A newcomer to Whidbey Island’s premier arts and crafts festival has something unique to offer.

Sasha Polonko, a 26-year-old ceramicist from Oak Harbor, makes her ceramic works of arts from clay and glazes created from raw materials that she forages in the natural world. On Whidbey Island, that has meant digging “wild clay” from waterside bluffs.

Polonko said she is passionate about reconnecting with the art form’s roots as functional ware, whether it’s jars, mugs or pots.

“It connects me to something larger than myself,” Polonko said. “It feels spiritual to me in the sense that it’s something that humans have done for centuries.”

Polonko, who runs the business “Girl Pots,” will join more than 140 other vendors in the 61st annual Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival, which runs from 10 a

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