Page 67 - CulturalAdventures3 final

Potter celebrates 50 years

in Downeast Maine

By Christina T ee

Phot s courtesy of Columbia Falls Po ery
April working in her studio

April Adams paints on a chalky surface, frequently one that’s curved and difficult to manage. “Once the brush lands on the piece,
you’re committed to that mark,” she says.

Each pottery piece is thrown or hand built, hand painted and then fired in her kiln. No stencils or decals are used. “I love every step
of the process” April says. “It’s happy work.”

Her bright, delicately decorated Columbia Falls Pottery comes in an array of useful shapes – lamps and sugar bowls, tide clocks, plat-
ters and many more – as well as Delft-style tiles and murals, all displayed in her Machias shop/studio. It’s an exceptional find that’s
easy to miss.

Look for the three-story green building with window boxes brimming with geraniums and petunias. It’s just after Route 1 crosses the
Machias River bridge where the road curves and enters the downtown.

Columbia Falls Pottery comes in a dozen major patterns with themes and colors drawn from the local landscape – lupines and ferns,
pine cones and blueberries, lady slippers and more. The shop also showcases bronze finish sculptural and bas relief castings by Dana
McEacharn. These depict lobstering, sardine processing, and other traditional local industries.

Left: Sculptor Dana
McEacharn

Right: The lupine is one
of Columbia Falls Pot-
tery’s most popular
designs.

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