Digging into Local History, Geology & Pottery

This program is underway! Follow along and join in here:
Expedition in Wild Clay!

Somewhere beneath the farm fields on the western edge of Saratoga County, there is clay that hasn't been touched in over a century. We know this from old maps and the preserved oral histories of a family of potters who dug that clay and helped put the small town of Galway on the map with their stoneware factory in the mid-to-late 1800s. Preserved crocks and shards of their pottery piqued our curiosity and made us want to dig deeper. We want to find that clay, understand it, and make something beautiful from it again — join us in person, or follow along online as we embark on An Expedition in Wild Clay.

This isn't a pottery class or a lecture series. It's an expedition — with real field trips, real discoveries, and real dirt under your fingernails. Geologists will help us read the landscape and identify where clay deposits might lie. Historians will connect us to the people who worked this land before us. Then we go looking: scouting locations, digging clay, hauling it back, and learning to process raw earth into something workable. Ceramic artists will guide us through testing, forming, and glazing — and together we'll build a kiln from scratch and fire it. Whether you're a serious ceramicist, a tinkerer, a history lover, a curious kid, or someone who just wants to do something genuinely unlike anything else — there's a place for you in this project. Let's find out together what's under our feet!

You can join in on the expedition anytime! There is no fee to join and you can jump in at any point!

>> Register here to be part of the crew!

Whether you're a ceramic artist, a history buff, a nature lover, or just curious – sign up to find what we are up to and how you can get involved!