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Sally's Brief History of Freestone PotteryTucked away in the wooded countryside of northwestern Providence County, Rhode Island, is a special place: Freestone Pottery. How Tom and I came to return here, where we first met and where we were married, after living in Tennessee for twenty-two years, still amazes us. 
1985: We meet...
Tom is an Englishman and an internationally known grist miller and mill consultant. He had operated several mills in England since the 1950's. A Pennsylvanian by birth, I had been an art teacher and a potter in Rhode Island since the early 1970's. We met in Rhode Island in the spring of 1985. Tom had come to the United States on a Winston Churchill Fellowship to tour and study mills. It was at the end of his travels that he and I met and fell in love, at an old mill site near Tiverton Four Corners which housed my pottery shop.
...and move to Tennessee.
We were married in the fall of 1985 and began our search for a simpler way of living. We found what we were looking for in the serenity of a valley near Whitleyville, Tennessee. There our modest pottery shop grew into a thriving business and a cherished ministry. 
2008: After twenty-two years...
One day while working in our studio together, Tom and I realized that we had quietly grown older. We knew that our large studio and twenty-five acres were starting to be a bit too much for us to take care of as we wished. We saw that it was time to move back to our New England roots, back to Rhode Island, my family, and the old friends of many years ago. ...we move from the Bible Belt to the Snow Belt.
So, we bought a small cottage on an acre and a half of land near Foster, a small town in northwestern Rhode Island, thinking we would rent it out until we could get organized to sell our Tennessee paradise and move permanently to New England. We assumed it would take a year or longer to sell, but to our amazement, it sold just four days after we put it on the market. So instead of renting out our new place, we moved here in August of 2008. After months of hard work, we completed our studio and began making our pottery again, rejoicing to be back home where it all started for us in 1985, but forever holding our beloved Southern friends close in our hearts. 
Today: Busy...
Tom and I are an unusual combination of talents, devotion, and industry. As equal partners in the production of Freestone Pottery, we make each piece individually, by hand. Our work is known for its fine craftsmanship and unique decoration: the surface of most of our pots is graced with inspirational verses from the Bible and many other sources and is decorated with lovely brushwork flower designs. Each letter is carved into the clay, one by one, and each leaf and petal is created by hand, stroke by stroke. The popularity of our unique work has grown enormously over the years, mostly by word of mouth from delighted customers all over the USA and abroad. Freestone Pottery wants to be taken home, to be used in daily life, to speak to you about the love of God and the wisdom of wise individuals. Our pots want to sit in the kitchen with the family, to lift your spirits when you are sad, and to rejoice with you when you are happy. As time goes on, we're getting better and better, but slower and slower, at this exacting craft. We know that our pottery will become collectors' items in the future and, although we specialize in personalized and custom orders, the amount of pottery we make is limited. We want to keep our production small in order to maintain the high quality and special spirit that pervades our work. 
The combining of words and clay is not a new idea~ it's as old as the Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets from the 30th century BC. But we think we do it in a unique way. The comforting words of the Bible and the wisdom of spiritual people from all over the world are our inspiration, but we love to carve in the words each customer would like to have, as everyone has a favorite saying or idea they would like to see on their choice of pottery.
...and Joyful!
We believe that our talents and our lives, given to us by God, have been brought together by his grace, to allow us to do this work to his glory. Our commitment to each other, to our work, and to our God is clearly expressed in our stoneware. Our purpose is to try to give back to the world a portion of its lost heart and to ensure that everyone understands how dearly God loves each one of us, exactly as we are.
-Platter photo courtesy of Robin Conover
Further Information: Magazine Articles and Video Oh Lord... We are the clay. You are the potter. We are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8) |
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