Featured Articles

Amy Burk: Lancaster Arts Engineer

February 07, 2024

An hour west of Philadelphia, the small city of Lancaster is a hub of creative energy stoked by a multitude of arts organizations. Potter Amy Burk is a longtime Lancaster native who keeps many engines running with her involvement in the area arts scene. Her Amy Burk Pottery has been a local fixture since her circuitous route back to her hometown in 2002. Today, Burk integrates her creative vision and keen business sense in a successful functional pottery production trade.

North Hills Art Center: A Suburban Gem

January 17, 2024

A person looking for the arts in Pittsburgh is likely to find a play or a concert in the downtown cultural district or a gallery or a museum class in the Oakland university area. But residents of the city’s northern hills have a rare jewel in the North Hills Art Center (NHAC). For over sixty years, this institution has served the community, inspiring creativity in children and adults through expert instruction in a full gamut of media. Board of Directors President, Diane Pontoriero says, “Our mission is to bring what the arts do for us to everyone in the community.”

The Successful Potter: A Collective Model

December 24, 2023

The impulse that is at the heart of every potter is to play with clay. This seminal desire to immerse oneself in one’s medium fuels the creative process but does little to guide the artist toward a sustainable way of living. Teaching and marketing are the usual solutions, but often become as time-consuming as the art they serve. Lisa Howard, a Boston area potter, over three decades of creating, has succeeded in incorporating these necessary tasks into an organic model based on a strong community of makers and buyers. Her local pottery studio + gallery is a nexus in the Boston area for artists to display and sell their work, for students to perfect their skills, and for clients to expand their collections and increase their knowledge of the arts.