An Arty Place with Classes and More
By Bob Bumcrot

Joey Sage Jablonski marked the twentieth anniversary of her career as a potter at a gala July 6 reception celebrating the opening of Funkware Pottery in Canaan.
The large and entirely refreshed building across Route 44 from Stop & Shop in Canaan now contains studio space for Jablonski’s own work and for a rapidly increasing number of students. There is also a retail shop and gallery space for professional artists and community-based art activities. Signs of its former life as a flower shop and, later, a curio shop, are barely evident.
Both Jablonski and her partner, artist and website consultant Bernie Re, are well known in Norfolk. For several years she has sold her work at the Farmers Market. He recently had a show at the Norfolk Library. The two sometimes collaborate, with Re glaze painting her pots. They often travel together to their ancestral lands, Poland and Sicily, finding distant relatives as well as inspiration for their art.
Jablonski did not begin her artistic career until her early thirties. With a BA from UMass and an MBA from UConn, she worked in business for years before deciding that that wasn’t what she wanted. “It taught me what I didn’t want to be,” she says.
Her artistic calling was clear at an early age. That was evident at the opening, where her mother, Gladys, surprised her by hanging two framed drawings from Jabloksi’s long-ago high school years. One was an arrangement of pots and the other titled Close Encounters with Your Future.
Besides producing pottery for direct sale, Jablonski does piece work for a noted New York potter, throwing pots which the designer then glazes. She also does wholesale production of her own designs for specialty shops. For example, frog-themed cups and vases recalling The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, are steady sellers at the Mark Twain House in Hartford. In addition, she accepts commissions, such as the recent creation of three-dimensional versions of dragons from a children’s book on the subject.
Once embarked on her new career, Jablonski progressed rapidly, with ever more advanced classes, a three-year apprenticeship at Greenleaf Pottery in South Windsor, Conn., a two-week workshop in Greece and courses in sculpture at the prestigious Lyme Academy in Old Lyme, Conn. She makes all her own glazes and buys prepared clay from Sheffield Pottery. “I like actually making the pieces at least as much as I do the finished objects,” she said.
Jablonski obviously loves teaching and has had students for many years. Her studio contains four powered wheels and will soon increase to six. Twelve students now participate in intensive eight-week courses. “The people of Norfolk have been very good to me,” she said. “I want to return to the Farmers Market as soon as I can to give demonstrations.”
For business hours, which are still being determined, and further questions, visit funkwarepottery.com, email funkwarepots@yahoo.com or call 860-933-1101.