It’s called the Northern Illinois Pottery Tour and it is an annual pottery tour that features more than 40 artists and highlights the exciting contemporary pottery scene.
This year, the two-day tour on the first weekend of June is going official as a nonprofit organization.
To help raise funds for the tour and the transition to nonprofit status, event organizers will host a fundraiser from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 at Brewpoint Coffee, 617 N. York St., Elmhurst.
It will feature coffee, cocktails, and vision sharing, and will include a silent auction, pottery and merch for sale.
Northern Illinois Pottery Tour will celebrate its sixth year on June 6 and June 7. The free, self-guided tour will take place at artist residences in six towns, including Forest Park, Elmhurst, Naperville, West Chicago, Sandwich, and Leland.
“It’s a treasured event that fans 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.
Potters from six states will display their work as part of the tour. Song said they will have visiting artists from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan this year. Delores Fortuna, a beloved teacher of generations of local potters, and Qi Zhang, an exciting emerging artist from Chicago will be visiting artists along with Peter Jadoonath from Shafer, MN. Jadoonath is part of the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour, which is hosting its 34th annual tour in May.
That’s a milestone that Song strives to reach, and it’s the driving force behind becoming a nonprofit. She said she wants the pottery tour to be a lasting and sustainable endeavor.
“It celebrates the diversity and what’s being done in the field,” Song said.
— Marissa Bright PR