On a recent weekday morning, James Guggina was feeding wood into his backyard kiln and watching the pyrometer climb toward 2,500 degrees.

“This is my job. It’s also my absolute passion,” he said, pausing with an armful of scrap wood salvaged from a local casket company. “People complain about sitting in a cubicle all day. I feel so fortunate that I get to make things.”

Guggina moved to Northampton two decades ago from Boston, where he attended MassArt and worked for the acclaimed Fort Point potter Gabrielle Schaffner. These days, Guggina has three kilns — wood, gas, and electric — and he works, more or less, constantly.

He didn’t know anyone in the area initially, but that changed after he was invited to join the pottery trail. “It’s great to have other people to commiserate with nearby,” Guggina said. And this weekend, there will be throngs of folks visiting his studio.

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