Northern Illinois Pottery Tour expands to six towns, showcasing over 40 artists

Northern Illinois Pottery Tour will celebrate its sixth year on June 6-7.

The free, self-guided tour will take place at artist residences in six towns, including Elmhurst, Forest Park, Leland, Naperville, Sandwich, and West Chicago. Elmhurst is the latest to join the tour.

“It’s a treasured event that pottery admirers and collectors anticipate every year,” said founder and lead organizer Amy Song, who lives in Plainfield and fires her work in a wood-fueled kiln in Plano.

The inspiration for the tour is the Saint Croix Valley Pottery Tour held on Mother’s Day weekend for potters and pottery enthusiasts in the St. Croix River Valley of Minnesota. It recently marked its 34th year.

More than 40 potters from three states will display their work as part of the tour, which will run Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each stop is hosting six or seven invited artists. The studios are a short drive from each other, allowing some or all to be visited in a single day, and all are within an hour drive of Chicago.

The goal of this annual event is a mix of educating the public about pottery as well as creating a fun annual event. It features mostly functional pottery, but also a good sprinkling of sculpture. There will be a passport for visiting various stops and drawings for giveaways

Song said they will have visiting artists from Wisconsin and Michigan this year. A couple of standout visiting artists include Delores Fortuna, a beloved teacher of generations of local potters, and Qi Zhang, an exciting emerging artist from Chicago.

“We try to highlight the exciting contemporary pottery scene in the area, and the diversity and what’s being done in the field,” Song said.

For more information and a map of tour stops, visit northernilpotterytour.com. To see some of the artists featured on this year’s tour, go to instagram.com/northernilpotterytour or the Northern Illinois Pottery Tour on Facebook.