About the Artists

Rick Hamelin and Gariné (ga-renée) Arakelian have been making pottery together since 1990, the year that they got married and established their studios in Warren, Massachusetts.

Rick Hamelin has been making pots since 1976 and founded his studio in 1985. He became committed to study the historical redware potters after learning of the Colonial and Early American industries that existed in his native Central Massachusetts. Pied Potter Hamelin can be taken linguistically apart and understood as a “colorful potter from a small town”. Pied means multi-colored, potter is the trade, and Hamelin translates into “one from a small town”. Like Gariné, he taught and worked in museums. He is also a popular demonstrator and lecturer with over one hundred and fifty completed programs and received over one hundred Massachusetts Cultural Council grants.

Gariné (ga-renée) Arakelian’s sgraffito and slipware designs are museum quality originals and historical interpretations of American and European folk art. Each plate and platter is drape molded, slipped, incised and glazed with a lead-free glaze, fired and finished with a food safe antiquing surface. Gariné also collaborates with her husband, Rick Hamelin of Pied Potter Hamelin, on wheel thrown wares. Your order is custom made through hand processes, especially for you, and not mass-produced. No two pieces will look alike. Each item will have its own unique characteristics in color and design and all the pieces are antiqued, signed and dated.

The paw prints on the back of all the Kulina Folk Art and Pied Potter Hamelin plates and platters began by one of their cats simply leaping onto the slab of clay. Rick recalled finding an old brick with a dog’s paw print on it and thought that this would be a unique way to marry an association between their two products. The running paw prints are copy written.

Gariné and Rick thank you for the appreciation that you have for their work. They built a larger studio and are in the process of moving the smaller studio into this building. Feel free to call or email them with any questions. Please do call ahead if you are planning to come by, but do note that they don’t have a storefront to sell their wares. They are self-employed and may not be prepared or available for guests.

All images and text © 2009 Pied Potter Hamelin