Down to Earth

Pottery runs deep in Santa Fe, from hallowed Pueblo collections to clay-throwing pubs.

- Lia Picard

SITTING BEHIND a potter's wheel in downtown Santa Fe, I surrendered to the wet clay, digging my fingers in and watching as a bowl began to take shape. "Breathe," said my instructor, Heidi Loewen, as I eased off the pedal. "When we're learning a new sport, and I consider this a sport, we get excited and stop breathing." She was right: I needed to catch my breath.

It's safe to say I have a pottery problem. I used to buy cheeky mugs at Target, until I picked up a handmade one at an arts festival in Atlanta. Now I drink my coffee out of vessels crafted by cult-favorite makers like East Fork, from Asheville, North Carolina. I appreciate how no two pieces are alike and how ceramics, one of our oldest art forms, spans cultures and connects us across time. After all, clay is found nearly everywhere on earth and so, therefore, is pottery.

But few places have as rich a ceramics culture as Santa Fe. Pottery is an integral part of Native American life in the Southwest, and the city's museums are filled with clay artifacts that date back centuries. There is also a thriving arts scene, with numerous galleries, studios, markets, and festivals dedicated to the craft. Even the city's traditional adobe homes, it could be argued, are essentially inhabitable pottery.

I wanted a piece of this culture for myself, so earlier this year I headed west from Atlanta with my husband, Jon, and our young daughter. My heart skipped a beat when we arrived at Santa Fe Plaza, the heart of the historic downtown, and saw ceramics everywhere we turned.