Havill Pottery to host open house

BRANCHPORT - Barbara and Eric Havill will celebrate 35 years of their pottery's operation with a summer open house June 29 to July 1. Their home will be open for visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Located on the couple's 50- acre farm overlooking Keuka Lake at 8921 Coryell Road, Branchport, the pottery is housed in the couple's 1870 farmhouse and new barn, which serves also as a kiln shed and display room.

After several years studying and teaching in Colorado and New Mexico, the Havills moved to the Finger Lakes in 1972 and lived for a year in Eric's boyhood home on the Bluff while they worked to remodel the Branchport farmhouse. "It was a huge undertaking," Eric recalled. "The house had not been lived in many years during the 20th century. It had never been plumbed, centrally heated or electrified. We did most of the work ourselves,

including adding the twostory 16x20-foot wing, which currently houses our studios."

The open house will feature hundreds of pieces of the Havills' utilitarian porcelain and stoneware pottery.

They make a wide range of pieces, ranging in size from inch-high miniatures through large living room lamps, and including mugs, casseroles, platters, vases, bowls and a full range of ovenware.

A unique feature of their work is Barbara's representational

brushwork, depicting flowers, birds and other animals as well as landscapes and grapes, that decorates each piece.

In addition to the Havills' showroom, their work is on display at Heron Hill Winery in Hammondsport, The Nest Egg in Penn Yan and the Yates County Arts Center. Their home display room also is open by appointment. For more information, call 607- 868-3151