For the past month, ceramic artists across Bellingham and Whatcom County have been abuzz with activity; throwing pots, glazing designs and filling kilns with hand-sculpted wares. For members of Whatcom County Artists of Clay and Kiln, or WACK, the group’s upcoming studio tour event is an exceptional opportunity to display and sell their work.
2025 marks the 5th year of WACK’s studio tour. On Nov. 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., multiple studio locations in Bellingham, Ferndale and Lynden will open their doors to the public, inviting guests to peruse artists’ clay creations and attend ceramics demonstrations.
A popular holiday shopping excursion, the tour is a highlight of the year for both artists and customers.
The tour is made up of nine separate stops across the county, and some stops host as many as seven artists. Consolidating many artists into one location helps the tour feel less overwhelming, said Amy Popelka, owner of Tac Tile Company and an organizer of the 2025 tours.
“We wanted to make it tight enough where if you wanted to hit all of them in a weekend, you could,” Popelka said.
According to AnnMarie Cooper, a co-founder of WACK and owner of Fairhaven’s Good Earth Pottery, WACK was formed out of a need for local ceramic artists to find community.
“A couple friends of mine, we sat down and were like, ‘How can we create a club that will bring people together out of their studios so we can talk about the things that we're excited about?’” Cooper said.
Founded in 2014 with a membership of around 30, today WACK has more than quadrupled in size, with more than 150 current members. 2025’s studio tour features 35 artists.
Apart from the studio tours, WACK’s other main event is Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for local food banks featuring soup served in handmade bowls. This October’s fundraiser raised more than $10,000.
Ryan Kelly, a ceramics professor at Western, has a theory that working with clay has a knack for bringing people together.
“It takes an effort to have a kiln and have a place to put it,” Kelly said. “To fill that kiln up with enough stuff, to have access to a wheel, to be able to buy materials. It's a whole lot easier to do those things in a group, and that community spirit is strong.”
In Bellingham, community studio spaces like Baker Creek Ceramic Studio exemplify this spirit, offering anyone interested in the craft the opportunity to work alongside seasoned artists. Some artists who started as students at local studios have been featured in WACK’s studio tour.
“A big part of ceramics is disseminating knowledge from one generation to the next, sharing ideas and techniques,” said Jesse Rasmussen, a ceramics professor at Whatcom Community College. “Then taking a back seat and letting this newer, younger generation take it where they want it to go.”
Brecken Stockmar, owner and instructor at Baker Creek Ceramic Studio and current president of WACK, appreciates that the tour features artists with a wide range of experience levels.
“There are people that are professionals, there are people that are teachers, there are people that are students,” Stockmar said. “There's five or six students from here that have been taking classes for a long time. They have a really strong voice, they're making really nice work.”
During the tour, artists enjoy the chance to share their work with the wider community, as well as check out what their peers have to offer.
“It is really fun to go and see other people's process and how they have their studio set up and be able to ask questions,” Popelka said. “It's been great for my students to push them to go see some new places, like ‘Hey, you should really go check this person out.’”
Giving the wider community a glimpse of the hard work that goes into creating ceramic pieces is another plus for tour participants.
“It educates people who don't have ceramic experience so that they understand a little bit more about what we do, and then that helps them appreciate what we charge for our work,” Cooper said.
Sophia Jellinghaus (she/he/they) is a reporter on The Front's city life beat. A third-year visual journalism major and Spanish minor, this is their first quarter with The Front. When not tracking down sources or coming up with pitches, they like to relax with a video essay and a tall glass of root beer. You can reach them at sophiajellinghaus.thefront@gmail.com.
