MASTER POTTER: Caryn Newman, shown here creating a hand-built vase, holds her annual Open Studio Holiday Sale this Saturday and Sunday, November 16 and 17, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Willowood Pottery, 7 Willowood Drive, Ewing.

Once a year local Master Potter Caryn Newman opens her studio to the public – this year on Saturday and Sunday, November 16 and 17, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Busy firing work in her kiln from the past six months for this show, Newman said her latest work has some changes.

Decades of pottery-making added up, and she needed a shoulder replacement this past May. After a short break, she got back into the studio and started with hand-building new pieces as she recovered, instead of using the pottery wheel.

The effort to center the clay on the wheel for her regular line of wheel-thrown functional pots was off limits for a few months. “Bowls of all sizes are my specialty, and I used different hand-building techniques to make even larger bowls and new shapes,” said Newman.

She said she made the tallest vase she has ever made, “It is 28” high – the maximum height of the interior of my kiln.”

Her utilitarian pottery includes cups, bowls, vases and serving pieces. “Nothing pleases me more than when a customer tells me they use my mug every morning and think of me,” said Newman. “There is a huge upswing in the use of handmade objects in everyday living. People are realizing that handcrafted functional art enhances the enjoyment of food and home décor.”

Newman works in both stoneware and porcelain clays. This year’s sale will also feature a special selection of vintage work from her archive.

Willowood Pottery is shown at HomeFront’s annual ArtJam pop-up gallery in Palmer Square and was featured in the juried Trenton City Museum’s “Ellarslie Open” for several years. She is a member of the Red Tulip Gallery, an artists’ cooperative in New Hope, Pa.

Willowood Pottery is located at 7 Willowood Drive, Ewing, open for the sale weekend and year-round by appointment. For more information, call (609) 203-7141, email caryn@willowoodpottery.com, or visit willowoodpottery.com.