She Started a Pottery Tour | Amy Song | Episode 938

Amy Song | Episode 938

Amy Song is a ceramic artist working in Plainfield, IL. Amy holds a BA in studio art and ceramics from Hope College and fell in love with wood firing at Waubonsee Community College in 2013. In 2018, Amy founded River Song Pottery in Plano, IL. Since then, River Song has hosted its first workshops bringing nationally known potters to the area and is excited to be spreading the love of wood firing in the greater Chicago area. Amy is the lead organizer of the Northern IL Pottery tour, which was launched to celebrate and lift up the incredible work being created in the area.

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Can anyone put together a tour?

I think you would probably need to be somebody who is willing to take on a lot of different tasks and wear a lot of different hats. And to really enjoy marketing.

So is it the administrative skills you are kind of pointing to saying that is kind of a big need for this position?

Yes, I think the person in charge has to be really good at delegating in communication as well as seeing the big picture and figuring out what the priorities are. So that’s a pretty big task and probably requires a specific person who is motivated to take all of that on.

Does that mean you did a lot of delegating and asked the members to push some weight?

Yes, absolutely. It is a team effort so figuring out who is the best match for which ever tasks are on the to do list and what they can take on what they consider not to be their strengths, so that goes to other people. Also I am very grateful that folks on the tour have volunteered time to help with various tasks, like working on graphics with me for a dinner party.

How did you decide who could be a part of the tour?

So it has basically been talking with folks who have a home studio and will accommodate a tour stop. So a lot of it is stopping by the place, making sure that parking was good, restroom, things like that. And also geography makes a big difference. And then every single stop, then they have a lot of autonomy of who they invite. There’s some discussion where a lot of the times I was advocating for us to be considering diversity, not only of who we are inviting but also the diversity in the type of work. So some of it is cone 6, some of it is wood-fire, etc.

Do the hosts have the option to do things like live music, food, drinks, things like that to make it a little bit more enjoyable for the customers?

Absolutely. It’s pretty important to have some snacks and have some beverages and things to make it fun for everybody.

How far ahead of the event do you actually start advertising to get the general public coming in?

So aside from a general save the date that happens at the event the prior year, we really start to think about our list at the holidays. And we really want to know from our people three months ahead of time if it’s on their schedule and they are definitely in. And now we are starting to do some of the general advertising and in a few weeks we will start to really go deep with all the artists that are one the tour.