HALLOWELL — The Harlow Gallery and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts are collaborating to host a potluck dinner followed by an ArtTalk by Portland, Maine ceramic artist Ayumi Horie at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, at Harlow Gallery, 160 Water Street. This event is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to bring a dish to share at the potluck, though it is not required.

Horie will be an artist-in-residence at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle from Aug. 10-25. She is a full-time studio potter working in Portland, who creates functional pieces adorned with images of animals and patterns that serve as a means to address ideas about comfort, both physical and psychological.

She explained, “I see pots as having the incredible privilege of being part of people’s private, everyday lives. Because of this intimacy, we let our guard down around pots, allowing them to convey ideas about aesthetics, function, and social issues. They are objects of service and conduits between people.”

In 2011, the day after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Horie co-founded Handmade For Japan, which has raised over $100,000 to support relief and rebuilding efforts through arts-related events. Horie gives lectures and workshops nationally and internationally and serves on the board of directors of the American Craft Council. For more information, visit http://ayumihorie.com/ or www.harlowgallery.org.