts Crawl into an important neighborhood celebration of art, which has been going strong since 2004.

Photos: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new storefront September 2015, Sidewalk Demos during The Fairmount Arts Crawl every year, Annual Holiday Pole Wrap, Sidewalk Demos for Street Fesitval, Cake cutting Celebrating 10 years on Fairmount Avenue, September, 2010, with free hands on wheel instruction open to public, Studio Workshops.