Our Open Air issue means it’s summer! It also means we’re featuring amazing food cart businesses: SoHo Gourmet Cuisine and Café Costs Rica. We initially learned about both through their participation in the annual Soup’s On! winter event, and we’re glad to be able to learn more and share it with you.
Speaking of food, we’re excited to be a 2025 Black Restaurant Week sponsor and bring you a discussion we had with Madison Black Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Camille Carter about the event and the Food Taste Jamboree.
When writer Kyle Jacobson and I discussed featuring Schuster’s Farm this issue, we were both excited because we’re big fans. The conversation with the family delved into the farm’s history and annual events, and we came away with an even greater respect for what the Schusters do and how they do it. You will too.
I’ve been in awe of the artistic talents of Sandra and Win Byers for many years, and have been fortunate to get to know them. I wanted to share their extraordinary work, so when I learned that our friend and former contributor Efrat Koppel was interested in writing again, it was fortuitous timing. Efrat ’s passion for the arts would be perfect for sharing Sandra and Win’s talents and their mutual respect, love, and support of one another.
cover photograph
Eagle Tower at Peninsula State Park provided by Wisconsin DNR photographs on page 3 (top left to right): Café Costa Rica by Eric Tadsen Peter Pan performace property of Children’s Theater of Madison (bottom left to right): Sandra Byers art provided by Sandra Byers Bubble Fun provided by Schuster’s Farm
If you have kids or are a kid at heart, you may have spent time enjoying the productions at Madison Children’s Theater, celebrating 60 years of entertaining children and their families. “Marc from Marketing” shares their history as well as this season’s shows.
I hope you make time this summer to enjoy everything we’ve included, and please take the time to visit our sponsors. Their support allows us to bring all of this to you, and they’re fabulous!
Café Costa Rica & SoHo Gourmet Cuisines FOOD CARTS
by Kyle Jacobson
At Café Costa Rica, people have to get the Plate of the Day—that’s a signature dish.
CAFÉ COSTA RICA
Thony “Mango Man” Clarke, chefowner of Café Costa Rica, is a pleasantly boisterous presence singing the praises of his mother while sharing the food she’d taught him how to cook in Costa Rica so many years ago. As he continues his mission to improve the lives of everyone who comes up to his food cart, he remembers just how hard he worked to get where he is.
“I moved to the States in 1998,” says Thony. “Lived in Madison for a little bit that summer then went to Pennsylvania. I got a job there; I was scoping out that area to see if we wanted to stay, but Madison is more like Costa Rica.” I’ve never thought of Madison as being akin to Costa Rica, but I’m probably focusing too much on the climate. When it comes to the connection people have to one another and their communities, I see what Thony means. It’s not every city where neighbors become friends and friends become family. People look out for one another here.
Roasted Pork
Photograph by Eric Tadsen
Pickled Veggie Salad
In 2000, Thony returned and worked for Madison Development Corporation. Almost two years in, “I had an accident,” says Thony. “I hyperextended my knee. I had surgery after that. I got fired, so I said screw it. I’m smart, driven, strong. I can make something happen. One of my skills is cooking. ... I’m like, okay, I’m going to start this up and mess up and learn.”
Though Thony wasn’t entirely sure how things would work out with his first food cart, Mango Man Latin Soul Food, his confidence was unshakable—something instilled upon him by his mother. “She’s the center of my universe, and I’m not shy about it,” says Thony. “People often go, ‘How do you do it?’ Well, I was raised by my mom. The basis of my business and my cooking is on her teachings. She ran a house with 11 kids of her own. That’s how tough she was. .... I am here to blow people away with my food based on my culture. If I base what I do on my mom, oh my God, there’s no losing.”
After a couple years, Thony transitioned to a brick-and-mortar location in a basement on Butler Street and named the restaurant Café Costa Rica. He
recalls those days as incredibly hectic. With no funds to hire help, he was running the front and back of the house simultaneously in what became something of a show. People would come in and sit down just to watch him work.
To make things more interesting, he opened a second restaurant, El Rincon Tico, on Williamson Street, which would later share the Café Costa Rica
name. Even with waitstaff and line cooks, it soon proved to be too much. “I was cooking for both restaurants,” says Thony. “I’m crazy, but the crazy got to me then. I shut them down and went back to the food cart.”
No matter the leg of Thony’s journey, the food always did the heavy lifting. It’s to the point where the menu is simply embossed on the Café Costa Rica food
Curry Chicken
Photograph by Eric Tadsen
Photograph by Eric Tadsen
Photograph by Eric Tadsen
cart he now operates. I asked which menu item he’d recommend people try for their first time. Thony says, “People have to get the Plate of the Day—that’s a signature dish. Rice and beans, they get a salad with organic and pickled veggies, and a choice of protein. Most of the time that’s chicken or pork.”
And if you’re looking for something a little more unique, you can’t go wrong with the plantain burrito. “I used to make this burrito for myself at the end of the day,” says Thony. “A burrito with plantains and everything in there and above it. Two years ago, I said I don’t think people are going to like it because people don’t like sweet stuff in their burrito. I put it out there, and oh my God.” It was incredibly popular.
In addition to the food cart, many in Greater Madison are familiar with the Mango Man line of sauces. Thony sees that as a start to something bigger, hoping to eventually have a line of frozen dinners that he puts together with local farmers. If it works out as planned, each meal’s packaging will have the logo and information of the farms that contributed.
Thony and Café Costa Rica have certainly made their mark on Madison.
When Thony was in a severe car accident three years ago, the community came together to help him recover. And when his mom passed, the response was just as strong. In return, he continues to serve his community with the same laughter and enthusiasm he always has. “They tell me, ‘Thony, I’m here because I’m hungry, because it’s delicious, and because we really love you.’ ... It keeps me humble. I don’t take things for granted.”
SOHO GOURMET CUISINES
So Pak Ho, better known as Rocky, comes from a family that talks about lunch at breakfast, dinner at lunch, and I imagine at night they’re dreaming about breakfast. At least on his mother’s side. On his father’s side, it’s all business.
Buena Vida Burrito
Shanghai style braised pork belly
Photograph by
Eric Tadsen
Photograph provided by SoHo Gourmet Cuisines
But Rocky’s parents only gave him the palate for flavor and a touch of the acumen for business, nothing that fired him up to get into being a chef or owning a restaurant. In fact, he went to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for animal sciences. After graduation, 2008, Rocky took the opportunity to travel to Korea to teach English.
“I was there for three years,” says Rocky. “I was trying to figure out what’s next. The funny thing is, Korean cuisine is one of my favorites, but when you’re there for three years, you eventually get homesick. You’re like, man, I wish we
had Buffalo Wild Wings. You just start to miss the little things that you would never think about missing, like a regular, normal burger.”
To feed his cravings, Rocky started hosting dinner parties with his peers in Korea. The featured ingredient: Buffalo Wild Wings sauce shipped from his friends back in the Midwest. Surrounded by some of the best kimchi and bulgogi in the world, the right meal in those gatherings was made by a tangy corporate condiment from back home. It was around this part in the conversation that I better understood how Rocky
Traditional pan fried beef dumplings
Portuguese veggie curry
assesses food—an expected flavor that meets the moment is better than a lavish one with no context. Though Rocky isn’t quite sure where the impulse for him to open a restaurant came from, he highlights these evenings as a potential starting point.
That said, Rocky always believed there would be success in opening SoHo Gourmet Cuisines due to the universal love people have for his mother’s dumplings. It goes back
Going to SoHo Gourmet is sharing in the flavors that Rocky enjoys, creating an instant connection between chef and diner
to when he lived in Hong Kong, where he was born and lived until age eight. “People would come to my grandma for her recipes,” says Rocky. “She didn’t own a restaurant or anything—a lot of homestyle cooking.” In the Chan family, Rocky’s mother’s side, recipes are readily shared, so Grandma Chan’s hand-wrapped dumpling recipe would become his mother’s. The dumplings found a similar reception in Middleton when Rocky’s family moved here.
With such a fantastic reputation, it’s surprising to learn that those dumplings are no longer offered at SoHo Gourmet unless there’s occasion for it. It’s hard to sell enough to justify his mother making them, and when it comes to most of Rocky’s other offerings, “I’m not making it authentic. ... I like to be able to create certain things when I feel like eating something. With SoHo Gourmet, you’ll see on random days I’m making this Italian burger just because I wanted Italian flavors. I made a bahn mi burger as well.”
The goal is to make food for the Midwest palate, not to recreate food from other countries or commit his menu to an Americanized version of Southeast Asian cuisine. It’s the spirit of fusion cuisine. Customers even attach themselves to food that wasn’t meant to be on the menu in the first place, like SoHo’s charbroiled chicken— juicy charbroiled chicken marinated in soy. The original intent was to make steamed chicken, but Rocky discovered people here found it to be “the grossest thing ever.”
Much as people do with steamed chicken in Hong Kong, Rocky presents his charbroiled chicken with a side of
Korean style braised pork
Photograph provided by SoHo Gourmet Cuisines
ginger scallion chutney. The chutney is deserving of its reputation amongst patrons, working as the perfect complement to the meal—ideal for dipping. For a side, you’ll want the spicy garlic green beans, tossed with seasoned soy, garlic, and Thai chilis.
In many ways, the menu at SoHo Gourmet is Rocky following his gut, instinctively deciding when to be flexible and when to hold his ground. Yes to meeting the Midwestern palate; no to General Tso chicken. Going to SoHo Gourmet is sharing in the flavors that Rocky enjoys, creating an instant connection between chef and diner.
Looking to the near future, Rocky has signed a lease to open a market. Not only will people have access to SoHo Gourmet’s food outside of food truck hours, but those missing his mother’s dumplings will be excited to know he plans on having the dumplings sold there. His mother will be making the dumplings as Grandma Chan had, and just as Grandma Chan had, she’ll be making family with her neighbors.
Kyle Jacobson is a writer who grills with a timer and bakes like a chemist.
Photograph by Barbara Wilson
Kyle Jacobson
BY KYLE JACOBSON
Madison Black RESTAURANT WEEK
Madison’s Black Restaurant Week, presented by the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, celebrates some of the area’s best African, Creole, Cajun, barbeque, Caribbean, and soul food from August 10 through August 17 by raising awareness of the community’s Black chefs, farmers, and food purveyors.
This year marks the event’s 10th anniversary, and Camille Carter, president and CEO of the Madison Black Chamber, is overjoyed talking about just how far things have come. She says, “When Chamber co-founder Miss Milele Chikasa Anana came to the board [in 2015] with this idea about Black Restaurant Week, we had never heard of the concept. ... At that time, it was about 12 Black restaurants that the Madison community had, and they were struggling with promoting their businesses and attracting new customers. She had the vision to really elevate this campaign and take an opportunity to showcase these businesses.”
Being that Madison was one of the first communities to ever host a Black Restaurant Week, it wasn’t just the board who had to figure out what the event would look like. Restaurants and patrons needed a couple of years to wrap their heads everything,
and each time the event was held, participation increased. People were intentionally engaging with Greater Madison’s Black restauranteurs, some exposing themselves to these integral community builders for the first time.
Soon enough, the event incorporated the $5 Food Taste Jamboree. “It’s an outdoor food festival featuring $5 sample entrees,” says Camille. “The
event is family friendly; you can bring your children and make an afternoon of it. You can very affordably experience savory bites from a variety of different caterers and food carts and shop from non-food vendors too.
“Historically, the Food Taste Jamboree has been at the end of Black Restaurant Week, but this year, we’re kicking off Black Restaurant Week with the Food Taste Jamboree Sunday, August 10, 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Warner Park. We’re excited about the shift to build the momentum in the beginning and keep it going all week.” Over the event, the public will be allowed to virtually cast their vote for best restaurants, caterers, and Black Restaurant Week experiences. Winners will be announced September 18 at the Chamber’s fall networking event.
After the Jamboree, people are encouraged to explore participating brick-and-mortar restaurants all week long by dining in, taking out, and arranging corporate catering. There are other events happening throughout the week as well, like the business Mix and Mingle, featuring networking and heirloom collard green tastings, Thursday, August 14. Camille and her team are also working on a curated community farm-to-table dining experience and farmers’ market Sunday, August 17.
Camille encourages groups to go and experience everything. “We actually have followers that, every year, literally look at the vendor list and strategically plan every day for a Black Restaurant Week experience. This isn’t just groups of friends looking to support their communities, but businesses and influencers planning their next palate pleasure.”
Supporting local business owners is one of Madison’s strongest virtues, so after you’ve found some new favorites, consider purchasing gift certificates either directly from the Madison Black Chamber’s office or online. They make great gifts and serve as reminders to go back to the restaurants you fell in love with. Visit madisonblackchamber .com/black-restaurant-week for more
details on the experiences happening throughout the week.
Kyle Jacobson is a writer who believes you don’t need to know the recipe to make a difference.
Photographs provided by Madison Black Chamber of Commerce
by
Photograph
Barbara Wilson
Kyle Jacobson
Schuster’s Farm
by Kyle Jacobson
When Theresa and Don Schuster purchased a 220-acre farm from Hamlin and Eldora Gangstad in 1990, there was absolutely no plan to open it to the public. Buying a home with the vision of having strangers come over to hang out is an insane prospect doubly true in the farming community. But a quiet life on the farm with three kids and some farm animals wouldn’t be the cards the Schuster family was dealt.
Growing up on a hog, dairy, and cash crop farm, Don planned to focus on the cash crop side of things, which suited Theresa just fine because she had no interest in being married to a dairy farmer. Theresa says the two of them quickly realized they had to change their plans. “The first winter, my husband asked me to come out to the shed. We went to the
shed, and he said the equipment here is worth more than what we just paid for the farm. I’m never going to be able to cash crop.”
Okay, plan B. Pot-bellied pigs and miniature donkeys. Perhaps then Theresa could slowly shift away from her job as an occupational therapist and Don from his job at the university. After three years, it was clear this wouldn’t work, so the next spring, Don designated just a third of an acre for pumpkins. Fast forward three years, when their oldest was in preschool.
“The kids came out and planted pumpkins. I said we’re going to need a wagon for them to go get the pumpkins in the fall. That was it. We built the wagon and that just started everything.”
After 32 years of trying to add something new annually, Schuster’s Farm has grown into the spectacular entertainment and produce venue so many in Greater Madison have come to love. Though late spring and summer are reserved for private events, each August brings a wide array of opportunities for the public to engage in events at the farm.
Theresa says, “Fridays through Sundays in August is our flower season, with
zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, and sunflowers.” Yoga nights in the flowers is something people can look forward to, as well as a garden party.
Sarah Schuster, daughter to Theresa and Don, adds that August has plenty of things going on for kids, like “a princess day and reptile weekend, where we work with WPS Reptiles out of Kenosha.” There’s live music and even a pirate day. visit, laugh, and make memories
For an adult-only event, Sarah says, “We’ll also have our Corn Crawl, which is a fun blending of the two seasons. Beers, wine, and mocktails through the corn maze. End the evening with dinner in the flowers and just enjoy the farm.” Throughout the maze, eventgoers can expect to find stations where drinks and other complements are offered by Schuster’s outgoing staff.
Fall comes with a similar range of events, but instead of flowers, visitors should expect pumpkins—both for decoration and as ammunition for the cannon. Oh, and there’s Schuster’s renowned haunt, which is only possible thanks to a select group from the 215 seasonal employees.
“The people that work the haunt are a unique set of people,” says Theresa. “In a lot of cases, they’ve told us that they feel like they belong here in a way they haven’t before. They come together, and they’re this wonderful community.” Whether it’s the haunt staff or those working the retail areas, running the petting farm, or driving the barrel train, everyone working at Schuster’s is like family.
The Schuster family has also been working hard to increase accessibility to all their guests. Years ago, there was an instance when Don recognized a failure on the farm’s part to ensure those in wheelchairs can access the wagon ride. He promised the guest that he’d have something for them next year, and with some blood, sweat, and ingenuity from a friend, he was able to put a smaller wagon together that could accommodate the guest and their family. Of course, that wasn’t enough for Don, so the farm now has a full-size wagon with a wheelchair lift.
Theresa says, “It’s a very small snippet of time that we’re on this earth and that we own this land. It’s really not so much ours; it’s our responsibility to share it. That’s how we feel. If we’re going to open the farm to people, it’s open to all people.” Having held so many community events at the farm, including
a 70th birthday party for one of Hamlin and Eldora’s daughters, I believe the Schuster family has made good on that pledge. The next generation, Sarah and her husband, Mitchell Schroepfer, are committed to continuing to provide a special place for all. At the end of the day, this is the Schuster’s home, and they couldn’t be happier to open their doors to countless families from all over the Midwest to visit, laugh, and make memories.
Kyle Jacobson is a writer who thinks there’s more to life than living.
Photograph by Barbara Wilson
Kyle Jacobson
Photographs provided by Schuster’s Farm
CELEBRATE WITH US! THE WISCONSIN STATE PARK SYSTEM TURNS 125 IN 2025.
125th anniversary
This milestone will be marked with family-friendly events, fascinating Wisconsin State Park System history and recreation opportunities for visitors of all abilities and experience levels.
It’s the perfect year to get outdoors and try something new at one of our more than 120 properties across the state.
outwigo in the great outdoors
From sandy beaches and breathtaking bluffs to expansive forests and everything in between, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s State Park System has a wide variety of outdoor recreation offerings for all visitors.
know before you go
Don’t forget, a state park and forest vehicle admission pass is required for all motor vehicles stopping in Wisconsin State Park System properties. Passes can be purchased online, at state park system properties or at DNR service centers.
make an impact
Get involved by volunteering for a stewardship day to enhance your favorite public lands and help celebrate the anniversary with friends. Whether volunteering for a few hours at a property workday, or for a couple of weeks as a campground host, volunteer service makes a world of difference
Photographs provided by Wisconsin DNR
CHILDREN’S THEATER
60 YEARS AND GOING STRONG
by Marc Glazer
of Madison
It’s not at every place I’ve worked that I’ve gotten to have my own special branded moniker. But Children’s Theater of Madison (CTM) isn’t like every other place. For 60 Years, CTM has been delighting family audiences in Madison with professional theater and theater classes and has built a strong reputation for engaging in the spirit of Madison, providing a place of respite and thrill for so many parents and children.
But I’m getting away from where we started. That moniker? Well, I’m known as “Marc from Marketing” in Madison and beyond, and like I said, it’s just not everywhere that a grown man gets a fabulous nickname. CTM is a magical place for families that sparks imagination and builds community through the creation and experience of theater.
In 1965 Nancy Thurow co-founded CTM with two colleagues from Zeta Phi Eta, a communication arts fraternity, in response to the elimination of
creative drama programs in Madison public schools. She was known for her unwavering commitment to highquality, inclusive theater. She believed in mixed-age casting, integrating both children and adults in productions, and emphasized the transformative power of theater for young people. CTM’s first production, Land of the Dragons, debuted that year followed by Nancy’s adaptation of Winnie the Pooh , titled The New Pooh , in 1966. Curiously, we at CTM are doing our own version of Winnie the Pooh this upcoming season, a TVY (Theater for the Very Young) show written by our own director of education and community engagement, Erica Berman.
Over her 38-year tenure, Nancy directed and produced numerous plays, often adapting children’s literature for the stage. Nancy was a visionary in Madison’s arts community best known for her work at CTM. She passed away on April 30, 2013, leaving behind a legacy that continues to influence youth theater today. CTM established a memorial fund through
the Madison Community Foundation to support future programming and honor her legacy.
In 2004, CTM became a resident company at the Overture Center for the Arts. In 2006, CTM faced significant financial challenges, leading to the suspension of its season. Roseann Sheridan, recognizing the theater’s cultural importance, advised the board to retain its annual production of A Christmas Carol , envisioning it as a cornerstone for revival. Her direction of the play that year was the foundation for restoring CTM’s financial stability. Subsequently, in 2007, she was appointed as CTM’s producing artistic director.
Roseann’s theatrical journey began at the American Players Theatre (APT), in Spring Green, Wisconsin, in 1986. Over 17 years, she ascended to roles including production manager, associate producer, and associate artistic director. Her tenure at APT was marked by her ability to blend artistic vision with practical management, a skill she brought to CTM as both artistic and managing director.
Under her leadership, CTM expanded its repertoire to include both classic and contemporary works, aiming to engage diverse audiences. Roseann emphasized producing high-quality theater that challenged audiences, steering away from simplistic portrayals often associated with children’s theaters. CTM became a Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) under Roseann’s tutelage specializing in delivering professional theater for families.
Roseann became known for her commitment to creating inclusive and thought-provoking theater experiences. She believed in the transformative power of live performance, particularly for young audiences. Her approach often involved innovative staging and a focus on narratives that resonate with contemporary issues.
In 2015, Allen Ebert was hired to take over the managing director role, bringing with him a background in both artistic direction and business acumen. His
Matilda
Winnie The Pooh
goal at the time was to help CTM find a permanent home. That dream was realized in 2018 with the planning for the Madison Youth Arts Center (MYArts). As a point of reference, I joined CTM in the summer of 2016 as the director of marketing and communications.
MYArts broke ground in October 2019 on the corner of East Mifflin and Ingersoll—a cutting edge facility designed with two theaters, two-and-a-half floors of studio space, and offices built to be the permanent home of CTM and Madison Youth Choirs, both anchor partners in the venture. This amazing space was designed with sustainability and access in mind.
In April 2021, the middle of COVID-19, CTM started occupancy in the MYArts facility and set out to plan many seasons to come. We were able to have A Christmas Carol in the Overture Center in December 2021 then opened our first show in the new Starlight Theater at MYArts in March 2022. Those years of the pandemic were tumultuous to say the least, but CTM withstood the test and delivered its first full season back for the 2022-23 season, featuring two shows in the Capitol Theater at Overture: A Christmas Carol and Peter Pan .
In January 2023, Roseann retired from CTM, saying with confidence that it
was left in great hands. Brian Cowing became the interim artistic director that September. Brian had literally grown up in CTM, having been in productions as a child with Nancy and interning, teaching, and directing under Roseann. He was the perfect fit and officially became artistic director in January 2024.
With an amazing season under his belt—one of our most successful of all time—Brian along with Allen and the rest of CTM embark on the 60th anniversary season, highlighted by seven shows in both the Overture Center and MYArts:
• Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical in October
• Winnie the Pooh and His Pals Too in October
• The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza , a new Mo Willems adaptation, in November for the holidays
• The 49th annual A Christmas Carol in December
• The Hobbit in February
• Tiaras Hat Parade in March
• Disney’s Newsies The Musical in May
Tickets for the season go on sale August 18, 2025. You won’t want to miss our sale, and when Marc from Marketing tells you it’s going to be the best sale ever, I mean it.
To learn more about CTM’s offerings, from mainstage shows to theater classes and Summer Stage, visit ctmtheater.org.
Marc Glazer is the director of marketing and communications for CTM.
Photographs are property of Children’s Theater of Madison .
Marc Glazer
Sandra & Win Byers
by Efrat Koppel
Inside a former Rock Springs schoolhouse is a small room lined with fiberglass panels. There are no windows, just a glass door. Flip the light switch and you see that the only items in there are a humidifier and speaker on the ground; an ergonomic chair; and a working surface covered with small piles of empty, upturned yogurt and sour cream containers. It’s unassuming, and the eye of a regular person might not catch the containers as anything besides clutter. With a steady hand, Sandra Byers lifts the containers. Like crabs under rocks at the seashore, one by one, small, delicate creatures are unearthed.
This is the damp room, the center of Sandra’s practice for decades now. The damp room, co-conceptualized by her husband, Win, elongates the time Sandra can spend forming and carving these whimsical forms made of incredibly thin porcelain. Curving and curious, each sculpture feels simultaneously like a being and a world. Holding any one of the forms in your palm, awe and protectiveness emerge. This is a great love of Sandra, who has built her life around crafting precious and thoughtprovoking pieces.
The damp room is at the heart of the expansive brick school building Sandra and Win Byers purchased in 1980 to house the totality of their creative process. The purchase sits at a juncture in the turning of their story. The two met as high school students, and Win followed Sandra to Cornell University. Sandra found pottery after choosing ceramics to fulfill an elective in her soon-abandoned fashion degree. Initially spending time in the potter’s studio to be around Sandra, Win found throwing on the wheel “almost meditative” from day one, and his instructor required him to sign up for an independent study because he spent so much time there. Just as Sandra did, Win quickly fell in love with clay.
The couple married and moved to the Madison area so Win could attend graduate school for economics. It didn’t take long for Win to drop out. Win says, “Sandy was having more fun than I was.” They took a leap of faith to practice pottery professionally for a year. Among other things, the two began
Photograph by Andy Goodwin
creating pie plates together for wholesale: Win throwing plates with beautiful ridges and small loops for hanging, and Sandra decorating with blue inky glaze. Through collaborating on functional and commercial work, they found success.
Years later, wanting a place they could live, craft, and fire their pottery, they moved to their forever home, resting on a ridge in Rock Springs along the Baraboo River.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Byers’ works on a green May day. Win’s work varies in scale—bowls, crocks, vases— but his most dramatic work lives through his platters. Seeing them in person, you’re struck with how alive they feel. The Byers bring me to a room on the ground floor housing Win’s largest platters. Pulling away protective foam, Win shows a large charcoal platter with a red center. Grounded and captivating,
the piece has its own gravity. It feels like it’s vibrating, which is only right. When Win talks about color, he talks only about moving, dynamic landscapes. “There’s something lovely about looking at the hills this time of year,” he says. “It’s not solid dark green; it’s trees budding out. So with the platters, there’s a certain amount of reserved dignity. I will use color, strong color, but subdue it so people can live with the work, so that it can maybe create serenity.” The multilayered glazing technique centers on ash to move the glaze on the uppermost layer to concentrate and move. From holding his spray gun at specific angles to create concentration areas and to strategic layering to create depth and variation, Win cultivates visual landscapes that are dimensional, steady, and full of health.
That movement and texture is fundamental to Win’s aesthetic values. Asking him about “lichen on granite,” a phrase he’s woven into the language of his work, he says, “There’s something calming about breaking up solid fields to color.” Here, I see the shared, though tacit, language of Sandra and Win. Both of their artistic visions share a spiritual core: a value of ecosystems of health. Reminiscent of the nature we know and
Photograph provided by Sandra & Win
Byers
Photograph by Andy Goodwin
Photograph provided
by Sandra & Win
Byers
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worlds beyond our own, Sandra’s pieces seem to exist where all kinds of organic life can develop and flourish. “I’m trying to capture spirits and make people think about that,” she says. Likewise, Win’s color ecosystems are full of life and symbiosis.
Win’s heart lives at both ends of that spectrum of size. One thing he holds close is when people use his pottery in their daily lives. “I love it when people come back and tell me that they use the work,” he says. “That it’s part of their lives, that it’s a link, that somehow I’ve done something that enhances somebody else’s life.”
The sentiment lives in Sandra too. She tells me about a collector who told her getting that curve just right makes her world better. Sandra says, “I feel great
when people say, ‘I don’t pass that piece without it bringing a smile to my face.’” Both of the Byers know the great gift and privilege it is to have spent half a century doing exactly what they love every day. That’s intrinsically worthwhile, but the element that really moves them is the integration of their pieces into people’s everyday experiences and the meaning and joy their work brings.
Connection has driven Sandra and Win throughout their artistic practices for years. Particularly now, it’s community, not completely financial need, that pulls the two to drive across the country to various art shows throughout the year. The shows are prestigious, ranging from the Smithsonian Craft Show to the Minnesota Potters/St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, where
Photograph
Photograph
Sandra won “Best in Clay” this year. They see customers who have become collectors and friends, taking time to visit with them after the show, as Sandra says, “finding fossils and seeing herons.”
Long-time collectors bring Sandra found treasures that remind them of her art and its universe. It delights her knowing she and viewers share an understanding.
What’s transpired over years has been a sense of pride, belonging, and friendship.
“I feel like we’re in great company,” says Win. “It’s a privilege to be a part of that. ... This is the best work being done in our field today.”
In addition to providing connection, the interactions motivate. Sandra says, “I think it’s more fun to keep evolving, and my customers and collectors absolutely expect it.”
Shows are one of the domains where the two support each other. When one is featured, the other helps with setup and can cover the booth for breaks because they know each other’s work so deeply. Beyond touring, they critique each other’s work with positivity. They learn technique from each other. Sandra has adopted Win’s spraying glaze technique for her colored work, and Win has learned from the way Sandra allows glazes to interact. All photography these days is meticulously designed by Sandra, who creatively directs, stages, and shoots their images because of her clear sight on their work.
Photograph by Andy Goodwin
Then there’s the quiet support of the day to day, of loving someone for a very long time. One takes care of a task so the other can have time in the studio. Win got an ergonomic chair for Sandra, so she can work more comfortably in the damp room. This is the real meat of their support for each other. A life woven around a mutual love.
Win offers to shape a piece for me so I can see him throw at the wheel. I watch him, bent over, his hands wet with slip. Holding his fingers pulling the clay, he says, “This is not at all abrasive to the hand, even though there’s coarse material in there.” Earlier, he mentioned preferring throwing to glazing. When I asked why, he said “I don’t know. Something about it may be sensual. It’s just a rhythm that makes sense.” There’s something I can’t get over here, something striking about spending half a century, hours a day, bent over mud in reverence and sharing that enrapturement with someone you love. Their studio is vast with high ceilings. It looks like it could have been a few connected classrooms or a cafeteria in its previous life. Yet the two of them sit close, their wheels a handful of steps away from one another.
Efrat Koppel is an arts writer and lifelong arts lover and practitioner. Efrat writes about local artists, creative process, and the role of place in shaping artistic identity. When not writing, Efrat is involved with Dane County Food Collective, supporting food systems and community resilience in southern Wisconsin.
and Win’s work can be found online or seen in person at their home during the Fall Art Tour, October 17–19. Their studio can also be visited with advance arrangement.
Efrat Koppel
Sandra
Photograph provided by Sandra & Win Byers
Image: Sandra Peterson
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