Stonehill Pottery’s annual holiday sale begins Friday

The Stonehill Pottery Shop’s annual holiday pottery and gift sale kicks off this weekend.

”This year, I’m doing two weekends,” said owner Maria Glaser-Roeser. “Last year, I only did one.”

The holiday sale kicks off this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22-23, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday from 1-6 p.m.

The sale then returns next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 29-30, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and next Sunday, Dec. 1, from 1-6 p.m.

Handmade functional and sculptural pottery as well as other small gifts will be available, many items for under $30.

Glaser-Roeser said she’s invited other crafters to join her at the sale, so there will be handmade organic soaps, glass aquariums with succulents, homemade cookies, chocolate bark, hand-sewn gifts, silk Christmas decorations, and herb sachets & body wraps available as well.

There will also be refreshments of hot apple cider and homemade cookies for customers.

Stonehill Pottery, which is located about a half a mile off of Route 23 on Union Valley Road, holds its holiday sale every year.

Glaser-Roeser, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in pottery and an art teaching certification for grades K-12, has owned the shop for 28 years.

“This is my whole life,” Glaser-Roeser said. “If I stopped doing pottery, I wouldn’t know who I was.”

Glaser-Roeser said she’s been making pottery for over 35 years.

“The first two years out of college, I taught high school art,” she said. “But I really wanted to do my own, so then I just started working in the basement.”

According to Glaser-Roeser, while the basements have changed as she and her family have moved since then, all of her pottery is still made right in her basement studio and then sold upstairs in the shop.

“It was, like, built for me. This basement had that back room for the kiln, had that back room there for the glazes for making and keeping the clay, it had the sink, it has the windows,” she said of her current home studio. “It’s like an unbelievably beautiful studio for me and I just love it.”

Glaser-Roeser started out by taking her work to juried craft shows, but she said that she does less of that now, only going to local events like the Autumn Lights Festival here in town.

“Just to tell people to come to the shop,” she said. “When people come in here, it’s kind of cool because they’ll pick up something and they’ll start smiling, and it just makes me feel really good.”

Glaser-Roeser’s shop offers original handmade pottery in a variety of styles, including Victorian, country-styled ware, horse hair, raku and saggar fired, and more.

There is also plenty of functional ware like mugs, bowls, platters, and vases, as well as the more purely decorative pieces.

Glaser-Roeser said that she likes to try to add some flair to both the more functional and decorative pieces alike.

“I like to decorate my pieces, so that it’s functional and decorative at the same time,” she said.

According to Glaser-Roeser, her desire to decorate her pieces that way isn’t just about the beauty of the pottery.

“It also makes it more fun for me that I do all different things instead of just making all one style and one mug, you know, and just keep producing that.”

In addition to the holiday sale, the Stonehill Pottery Shop will remain open until Christmas during normal store hours, which are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Customers can also call for an appointment at (973) 697-4114.

To learn more about the Stonehill Pottery Shop, you can visit its website at www.stonehillpotteryshop.com.