For local potter, community is the engine of her career
Laura White working at her studio in Woodstock, Vt. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
Last year, Laura White kept on making pottery and teaching the craft to others amid the pandemic — when even just the knowledge of how to make art provided some reassurance for people. White, a full-time potter in Woodstock, Vermont, said it was deeply meaningful to share her craft with others at such a time.
“Pottery’s a whole life-philosophy for me,” she said. “It’s showing up, trying your best, not always having the best day, but keeping at something, and paying attention. … To be able to share that is pretty awesome. And it’s less about stuff, it’s sharing knowledge.”
It’s a commitment to community that drives her business, Laura White Pottery, and after eight years in Woodstock, she has a community presence. White sells her pots at the Market on the Green in Woodstock Village each Wednesday during the summer, and some businesses in the region sell her pottery, including Cloudland Farm, Billings Farm & Museum, and Woodstock Farmers’ Market.
Her creations include not only pots, but also Vermont-inspired mugs, vases, bowls, and other items. She loves being part of the community, and making things with practical uses in people’s homes is part of that. As White explained in her studio recently, standing near her potter’s wheel, the practicality of pottery is a draw for her.
“I come out here, I open up a bag of clay, and I make it into something useful,” she said. “I think that’s really cool. It makes sense to me.”
Laura White places some recently-completed bowls on a shelf at her studio in Woodstock, Vt. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
White also enjoys the artist community she’s found at Artistree in nearby Pomfret, where artists from throughout the local region teach and take classes. White has done both — she took a sculpture class there last year. She’s found the Woodstock region to be very supportive toward all kinds of artists.
“Woodstock’s just a special place, where I think people really value creativity,” she said.
That also comes through in the toughest times, and last year, at White’s hour of need, the community was there to help.
In early November, she woke up one morning at 2 a.m. and saw a fire in her studio, which was near her home on the same property. Dealing with losing her studio, plus the impact of the pandemic, was a huge challenge, but the assistance she needed to rebound from the fire came together. Everyone was very supportive, she said, recalling when the fire inspector provided some advice on rebuilding and encouraged her to “get back to it.” Other local potters shared that message, as well.
“Miranda Thomas was really generous in meeting with me, and there were just all these people who were like, ‘All right, you’re gonna figure this out,’” she remembered, adding how important that support was. “It would have been easy to be too scared to try again.”
White and her husband, Ira, looked at a number of options, but eventually, the garage on the property became the new studio — which is actually three times bigger than the old one. Ira, some family, and friends built the whole interior of the studio, while contracting out the doors, windows, plumbing and electrical. White received an emergency grant from the national nonprofit CERF+, which arranged the donation of a new electric kiln.
“It ended up being just kind of cool, seeing how awesome the community is,” White said. “Like my neighbor, dropping off potato bread in my mailbox.”
Some of Laura White’s pottery, about to come out of the kiln at her studio in Woodstock, Vt. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
Throughout the course of the pandemic, her local wholesale accounts, she noted, were very understanding when she had to put pottery on hold to focus on her two young children.
“Now that I’m back, it’s great that I can reach out to them again, and they’re all excited to have orders,” White said earlier this month.
Pottery has been in her life since her childhood in New Jersey. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics at Maine College of Art, and from there, White moved all the way to Washington State, where she apprenticed with studio potter Robbie Lobell.
In 2013, she moved to Vermont, where she and Ira were married. She would later work at the Woodstock Farmers’ Market several times — for a total of about three years. White said she learned a lot from how the Farmers’ Market focuses on serving the local community in multiple ways.
“That made a big impact on me and how I run my business,” she said. “I want to make pots that people want, and I want to do it in a way that I can connect with people.”
She started her own pottery line in 2017, and White has learned that, even in the most difficult times, obstacles can be overcome.
“There is a path, if you look for it, and there are people who want to help.”
— Gareth Henderson
