Andrew and Katie Webster are embarking on a journey that’s been more than a decade in the making.
Andrew Webster’s path to pottery was somewhat unexpected. He found his way into the world of ceramics through his wife, Katie. The couple, both art students at University of North Carolina Asheville, initially had different career aspirations. Katie focused on ceramics, while Andrew was pursuing a degree in art history with dreams of obtaining a Ph.D. and becoming a teacher.
Life, however, took a different turn.
“It’s hard to make money as an artist right out of school,” Andrew Webster said. “We had to take up practical jobs. I was teaching, and then she went to grad school at St. Cloud State for therapy — marriage and family therapy. We both tried to keep the pottery thing growing and going, but it was super slow, because we weren’t fully committed to it.”
Andrew experienced a pivotal moment in 2018.
“I was losing a lot of my classes, because the enrollment was down,” he said. “I didn’t have a Ph.D., and so I was mostly adjunct and that was not a lot of fun. I had an existential moment where I really thought about what I wanted to be doing with my life. And there was only one answer. I just want to make pots.”
He left his job as a teacher and looked for ways he could improve his pottery skills while still generating an income. The search led him from St. Cloud to Hutchinson, to a pottery store called Clay Coyote.
“I worked for Morgan (Baum) at the Coyote for three and a half years,” he said. “I got a lot better at being a potter while I was there and I learned a lot about the production process.”
Still living in St. Cloud, Katie and Andrew kept making pottery, but they had to rely on a friend, a few cities away to fire their projects.
“It started as a half-hour commute,” he said. “We had to rely on our friend to fire our pots, but sometimes she’d have to cancel, which made it difficult to put things out consistently.”
The Websters found a solution through that same friend — they committed to making their own kiln.
“I learned about the design for our kiln from our friend that let us use her kiln,” Webster said. “I had helped her build it and it gave us an idea.”
From the spark of the idea, the Websters sold their St. Cloud home and moved to Hutchinson in 2021. They found a home that came with a showroom, so they could have a spot to display and eventually sell their work. Andrew wrote grant requests to seek funding for the kiln, which they estimated would cost $20,000.
“I wrote a couple of grants through the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, and I got two grants,” he said. “One was Artist Growth and that was for $4,000, and the other was Quick Support which was only $1,000.”
With the grants, some money left from the sale of their home — and some extensive research — the Websters were ready to build their own kiln.
“I’ve never been a mason,” Andrew said. “I don’t know how to lay bricks and I was doing it all by myself. And it took me two and a half months of full-time work every day. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
But even Webster wasn’t ready to handle the welding required for the project, so he contracted that out.
“I thought about buying a welder and teaching myself how to do it,” he said. “But at that point, I just really wanted to finish the kiln and get working on what I really wanted to be doing, which was the pots.”
That day arrived with a first firing Sept. 22, and it was kept lit from dawn until dusk.
“It was the best firing we’ve ever had,” Andrew said. “Normally we lose about 10 to 15 pots every firing, but we only lost five or six of the 200 we did.”
With the kiln complete, all that is left for the couple is to get their business up and running.
“We want to open up the showroom,” Andrew Webster said. “People are welcome to stop anytime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It’s nothing official, those are just the hours I work to keep a routine.”
He hopes to eventually put up a sign to let people know their location.
“I want to get a sign that says ‘Webster Pottery’ because it isn’t just me,” Webster said. “Webster Pottery is about me and Katie, none of this would be possible without her. Once we get more stable income, the plan is for her to join me in making pottery full time.”
