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Business & Tech

Birch Mountain Pottery's Gerr Opens Doors to More than Her Art

Birch Mountain Pottery is the kind of place that supports spirit. Twenty-five years says a lot for a small business in today's climate

They browsed. They chatted. They purchased. Sometimes they even danced. Those who braved the cold on Saturday, Dec. 4 to celebrate Birch Mountain Pottery's 25th anniversary open house got a warm welcome at the little studio at 223 Merrow Road.

Besides the usual array of one-of-a-kind pottery pieces, jewelry, ornaments, baskets, photography, stained glass, and toys to peruse, there were also plenty of delicious treats, hot and spicy chili, and warm mulled cider to enjoy along with a bit of mellow jazz.

Susan Gerr, of Bolton, first opened her doors in September of 1985, but it has never been her nature to limit her hospitality just to her customers. Birch Mountain Pottery is a showcase for about twenty other area artisans who sell their work on consignment in her studio.

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"They're mostly Connecticut artists. It's a nice way to build community and help each other out, and it also provides diversity," said Gerr.

Many of the artists who sell their work on consignment are former students of Gerr, including ceramic artist Cyndi Krupa, who started as a student in 1990.

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"[Birch Mountain Pottery] is the kind of place that supports spirit," said Krupa.. "I've taken classes with a lot of different people and studios, but with Susan you get the clay education you'd expect to get on the college level."

Krupa said Gerr puts a lot of research into her classes, not just leaving people to their own devices but instead providing examples of the types of pieces that students can make in any one class.  "When you come here, you're family, the kind of thing that used to be so much more present in communities."

Krupa said she, like others, was first attracted to Tolland because of its cottage industries, like Birch Mountain Pottery, the local apple orchard Wright's, and Tolland Bicycle further up the road. If residents want to keep these local shops around,  Krupa said, they should understand they have to support them.

"When I first moved to Connecticut eighteen years ago, I started taking classes here," said Dani Titterton, also of Tolland, who sells her ceramic wineglass charms in the studio. She remembered the excitement one year when Gerr was doing a show at Arts of Tolland and invited some of her students, including Titterton, to display their own pieces in her show. "She's always so generous with her time," she said.

It's not just her time Gerr is generous with. Titterton said Gerr has been very helpful to her and others in navigating the whole consignment sales process, recommending where she should get her business cards made and where to go for postcards. She recalled one occasion when Gerr hired a photographer to take professional pictures of her pieces and invited other artists to go in with her on the cost and have their own works photographed as well.

With three young children at home, Titterton said she doesn't have time for Gerr's classes anymore, but she still feels welcome to call Gerr up on occasion if she has a question. "Potters come from a very sharing community. You don't really find any of that competitiveness you find elsewhere," she said.

Gerr's studio is very much a family affair as well, with her sister Lynn making earrings and ornaments, and mother Evie making baskets, jewelry and scarves.

"I took a six-week course [in basket-making] with Susan at Manchester High School about twenty-five years ago," said Evie. "I guess you could call me a basket case. Susan hated the class, but I loved it," she said. That's not to say every basket she made in the class was fun. She recalled a difficult and heavy cheese basket they were supposed to make which involved weaving a number of hexagons into the design. "I got so mad about doing it, I kicked the whole thing down the corridor one night. I never did finish it."

Despite that one frustrating basket project, the interest in basket weaving stuck and Evie's been making and selling them ever since.  It's addictive—a lot like cooking," she said, before hurrying off to set a few more of her homemade goodies on the food table.

Gerr clearly has a variety of interests and associations that have developed into long-standing friendships as well as business relationships. Dave Elwell, aka "The Jazzman" who provided the musical entertainment at the open house became friends with Gerr when they met in a swing dancing class. Carole Miller, owner of Topmost Herb Farm in neighboring Coventry came to the studio for her very first time for the open house.

"I've known Susan for years when she was a vendor at my Herb Fest, and I've been threatening to take a class of hers for years," Miller said.  "Twenty-five years says a lot for a small business in today's climate. She has a very loyal customer base."

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