SKOWHEGAN -- Always, mud season and maple syrup season have coincided on the calendar.

Now, local artisans Amber Lambke and Abby Shahn are bringing mud and maple syrup a little closer together.

Lambke and Shahn will offer their newly made clay maple syrup pitchers Thursday night during an opening at the River Roads artisan gallery.

The reception at the gallery, near Evelyn's Furniture on Route 150, is from 5 to 7 p.m. and will feature refreshments.

"I'm glazing today, and I'm going to frantically have a firing this afternoon," Lambke said Monday.

Lambke, a dedicated civic leader, said she is teaching others to make pottery while she fashions her own pitchers. Lambke said she can make six to 10 pitchers in an hour.

"The biggest fun for me in this project is watching how novice people who haven't worked with clay respond to clay," she said. "Now I'm getting people who year after year want to come back out."

According to size, pitchers will be priced at $5 to $20, with some of the proceeds going to the Skowhegan Farmer's Market. The market opens its season May 16, which the Friday before Mother's Day weekend.

Pitchers not sold Thursday will be available March 22, during a pancake breakfast and mud season pottery sale at Tewksbury Hall in Skowhegan. The event, scheduled the week before Maine Maple Sunday, begins at 7 a.m.

Lambke said she started the mud season pottery project in 2006, with a grant from the Maine Commission for the Arts. Such enterprises bring the community together for a common cause, she said.

That year, the mud season pottery effort raised $500 for the Skowhegan food cupboard. Proceeds went to Main Street Skowhegan last year, and this year pottery sales will help provide entertainment at the farmer's market.

Lambke said the River Roads gallery evolved from the Spiral Works gallery of Canaan. It is cooperatively owned by Heather Kerner, Sama Lawrence and Mary Ann Anderson and features local artists, Lambke said.

River Roads gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, Lambke said.

Larry Grard -- 474-9534, Ext. 343

lgrard@centralmaine.com