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In beautiful Red Wing, Minnesota
About Featherstone Pottery
Nestled deep within miles of rich farmland in the rural area of Red Wing, Minnesota is the Featherstone Farm and Featherstone Pottery located on 210th Avenue off of Goodhue County Road 1 in Featherstone Township. In the east yard you will find the pottery workshop and kiln of brother potters Tom and Jeff Larkin. It is here on their uncle Ferman’s farm that they have been crafting pottery now for over two decades.
The Form and Function of Featherstone Pottery
Pottery lies within the realm of functional arts. To see Featherstone Pottery is to understand its purpose. Like making wood furniture or blacksmithing, hand-thrown pottery or stoneware is the ultimate blending of beauty and function.
The Potters
From Ancient Japanese Traditions to You Through the Skilled Hands of Two Brothers…
Tom & Jeff Larkin took very different paths to the same destination. The potter’s wheel. Here’s a little about each of them…
It all began with Jeff. He attended the University of Minnesota where he studied under the renowned potter Warren MacKenzie. Inspired by the work of Bill Marshall and Bernard Leach, he traveled to England to serve in an apprenticeship at the legendary
Leach Pottery in St. Ives from 1976-1978.
Upon his return to Minnesota, Jeff and his brother Tom established a studio on the family farm where his mother, Alice Featherstone Larkin, was born. In carrying on the family tradition, Jeff is instrumental in assuring continual upkeep of the farmstead in addition to spearheading pottery operations.You can blame Tom’s pottery bug on Jeff. While visiting Jeff at the Leach Pottery in St. Ives, England, Tom was asked by the then 90 year old Bernard Leach if he too wanted to become a potter like his brother.
Until Leach asked him, the thought of being a potter hadn’t even occurred to Tom. However, the damage had been done. Back home in Minnesota, Tom and his brother began the conversion of the family farm into a pottery studio.
During the conversion process, Tom remembered Leach’s question and began to explore on his own, the work of stoneware and porcelain pottery. Tom’s beautiful and functional work can be found in many public and private collections.
About the Style
“They are always subtly changing. I’m not trying to come up with the best pots or an unending stream of pots, but rather the goal is to produce pots with functional form and eye-pleasing color, texture and shape that people will put to use.”
Annual Fall Pottery Show & Sale
Join us for our annual Fall events.
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