January 2026-What are you looking forward to?

Welcome to 2026!

As we prepare to gallop into 2026 on the back of the flaming horse, The Maverick Potter is excited for what is to come.  The year of the horse brings with it bold change, more social opportunities and creative self-expression.  It is a dynamic time and the start of a new cycle.

To kick the year off we have classes starting in mid-February.  This year along with wheel throwing we are excited to offer a Raku event, Pit Fire class, an intro to High Firing, opportunities to hand build, and open studio times. The wheel class is posted on our website; dates for future events tba.

Paint Your Own Pottery:  We are proud to announce we are expanding the Paint Your Own section of our shop.  Starting in February we will have expanded times and more fun things to paint.  We also plan to be open later on the weekends.  Like and follow our paint your own Facebook page that we are reviving (Paint Your Own Pottery at The Maverick Potter).

18th Anniversary:  This May marks our 18th year in business.  Celebrate with us 1st Friday in May. We will have a whole host of events that weekend,  featuring a new body of work by Mark Rittmann.   Look out for some sneak peaks of works in progress on Facebook, Instagram, and in the newsletters.

NorthCape4000: This summer Mark will ride his bike from northern Italy to the North Cape, the northernmost point in Norway, the arctic circle.  The route will take Mark through 9 different countries with checkpoints along the way.  It is an unsupported cycling event that 700 riders will participate in.  We look forward to hosting a party for this event.  Raku party anyone??

1. Angie with bowl

2. Mark with large bottle form

3. Shino whiskey set

4. Bottom of a people feeder: blue rutile + purple haze

5. Mug: amber celadon + satin black

6. Mug: Pete’s coppper red with accent

7. Mark with a stack of freshly wedged clay

8. Everything bowls and one mug, made from the clay in (6)

9. A few everything bowl ideas!

ArtWalk 2025 is almost here!

You probably saw the pictures on fb and/or ig. Every shelf in the studio filled with bisque ware, just waiting to be glazed and fired for ArtWalk. So much potential!

But wait, what's beneath this hospital gown?

A very angry appendix, that's what.

---

Instead of glazing, the potter rested. By the end of the day, his abdominal pain was unchanged and he began to have chills. So we went to the ER that night. The physician commented on his textbook execution of appendicitis in the adult: upper abdominal pain migrating to the right side and settling there. Mark stayed in the hospital overnight with fluids and antibiotics, and his appendix was removed the next day without any complications.

He's back in the studio already, with a team of angels assisting. We are mixing and seiving glazes, washing bottoms and rearranging that kiln that was loaded and waiting to be fired on Tuesday. We are excited to show you what we have created for ArtWalk. Stay tuned for follow up events where we will present the wares that had to wait ✋️ because sometimes life is just like that

---

Salida ArtWalk is October 9-12, 2025

www.salidaartwalk.org

See you soon!

The sunny side of the street

September 20, 2025 (date above is erroneous and I can’t fix it at present)

The Maverick Potter LLC opened in May 2008 in a tiny sliver of a shop at 105 North F St. (currently Broken String Guitars). Sometimes businesses in Salida move around like hermit crabs. When a bigger spot opens, a small shop will expand into it, and then a tiny one will take the small one, and so on. It is informally called the “Salida shuffle.” We have moved shops a total of four times now.

A little while after we opened, we had the chance to move to a slightly bigger shop on the same block, 123 North F, right on the alley with the wall of kayaks (currently the Monarch Mountain Outpost). It was a great place to grow, but it became too small rather quickly.

When a place more than twice as big came available, we took the plunge and moved to 119 F where we stayed for 13 years. It was a nice big space and it took us a while to fully grow into it. But still, we would gaze across the street on cold snowy days, just a little jealous of the shops on the west side of the street, warming up in the morning sun.

Early in 2024 our favorite spot became available. 148 North F St, right on the corner of F and Sackett, with high tin-adorned ceilings and a rustic wooden floor. Formerly Salida Bike Co, we like to point out that we still have wheels here, they’re just different. Our new gallery space is bright and filled with natural light from the high east-facing windows, with a comfortable natural setting across from Riverside park.

We still offer classes and paint-your-own pottery!