Alexander Joseph, Russell Gulch. We all have times of exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed. As an artist or an introvert or an environmentalist or simply a person looking for something else sometimes you might consider retreating to the woods and simply making pots or paintings and spending your life there with a loved one and the wind. Many of you reading this, being mountain folk, may understand this more than most and thus will connect with the wonderful story of Forrest Anderson and his little pottery shop on top of the world.
Forrest Anderson has always been interested in art. He followed this passion to study fine arts at what is now The University of Northern Colorado. In the first semester of his fine arts program, he was told that one of his required classes was a pottery class. He figured that he might as well get it over with but over half a century later he is still making pottery every single day.
After graduating from college with his fine arts degree and being drafted into the military he realized all he really wanted to do is make pots. Forrest started trying to figure out a way that he could center his life around doing just that. In the mid 1970s the only place he could afford was Russell Gulch outside of Central City. It is a small town established in 1850 but was mostly defunct by the time Forrest arrived. He and his wife Diane found a perfect house which they have made their home, their workshop, their sales floor and more, and they still are working on their house to this day because as Forrest says, “No house in Gilpin County is ever really finished.”
Today, Forrest’s pots and plates and pie platters and as he calls it “use specific items” such as herb shavers or garlic keepers or soap dishes are for sale mainly at his storefront which is located right beside his home in Russell Gulch. His work can also be found at the Kind Mountain Cooperative store, an artist collective, in Idaho Springs. His work can also be seen at the Gilpin County Arts Association. His bowls, used for French onion soup, have been featured in many Denver metro area restaurants and his plates and dinner wear were used at Central City’s Mermaid Café. His work has also been sold all across Colorado and even into Wyoming and Oklahoma.
The name of his shop is Wabi Pottery. When asked what the name comes from, Forrest detailed how in the Japanese Folk Potter tradition, which he adheres to and deeply respects, there is a term called Wabi which means from the ground and of nature. It also speaks to a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature in surprising places, like a blade of grass sticking through a crack in cement. Embodying the Wabi ideology, Forrest strives to create beauty in usable and practical household goods.
Decades ago he told a friend, who is a skilled sign maker, about his shop. A sign that said Wabi Pottery appeared a few days later. A kind gift that shows his connection to the Japanese and English Folkloric Potter traditions. Forrest has kept this as the name of his business for the last many, many years.
Forrest says that his pieces of pottery are not objects of art but in fact are tools which he wishes people to use in their kitchens and in their homes. His favorite thing to make are pitchers and teapots because of the challenge of making sure that they actually work and shaping them. These tools are complex and take years of practice to perfect. Forrest says he’s always proud when he’s able to make something look good and be functional.
Humble to his core and still going at it in his 70s, Forrest looks around his shop and details all the work he’s done. He shares how the storefront was a hole of a place and was sold to him for very small change. He has used bits and pieces from his family’s now defunct farmhouse, to build the beautiful gallery. It is full of natural light from the wide windows. Handmade wooden tables stand showcasing his pottery. He is constantly updating with new and recently fired pieces.
Despite having not taken science classes in his life he knows a remarkable amount of chemistry and has built himself a gas kiln and makes his own glazes using various chemicals like potassium and cobalt and silica for color.
When one talks to Forrest, one can see the passion that has driven a half century career in pottery. A passion from which he says he still learns something about every day. In Forrest, you can see the dream of an artist. You can see the passion that keeps going with each piece of his pottery. You can take the product of that passion home and put it on your mantle or use it to drink your coffee or to hold your flowers or bake pies and casseroles. Forrest’s work is unique and functional. It is also a product of deep care and mastery of a craft. All made in a mountain home for which he also has an immense amount of passion. Like all of us who live in the mountains, braving the winter so that we can do what we love, away from it all.
Go and visit Forrest and Wabi Pottery at 6287 Virginia Canyon Road, Central City, CO 80427.
(Originally published in the February 4, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)
