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Learn a bit about us!

Imagine for a second: a teenage girl, calling her crush on the phone to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. The year, 1966.
*Ring ring*
(a woman answers) "Hello"
"Oh hi.. is umm.. is Tom there?"
"Hold on, I'll get him" 
"Hi, this is Tom."
"Oh, hi.. this is Diana. I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me next weekend?"
"Oh.. *kind hearted laugh*  Hold on a minute. I think you're looking for my son, Tom." 
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*Cue the embarrassing music and the hot red blush to my face*
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I had just asked out my future husband's dad to my high school dance! Could it get more embarrassing?!
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Little did we know at the time, though, that it would make for the best opening paragraph for the intro to our "About Us" page on our website!
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We are Diana and Tom Johnston, owners of Brewery Pottery and makers of all the pottery you see here. We've worn many hats over the years and continue to wear many hats today. That phone conversation is where our story really all began. Yes, we are high school sweethearts. Go, Rams! 
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(photo of you guys at the dance)
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After high school we did as ones do, we went off to attend college. Tom headed South to pursue his love of golf, along the way picking up a business degree from the University of Miami. Two years later, when Diana graduated high school, she began pursuing a degree in Elementary education. 
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We were married in the spring of 1972 and moved to Carmel, California to work in a flower shop. We loved California. Our dog at the time, a huge Irish Setter named Barney, played on the beach chasing seagulls and we zipped around in our white Volkswagen Karman Gia convertible, living that newlywed life. Most importantly though, as far as our time line is concerned, California is where I fell in love with pottery. That fall, a friend of ours invited us to a raku party in a canyon near the ocean, just off Highway 1. We dipped fiery hot pots in barrels of hay and then plunged them into water as we listened to the ocean roar and the glazes crackle. It was magic. It was then and there, in that canyon by the ocean, that I fell in love with pottery.
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I had found my calling and I listened. 
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In 1973 we moved back to the midwest to be closer to family and ended up in Baraboo, Wisconsin, working on a dairy farm. There were many early mornings, quite a few harsh life lessons about life on a farm, and lots of hard work. 
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1975 brought us back to our homeland of Lombard, Illinois. I took my first clay class at the College of DuPage and we worked many different odd jobs to pay the bills- waiting tables, washing dishes, being a teamster at the food market in Chicago, and golfing professionally in tournaments. That year we also participated in our first art fair, Four Lakes, in the Chicago suburbs, where 75% of what was sold was purchased by my mom. I felt very encouraged. 
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In 1976, we bought a Chicago City Transit bus to live and work in, but that's another story... and then in 1977 our son, Parrish, was born.
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In 1978, when Parrish was a baby, we moved to Madison where we worked as caretakers for the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Unitarian Church. I taught nursery school and joined a pottery co-op, which led to a serious pursuit of pottery. We became organic vegetable farmers. We grew on a farm outside Madison and every Saturday we schlepped our veggies to a stand at the budding Madison Farmers Market. By this time, Tom had taken an active hand in pottery too. 
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In 1981 we bought a general store in the very tiny unincorporated town of Edmund, Wisconsin. Despite the fact that there was a post office renting part of the downstairs of the building, we were able to turn the old general store building into a pottery studio and an apartment where we lived upstairs. In 1984 our daughter, Claire, was born. 
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By 1989 after years of doing more and more art fairs and steadily growing tired of the unexpected variables that inevitably come with doing art fairs, we decided to open up a permanent brick and mortar gallery in the small arts community of Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Johnston Gallery was born. 
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We fell in love with Mineral Point.
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In 1990 we were looking for a display case for our new downtown gallery and a friend told us that they thought the old brewery might have one for sale that could work. We made an appointment with the owner, Ken Colwell, and drove over to look at the case. It was clear immediately that the case was far too big for our gallery. However as we were talking with Ken we kept gushing about what a wonderful building it was and how perfect it would be for a pottery studio. We were in awe of the unique space, the 5000 square feet of caverns built into the hillside, and the 50 gallon a minute stream in the basement. He told us off handily to make him and offer.
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We did. 
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A year later we closed on the building and a year after that, in 1992, we moved our studio and our lives into the old rambling brewery tucked at the edge of town.
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It wasn't really a finished space. It was pretty raw. We joked at the time, not knowing how truly accurate it really was, that it was a lifetime project. We saw our fair share of bats, snakes, and raccoons make their way inside for visits. We made makeshift walls out of curtains, wore lots of sweaters in the winter, and added a basketball court inside an old bottling cellar for our kids to play in. Slowly but surely we made it into our dream space. 
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By 1994 we found ourselves opening up our studio to the public when our second gallery, Brewery Pottery, opened in the lower portion of the brewery.
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After 21 years of traveling the country doing art fairs, we did our last art fair in the summer of 1996 to focus solely on our two Mineral Point galleries. 
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In 2011 our daughter, Claire, moved back to Mineral Point to manage Johnston Gallery and after unofficially helping out with various tasks for years, in 2017 she officially became part of the pottery operation as well. 
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We enjoy working together, making things, and visiting with people. Our life at Brewery Pottery has brought all those pieces together. In clay, we make a wide variety of finely crafted pieces meant for daily use and daily life. We each have our own part in the process. Our joint efforts combine to make each piece individual. We are committed to the harmony of form and function and consider it a privilege to make things that become a part of peoples daily lives. We are committed to gathering together pieces which are not only beautiful but are a pleasure to use. Through the years our love of living with unique handmade pieces has grown deeper and stronger. Peoples work contains so much of who they are. Life is richer living with pieces that tell their story with each use. 
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After many years of having an informative website only, in the spring of 2018 we decided to finally enter into the 21st century as we embraced technology, and opened up our website to e-commence too. 
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Through the years we've so loved collecting unique pieces of art and learning the story and the history behind each of those pieces and the artisans who crafted them. Using and enjoying one of a kind pieces made with love from peoples hands and hearts is truly a way to savor those memories and stories. We hope you are able to savor ours as you enjoy a piece of our handmade pottery.