"The people I have known and the pots I have seen at Old Church over the past thirty years have meant a great deal to me. When I was a young potter, the show offered me a place and a way to imagine what lay ahead, and my encounters there with an attentive and informed audience have bolstered me through many doubts and thin times. Most importantly, the feelings of community and fellowship - of sharing in something larger and longer than our studio lives - have been fundamental to my experience.
It is a poignant but hopeful fact that the show is not quite as unique as it was forty years ago. It was an idea whose success has spawned many offspring - from other, similar organizational events to the pottery trails springing up all over the country. What remains unequalled is the large, far-seeing, and deeply passionate spirit of Karen and Mikhail. Their synergistic energy gave the show its discerning eye and its beating heart, and will carry it into the future."
- Mary Barringer