Local self-guided pottery trail

The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail will have its annual studio tour on Saturday, April 26, and Sunday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event is a self-guided tour of local pottery studios in western Massachusetts. Guests can purchase ceramics and speak to the artists about their work.

This year’s host potters are Donna McGee (Hadley), Tiffany Hilton (Florence), James Guggina (Florence), Steve Théberge (Florence), Lucy Fagella (Greenfield), Molly Cantor (Shelburne Falls), Mary Barringer (Shelburne Falls), and Steven Earp (Shelburne Falls). Each of them will also bring additional potters as guest artists, including Mucuy Bolles (Brattleboro, Vermont) and Emmanuel Okechukwu (Rochester, New York), who received the Trail’s Early Career Fellowship for BIPOC Ceramic Artists this year.

Guests are encouraged to pick up a Pottery Trail passport at their first studio location or print one out from home. Those who get their passport stamped at each of the eight studios will be entered to win a cup or mug by one of the participating artists.

For more information, including a full list of participating potters and a map of the studios, visit asparagusvalleypotterytrail.com.

Showcase South Hadley returns

The arts festival Showcase South Hadley will return this year on Saturday, April 26, and Sunday, April 27.

The weekend festival will include performances by Ruthie Foster, Aisha Burns, Michelle Kostek, Robby Roiter Jazz Trio, Madison Curbelo, Anna Sobel, SSO Chamber / String Ensemble, Eric Weiss Puppetry, FlavaEvolution, The Grumpytime Club Band, Wes Parker, South Hadley Chorale, Cripps Creations, Jeff Katz, Cottonwood, Wayfaring Soul, David Vantassel, the Mount Holyoke College Klezmer Band, Lindsey LaBelle, and more.

The festival will also have crafts for kids, yoga, an artisan/craft fair, an “instrument petting zoo,” a canal history tour, and wild animals from Forest Park Zoo.

Sunday’s lineup will include a gospel brunch at Morning Star Baptist Church with music by Kevin Sharpe Group and a menu created by Chef Sara Barnes.

Admission to everything except the gospel brunch is free. Tickets to that are $35 for adults or $20 for children 12 and under via delaluz.org/events/gospel-brunch. Register for the Ruthie Foster show at delaluz.org/events/ruthie-foster.

Best of the Valley Story Slam

Valley Voices, a live storytelling event, will celebrate its Best of the Valley Story Slam at the Academy of Music on Saturday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m.

The competitors will be the top three winners from each of the past four Valley Voices Story Slams in the past year.

To learn more about Valley Voices, audition for a future season, or hear some example stories, visit nepm.org/valley-voices.

Tickets are $22, not including fees, at aomtheatre.com. Parental discretion is advised.

Museum show about endpaper art

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst will celebrate its newest exhibition, “Open + Shut: Celebrating the Art of Endpapers,” on Saturday, April 19.

“Open + Shut” highlights the art of endpapers, the papers that appear inside the front and back covers of picture books.

“Once a purely functional form—sturdy pages glued to the inside of a book’s cardboard covers—endpapers today are often full of wit, surprise, and deep emotion,” said a press release. “As one of the first (and last!) visual elements readers encounter when interacting with a book, endpapers set the mood for the story inside.”

The exhibition will include more than 50 works by more than 30 artists.

Curator Bruce Handy will lead a tour of it from 1 to 1:45 p.m. on April 19.

“Open + Shut” runs through Sunday, Nov. 9.

Smith Arts Day

Smith College will celebrate its second annual Smith Arts Day on Saturday, April 19, with a variety of arts events on campus that are free and open to the public.

Featured events and workshops include button making with 35mm slides, a 3D printing demonstration, a botanical cyanotype workshop, a virtual reality demonstration, a relief printing demonstration, a cardboard wearables workshop, an open orchestra rehearsal, a pinhole camera workshop, a collage workshop, a zine showcase, a plant walk, a tap dance workshop, community mural-painting, and a student film showcase, among many others.

In a press release, Smith Office for the Arts director Leigh Fagin said: “Smith Arts Day isn’t about perfection — it’s about connection. Last year, we saw community members exploring their creativity next to professors and first-years. We hope this day sparks joy through making, sharing, and discovering what’s possible when we create together.”

For a full schedule of events, visit smith.edu/your-campus/smitharts/smith-office-arts-sofa/smith-arts-day.

Live poetry and pie

On Saturday, April 26, at 7 p.m, Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence will host “Poetry and Pie: A National Poetry Month Celebration,” a live poetry event.

It will feature a performance by Brother’s Keeper Poetry Theater Ensemble: A Voice for Change, a New England-based spoken word group, who will be performing “an original remix of poems by Emily Dickinson,” according to a press release.

Julianys Centeno, Izaria Thomas, and Adrianna Serrano-Rios, the three local youth poets who took home the top prizes in the recent Academy Regional Youth Poetry Slam, will also perform.

True to its name, the event will also feature slices of pie, which will be available for purchase in the Peacock Room at Bombyx after the show.

Tickets are $20 (suggested donation) via bombyx.live.