Potter’s plans for new studio fire imagination

Ballston Lake Pottery owner James Sankowski uses a momentum kick wheel to make a bowl at his shop.

BALLSTON LAKE — If you drive down Route 50 and see that Ballston Lake Pottery has disappeared, don’t be alarmed. It’s only for a few months.

Artist Jim Sankowski, who has worked at his pottery wheel in the building since 1975, isn’t going anywhere. He’s just building a new studio and showroom and installing a new kiln.

In June, the old building, a former garage and sign shop, will be removed. Construction will continue into October, and sometime after Nov. 1, when the artist will celebrate his 40th year at the site, he hopes to hold a grand reopening.

Sankowski creates high-fired porcelain pottery that is both functional and decorative. In a sunlight-filled showroom in front of the studio, visitors admire and buy his handmade dishes, casseroles, mugs, bowls, lamps, vases and teapots.

In our region, Sankowski has been invited to show his work at the “Made in New York” exhibit at the Cooperstown Art Association; Lapham Gallery at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, and the Northeast Fine Crafts Exhibit in Schenectady.

Over the years, he has also shown his pottery at many art and crafts festivals, including the Saint Louis Art Fair, the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., and 100 American Craftsmen in Lockport, New York....

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