Each spring, Barb Loken’s dad would get a special permit from the city of Minneapolis so he could bring home a small piglet. Then for the next six weeks, he would carry the pig around to different elementary schools and teach children about farm animals. He loved to show off the intelligence of the pig, which could hit several different locks with its snout in order to open its feed box At this point, a flag would snap up that proclaimed, HOGS ARE BEAUTIFUL!

And so they are! For the month of May, Barb has created a whimsical menagerie at Maine Potters Market. There are flying pigs, piggy banks, swine cups, trough dishes, and many other imaginative piggy characters to cheer the heart as we wallow our way out of Mud Season.

ABOUT BARB LOKEN – Barbara Loken has been an artist/potter for over forty years. Her work includes watercolors, batiks, wood block prints, silk-screen work and both functional and non-functional work in clay. After college, Barb studied at the International School of Art in Salzburg, then traveled and lived in Italy, Jerusalem, Jordan, and Israel. She and her husband Neal lived and studied in Japan before returning home to set up Loken Pottery. Barb taught art at Hall-Dale High School in Hallowell for twenty years.  She now works full time in the studio with Neal.

ABOUT MAINE POTTERS MARKET – Founded in 1978 by a group of potters who envisioned a cooperative market where they could educate customers and sell their wares to the public, Maine Potters Market currently consists of fourteen potters from twelve Maine studios. The rich variety of handmade work available for sale keeps Maine Potters Market customers returning often.