Peters Valley School of Craft
Peters Valley is located within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Park in Sandyston, NJ. This area was once inhabited by towns and homes, but at one point a dam was scheduled to be built nearby which would flood the area. The government paid for the evacuation of the town and houses in the projected flood area, however the dam was never built, so instead, it was made into a National Recreation Park where there is still abandoned homes and small town slowly being reclaimed by nature. Peters Valley resides in this area and has many buildings for studios for various media, offices and housing. It is a secluded and forested area and the housing is rustic. During the summers, the campus is bustling with outstanding workshops. Many artists come from across the country to teach and/or participate in classes and workshops. In the fall, which is when I was able to visit, Peter’s Valley slows down for the winter and 1-2 ceramic artist in residents can come for 2-4 weeks.
The kilns there include a large Anagama woodkiln, a Noborigama woodkiln, a gas kiln, a soda kiln, and a few electric kiln. The wood kilns are epic and have a lot of cool history wrapped up in their bricks. Their Noborigama was built by Ruggles and Rankin of Rock Creek Pottery. The Anagama was built by a Japanese kiln builder Katsuyuki Sakazume. Peter’s Valley is planning on some renovations and repairs for their Anagama soon as it was built some time ago and has some wear and tear. This kiln was the second public Anagama kiln built in the United States. The studio walls are lined with beautiful bisque-ware left from the many great educators and artist that have traveled through to do workshops there. I have heard a lot about Peters Valley and was psyched to be able to see it in person. I hope I can fire that Noborigama some day!
My over-all thoughts is it that the residency is good for someone with a specific goal in mind and for them to come in ready to work fast and focused as the residency is only for 2-4 weeks. Woodfiring is unlikely as they are large kilns and need many people and resources to fire, so plan to use the gas or soda kilns to finish work. The fall is also a time where there are not many people around, so the resident should be prepared for their experience to be secluded amongst trees, rivers, hills and mountains with rustic housing.
