Mountaine Meadows Pottery is located in an old granite cutting stoneshed in northern Vermont. There, with the help of a fabulous crew of 20 potters, Deborah and Mark make ceramic plaques from soft pliable clay, hand decorating each one individually.

Vermont is an endless source of joy and inspiration for the sayings on our ceramic wall plaques. In the dead of winter or the during the blooming days of springtime, the beauty and solitude of the meadows and mountains in this rural countryside makes every day a pleasure.

We are extremely proud of the handmade pottery we produce in Vermont. All the sayings are uniquely American, inspired by the moods and relationships of Americans for all the people and occasions of our lives. Each saying is carefully tested all over the USA by Mark and Deborah. From Michigan to Maryland we personally travel the country meeting the people who buy our sayings.

For more of the Mountaine Meadows Pottery story click here

We are so excited about our growing families here at Mountaine Meadows.
We have 2 babies and one on the way, due in March.
Xander, who is 2, and is going to be Yoda for Halloween, just discovered leaves. Aiden, who doesn’t eat real food yet, was fed a giant piece of carrot cake at a party last weekend when his Mom was carrying him on her shoulder.
We are enjoying our young children, and grandchildren, our grown children, and foreign student children. Life is full of promise and our children lead the way.

Here are some sayings for the children in your life.

The toddler’s rules  and grandchild’s smile sayings are brand new!

There are times when it seems like the roles of mother and daughter are reversed. I just spent the last several days helping my Mom, who is 87 years old, get settled into a new apartment at a new facility. As I taught her how to use her new phone and how to maneuver around a small new space with her walker I was thinking that I should make a new plaque that has the saying, ” If at first you don’t suceed, do it the way way your daughter told you to” instead of “If at first you don’t suceed, do it the way your mother told you to“.

I met so many wonderful elderly people who were all working so hard to keep their spirits up and stay positive. The saying, “Getting old is not for sissies” has more and more meaning. What a brave and delightful crew, from the 91 year old woman who matter of factly stated that she moved into assisted living because she was simply falling apart, to the couple who switched off pushing each other in a wheel chair.

I need to come up with a new saying for the aides who do everything from making beds to finding a banana that is exactly the right size to checking in on people just to see if they are ok. Any suggestions?

Life goes on in our busy worlds but there is another life happening behind the self opening doors of an assisted living facility. It is worth checking out!

So happy to be back at work. I know it sounds weird but none the less, it felt great to be back after the long weekend. Still no word from Erin, she is overdue by several days now, and past all our educated guesses! Sheila’s dog was attacked by a goose, Yves spent endless hours in the car for an oyster breakfast in Nove Scotia, and I went bike riding with an old friend who is on her way to India to do research on HIV. I met a man when I was getting my haircut this morning who has owned and operated the same business for 53 years. He said he didn’t care what he did at his store, he enjoyed it all even cleaning the toilets!

I guess for me it is the joy of spending the day with people who are great to work with. Afterall, we may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
Tally Ho, DEBORAH

Crafting this website is one of the most exciting processes I have ever worked on.

Every day a new feature is added. Today a new way to search for a specific saying was developed. Mark and Nathaniel and I huddle around the bright light of the computer screen and brainstorm ways to make it easier and more fun to find things at Mountaine Meadows.

Here it is almost twelve o’clock midnight and I am happily writing my post. Last night we had a huge rainstorm. The power went out around nine thirty. Everything went dark except Nathaniel’s laptop, which just switched over to battery power. As I moved around the house in the near dark I thought “how odd it is to use the light of a computer to find nineteenth century candles and oil lamps!”

As we create and polish the Mountaine Meadows website I truly hope that you will let us know if you have problems making it work. PLEASE, let us know. ANY feedback is so helpful. You can click on the blog comment button in the upper right corner of this section, or go to the contact page.

Thank you so much,
DEBORAH JURIST

I was excited as I walked across the grass to the little studio in the woods, an hour early, to my first sculpting class at Saint Gaudens National Monument, in New Hampshire.
It was thrilling to view the famous sculptures by St. Gaudens under the tutelage of an expert artist, Bill Williams. But it was even more exciting to make a daring attempt to form a human head from a live model out of dark red clay. As the mosquitos nibbled on my ankles I repeated a mantra to myself, “You absolutely can teach an old dog new tricks”
I have had the good fortune to be a professional potter for my whole adult life, however, I never went to art school. Consequently, I am always looking for opportunities to add to my artistic experience.

Over the years what seemed like a magical secret skill perfected only by those who were “born with talent” has unfolded piece by piece. Art is like anything endeavor, ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. It helps though to have a good teacher, and I was lucky enough to find one in Bill Willaims, sculpter in Residence at Saint Gaudens National Momument.

Quote for today: Teaching is a work of heart.

I am covered in dust, the smell of wet clay as it slaps around the mixer, sounding like huge popping corn kernels fills my senses. I realize once again that the joy of the clay itself is at the heart of every day I get to play in the mud.

We have worked hard to get the hang of this new clay mixer. The dry ingredients want to overflow the tub as the powder builds up against the blades, but we have been persistent in “beating it into submission”. When the clay is just soft enough to fold over and mix onto itself it is done and takes whatever shape my hands give it.

One of my favorite sayings is, “life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”.

I have been a potter for over 30 years. Making clay was a moment that took my breath away….today.

Mountaine Meadows has experienced a small population explosion. In the last year we have had 2 babies and as you can see Erin, longtime plaque decorator, writer, and mother of 4 year old Liam, is very close to having another. If you are in a similar situation and are wondering what to get the prospective parent or grandparent, we have a couple of suggestions.

Introduce some fun and humor into

                            Father’s Day.

Mountaine Meadows has lots of possibilities that will make him smile.

Check it out.

Filed Under: Mountaine Meadows Family, Retail

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