Spring Green, Wisconsin
Thursday, September 21, 2023 | Vol. 4, No. 17 FREE, Single-Copy
Inside this edition
Wilson Creek Pottery turns 50 years old
Community Calendar: Live music, farmers markets and more
Katie Green: National Literacy Month
Pages 1, 4
Pages 6, 7
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Rural Wisconsin, woman-owned Wilson Creek Pottery turns 50 years old The bowls that hold the culinary creations of a community... Shannon Porter, Wilson Creek Pottery Wilson Creek Pottery (E6101 County Road WC, Spring Green) is thrilled to be celebrating 50 years of creating handmade, functional stoneware for its community of Spring Green, WI. Reaching this milestone as a rural, exclusively womanowned, artist microbusiness is cause for celebration indeed! Join them for their 50th Anniversary Party on Saturday, September 30th (details below). In 1973—after apprenticing with Betty Woodman, a renowned ceramic artist— Peggy Ahlgren converted the defunct cheese factory, which had once served the Wilson Creek valley, into her pottery studio. Peggy set up her own shop and started creating the mugs, bowls, and plates that have been gracing the tables of this Driftless Wisconsin valley for decades. Peggy worked tirelessly to create tens of thousands of wheel-thrown pieces using her proprietary clay body, which proved durable and long lasting. She was essentially a one-woman shop, with intermittent helpers throughout her 39year tenure, and garnered an extensive and committed following of customers
Photo by Ray + Kelly Photography From left, Ashley Pfannenstiel and Shannon Porter open the kiln at Wilson Creek Pottery. and enthusiasts. Customers still come into the shop to share stories of dish sets that have been in daily use for over 30 years. Ready for retirement, Peggy began the search for a new potter to take over at Wilson Creek Pottery. Ashley Pfannenstiel and Shannon Porter caught wind of the sale through a mutual friend. In April 2012, the couple purchased the business, and Ashley and Peggy spent that summer working together to help Ashley transition into the space and business. Ashley
worked side-by-side with Peggy, learning the ways of the production process, the large hand-built kiln and its firing cycle. She grew her skills on the wheel, making bowls, pie plates, and more in a similar tradition to Peggy’s. With a college degree in art, Ashley came from an artistic background but had not studied ceramics or wheel throwing extensively. Instead, she had focused on sculpture using found objects. While living in Chicago, Ashley had worked in outdoor
recreation for nearly a decade when the itch to return to art came calling. Shannon was even more novel to ceramics, but the two could not pass up the opportunity to move away from the city and get their hands dirty. The lifestyle was a leap of faith, but somehow they have been able to hold the landing and maintain both the business and the relationship. Currently, a tight-knit trio creates Wilson Creek Pottery. Ashley, at the helm, leads the creative direction and production process, which starts with her throwing every piece that comes off the wheel and ends with her tending to every 30-plushour firing that creates the finished product. Shannon handles all other business operations as well as some production, and Katie Wyer holds things together as an enthusiastic production assistant. The brick and mortar retail shop is open daily (Monday - Sunday) in Spring Green from 10am until 6pm with the whole of their collection available for sale. At certain times of year, they open up their online store to purchase plates and to make items available to those who can’t get to Spring Green. With evidence of pottery from the Late Woodland Indians (1000 BC - 1000 AD)
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Public invited to Frank's Hill in Richland County for autumnal equinox event Mark Cupp, Contributed Frank’s Hill, an effigy mound site in southern Richland County, will be open to the public for observance of the autumnal equinox. Fall officially begins at 1:50 a.m. on Saturday, September 23rd. Everyone is invited to gather at Frank’s Hill near Muscoda to view the sunset and gather around a campfire on the evening of September 22nd to bid farewell to summer or to view the first sunrise of
autumn on the morning of September 23rd. The site also may be visited during the day to see the mounds and the grand vista. The Three Eagles Foundation will have a tour guide available at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening prior to the sunset. Participants should arrive by 6:00 a.m. to view the sunrise on Saturday the 23rd. The events are subject to suitable weather conditions. A short hike will be required to the top of the hill that offers
a stunning view of the lower Wisconsin River valley. The site is located 2 miles west of Muscoda near the intersection of Hwy. 60 and Hwy. 193. Frank’s Hill is on the National Register of Historic Places. A group of unique effigy mounds is situated on the east ridge where the observances will occur. Across Hwy. 193 lies the west ridge where a line of small conical mounds, thought to be calendar mounds, is situated. The
lands around the site once contained the highest concentration of bird effigy mounds found anywhere in the world. The mounds are thought to have been built during the Late Woodland period dating back to one thousand or more years ago. To learn more about the equinox event or for directions, contact Mark Cupp at (608) 739-2179 or visit the Three Eagles Foundation website or Facebook page.