Hi I’m Dan Bartos, owner and operator of Willowdale Pottery in Yankton, South Dakota. I’ve been a Potter for over 40 years and still learning about it, struggling with it at times, and loving it always.  I started off in my 7th grade art class in Ketchikan, Alaska and once I tried working clay on the potters wheel I was hooked and wanted to do clay for the rest of my life.  I began selling my pieces during my freshman year of high school. What you see now is the culmination of all these years practice and the making of many thousands of pots, years of art school, and additional classes, workshops, and retreats.  I am always trying to push my craft, to try more daring; often crazy things with clay just to see if I can make it work. I moved from Alaska to Yankton, South Dakota in 2006 and established Willowdale Pottery.  My work has been shown in local, state, national, and solo shows. Also exhibited in galleries, museums, and sold around the world.

My process:

I use an off-white high fire stoneware clay body which is fired to 2372 degrees Fahrenheit.  My pots are primarily formed on the potters wheel after which I often add hand built additions, this includes carving and incising as well.  After the pottery is bone dry, they are Bisque fired to make them hard enough to handle being glazed.  The glazes I use are built from a recipe containing various earth minerals and colorants that when fired to temperature form the finished glazed surface.  Additionally, I fire using a process known as salt firing.  Salt firing uses rock salt added to the kiln near to the final temperature to add additional glaze to the pots.  Salt when introduced to the over 2300f kiln pops like popcorn and separates into a gaseous form containing hydrogen, chlorine, and sodium the sodium attaches its self to silica molecules in the clay the sodium acts as a flux, melting the silica and forming a glaze. this means i can place a piece with no glaze at all on it into the kiln and after firing it's surface will be glazed. 

Made with pride in South Dakota

It all begins with a dream.

Dan has shared his art genius with his daughter, Stella.

Stella’s Corner was created to showcase her emerging talent in the arts.

All proceeds will go towards the purchase of art supplies and future classes for Stella.