Please note that Dan Finnegan, Pottery on the Hill’s Curator, is the only potter that will be in person and online. His online inventory will be different than his in-person inventory
About Dan Finnegan
Dan Finnegan’s pursuit of a career in pottery started in New York and took him to Arizona and rural England before landing in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1980. His interest in ceramics began in college; his interest in a pottery career began at the Winchcombe Pottery in Gloucestershire, England, where he was employed in the late 1970’s. Dan ran his pottery and gallery in historic downtown Fredericksburg for more than 20 years, making tens of thousands of useful stoneware pots and training the next generation of young potters. In 2001 he founded LibertyTown Arts Workshop in a former plumbing supply building. The center has 30 private studios, a pottery school, a gallery and offers classes. Dan sold LibertyTown in 2012 and relocated his studio deep in the woods about a dozen miles from town. He makes and fires his work in a wood burning salt glaze kiln. Dan is also the curator of Pottery on the Hill!
Trained at the Winchcombe Pottery in Great Britain. 1978-1980
Established pottery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1980-present
Faculty Member of the Torpedo Factory Art League, 1994-1997
Founder: LibertyTown Arts Workshop 2011
Workshops:
North Carolina Potters’ Conference, NC
Starworks, NC
Penland School of Crafts, NC.
Savannah College of Art and Design, Ga.
Pinecroft Pottery, Aylmer, Canada
Scottish Potter’s Association
Museum of Mankind
Collections include:
Dwight Holland
Sidney Swindler
Crocker Museum of Fine Art, Sacramento, Ca.
Director, Weismann Museum of Fine Art, Minneapolis, Mn.
National Bonsai Museum, Washington, DC
Artist Statement
I make useful wood fired, salt glazed pottery to enhance the everyday rituals of life. My work is inspired by my training in an English country pottery.
I enjoy the aesthetic challenges of making pots as well as the physical labor that being a potter and firing with wood entails. It is important to me that my work be finely crafted and made to a very high standard. I love the architectural qualities of clay, the permanence of stoneware, and the sweet magic that occurs when good pots, good food and good people come together!