Working from her home/studio in Chilmark, MA on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Heather Goff handcrafts decorative, functional pottery and tiles.
Shop
Heather’s Folk Tiles are available at her home gallery which she shares with her partner, Bill O’Callaghan. Please check out the Instagram feed to see what is coming out of the kiln!
Pottery Shop Hours
May – September
Monday – Saturday: 11-5
Sundays: 2 – 5
October – Christmas
Wednesday- Saturday: 11-5
Sundays: 2 – 5
January – April
by appointment. Please call 508-955-9944
Her functional ceramic pottery is available directly from her home gallery. She will ship her work anywhere in the world.
We have a new pottery shop/gallery and sculpture trail on our property in Chilmark, and I have temporarily closed my Etsy shop. Work comes out of the kiln, lands in the shop, and visitors stop by and purchase it. Eventually, I’ll be redesigning the online store so that people can see the full range of designs that I offer and have pieces made to order. In the meantime, please check out the Instagram feed to see what I am working on, and have in stock. If you see anything that interests you, I can send you photographs. I ship!
Here is a video of what is on my pottery shelves.
We had the pleasure of participating in Merry Farm Pottery’s April 2024 firing of their wood kiln. It takes a village to fire a wood kiln and what fun we had with all the fabulous potters who showed up to prep, load, fire, and unload. It is a multigenerational collaboration that warms and expands the heart. We are forever grateful to Micah Thanhauser of@merryfarmpottery for building the kiln and making this possible. 💕💕💕
April 2, 2024
This evening, to the sound of the rain and the crackling fire, my middle adult child, Hannah Moore, and I peacefully decorated eggs. I experimented with using hot sloppy glue as a resist on the shells and dipping them into dye, while Hannah decorated hers meticulously with markers. The techniques and styles differed, but the focus and soothing quiet space between conversational reflection flowed seamlessly in-step and without effort.
This ritual, begun when my kids were just toddlers, is what renews me at Easter. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I was happily pushing hot glue into spherical patterns. Thank you, Hannah, for making sure we scheduled a time where I could revel in the creative process, too. 💕It is so easy to step into the role of organizer during the holidays and forget how much fun it is to participate.
I’m practicing doodling while listening in on remote meetings. My goal is to loosen up and draw without the conscious mind interfering - to just flow and let whatever emerges emerge. My hope is that this will crack something new open in my intentional compositions. I’m finding it fun, but challenging. It’s hard to get my inner judge to stop judging.
I just unloaded a kiln full of hanging eyes, 4x4 Tapestry Tiles, and Dragon tiles. 😊💕 All tiles have hangers on the back. Our shop is open today (the 21st) from 10-4, from 10-2 on Thanksgiving day, from 10-4 on Friday and Saturday and from 2-4 on Sunday.
I had fun decorating some dinner plates today. They are raw clay that I covered with white slip and then carved through. I hope they survive drying and multiple firings. 🤞 the photos show the front and back of the plate.
October’s full moon riding. 🌙❤️😊
Cinnamon Apple Skillet cake from the @marthasvineyardmagazine Food section online (I subscribe to their “Cook the Vineyard” newsletter) SO delicious and perfect for this cool October day. 💕
The newsletter is compiled and written by @sixburnersue who also puts out her own fabulous writing available through Substack. 💕
I had a blast witnessing and assisting in the first firing of the @merryfarmpottery wood kiln. What a wonderful sense of community and camaraderie a wood kiln firing inspires! The last slide shows the surface on a piece that I had in the kiln. The mermaid relief was raw clay going in. I love the blush from the ash and salt. The glaze on the bottom was made by @creneyceramics and contained some island clay and wood ash. My head is stuffed with ideas for the next opportunity to fire in flame. 😊
The week leading up to my birthday, I rearranged, organized, purged, and cleaned out this space. Now let the fun begin! 💕
I just stocked the shelves with new bowls and cups. 😊💕🌸
An assortment of the pieces unloaded today. 🌸🌸🌸 I was trying out various techniques and these vessels all went through three firings as different glazes fire to different temperatures. I had fun with these!
I unloaded a glaze kiln yesterday. It feels great to be making progress on all the various projects happening in my studio these days. Our shop is open 11-5 Monday-Saturday and 2-5 on Sunday. 😊
I’m so excited about my new spice bowl designs and the decorated cups/vases that are waiting for the next firing. 😊
The joy of summer flowers!! ❤️
Decorating pots today… blissful 💕
One of my finished masks and a work in progress. 😊
I am thrilled and honored to be included with my husband @madpottermv and our sculpture trail @islandfolkpottery in this beautiful compilation showcasing various creative folk on Martha’s Vineyard. Thank you @twislandgirl @amandabenchley @elizabeth.cecil The book is breathtaking #vineyardfolk
Spring in my neighborhood. 💕
Spring window. This is a photo but doesn’t it look painterly? Chilmark, MA
We said goodbye to Frankie today. 💔 I wrote this poem about him several weeks ago.
The Old Dog
by Heather Goff
03/01/23
The old dog trusts blindly
bumping into walls
stuck in corners
until I gently set him right.
18 months gone
his family moving overseas
he joined us
the forgotten puzzle piece
shaped by years to fill their needs
dropped off at a strange house
now the odd one out
welcomed with my sigh of resignation.
Fed and walked with my dogs
he felt for a fit
sunning on the summer deck
by the winter wood stove,
out of the way at first
then gradually underfoot
tripped over more often than not.
The months ground his age up a year
and again
clouding his eyes dark
distilling him to knobby bone
bowed like the uncomfortable arch of the grave,
his gait marionette stiff.
His dependency looped strings to me
tugging my attention:
first the steps to outside,
then the cycle of diapers washed and dried,
stretching soft fleece over his cold frame,
each new task another hook in my chest.
Now the dark hour before dawn,
I lift him cradled to my breast
safe from the resentful nips
of the sleeping host.
And carry him outside
standing vigil
as he presses his back legs down
a stream of liquid staining the ground
then curls further to eliminate
before wide turning
a boat adrift from its mooring
to face the steps.
Entering the house
I gather him close
whispering in his deafness
that I recognize his goodness
and refastening his diaper
I take a moment to rub spine and ears
Then turn to climb back to my slumber
as he circles once and collapses onto his bed.
For how can I not love
the one who needs so much
yet asks for nothing.
I don’t know if any of you are like me but when I am confronted with a blank store-bought pad of expensive paper, I freeze up and that’s why I’ve always been so much more comfortable experimenting and working on craft paper or cut-up paper bags even because it just allows me to release.
I revisited a daily practice over a month ago of drawing and experimenting everyday in a journal and I made myself a junk Journal out of cardboard and craft paper, just to give myself freedom to do whatever I want and not worry about wasting expensive precious supplies.
It’s been so fantastic and liberating, I’m really grateful and I’m hoping to continue every day just doing something in the journal because I think it’s helping massage those creative muscles and helping me improve my drawing as well. I’m amazed how often I need reminding about the importance of a daily practice.
February and March on the island are very introspective times. Donald Nitche runs a bimonthly poetry drop-in via zoom in the winter with the help of a grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council and our local libraries and I had the good fortune to join the mid February session. It opened a flood gate of poems in me, and here is one of them.
THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
I look up from the road’s curve,
rimmed with stone walls, leaning trees,
and history
to see your bumper in my rear-view mirror,
muscled as a bully,
the proud logo centered.
And I wish you wouldn’t.
crowd and push me faster
with your impatience.
Don’t you realize how hard I’ve worked at slowing down? on these country lanes in this small community,
the struggle to unclench lists of expectations propelling me always past the now,
to fight free of the hurry-up current
and find the quiet, unique, drift
of a hometown,
to look up, allowing my gaze to be an invitation,
and listen for the layered notes of the story outside my head -
a shared harmony.
to notice that connection is as necessary and profound as breath.
I am opening a space inside myself, expansive enough to hold us all,
with room for conversation and kindness,
for messiness and reverence,
a cathedral of stillness and wonder.
Please do not hurry me.
I am going the speed limit.
Heather Goff
Yesterday, I did a quick watercolor study of what I saw when this young girl held her kitten - today, I attempted to draw what I felt when I saw her holding her kitten.
A quick watercolor and ink sketch of Bill and the dogs. My pack. 💕💕
I set up one of our outdoor folding tables next to the wood stove and when I sit at it, I feel like I’m sitting in a cafe somewhere. It’s been a great spot to write and sketch. 😊
My eldest granddaughter stayed with us for her school break and her sisters and mom joined her for the weekend. I had a lovely week of baking, UNO, and sketching young models.
Bill and Ossian - inspired by a lovely walk we had with the dogs this afternoon. 💕
Linoleum cut. My Covid/winter hair style.
Some incredibly talented customers of mine built a cocktail table and inset some of my painterly tile series in it!! 😊
Little dog - Big dog
I am honored to have some if my tapestry tile designs installed as accents in this kitchen!!
One thing I love about cold, raw, wet days is the excuse to light a fire in the morning. It makes the house so cozy! The dogs love it too. 💕💕
A fireplace surround created using my painterly tiles for accents. I am honored to be featured in this family’s home.
Our shop is open until 4pm today and our sculpture trail is magical in the snow. Our road, however, is not plowed so please visit only if you have 4 wheel drive or if you are walking from a landbank trail parking.
This year’s (first batch of) gingerbread cookies are inspired by the Solstice and our Sculpture Trail. Castles, dragons, suns, moons…
Work in progress: painting with amaco underglazes on earthenware. The colors will change significantly once fired.
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