The story of Cooperstown is being painted on pots.

Cooperstown artist Susan Kenyon paints terracotta flowerpots with local scenes and landmarks, among them the Sleeping Lion at the northern end of Otsego Lake, Kingfisher Tower, the lake "in various situations," the trolley, The Baseball Hall of Fame and the statue of James Fenimore Cooper in Cooper Park.

Homescapes owner Ellen Weir has sold about thirty of them so far, and the business has branched out into murals on the walls of homes around town.

The line is called Story Pots, and each comes with a card containing a verse, which Kenyon writes before painting.

Weir and Kenyon came up with the idea together when trying to think of an unusual way to capture local scenes.

"Taken together, the pots tell the story of Cooperstown and document the beauty of this place," said Weir. "She has a sense of whimsy, but there's also a serious thing going on."

Kenyon has been using Smith and Telfer photographs for some of the scenes.

The New York State Historical Association has a collection of photographs spanning from "the dawn of photography to the present," but they bill the Smith and Telfer work, 50,000 glass-plate negatives strong, their most significant acquisition.

"The firm of Smith and Telfer documented Cooperstown and its people for almost a century," reads a statement at the Otesaga Hotel, where many Smith and Telfer photographs are on display, "compiling a unique record of a small town and its changes over the years."

Washington G. Smith made the transition from daguerreotyping to the wet plate collodian process and paper prints, "keeping up with the technological changes in mid-19th century photography."

Now those photographs are appearing on flowerpots.

Her daughter, Elle Kenyon, 6, also paints pots. At first, she was asking $1000 apiece.

"We had to talk her down a little," said Weir.

Elle started "painting seriously" in kindergarten last year, Kenyon said.

"I don't have a studio," Elle said. "I think up ideas in my head."

Elle said she has a boyfriend, Peter, and that he appreciates her art, "a little."

Kenyon and Weir are taking the images to walls and other surfaces.

Kenyon is currently creating a mural incorporating a client's pet cats and a tree to which local birds are flying.

Kenyon and her husband run Cooperstown Artists, accessible on the internet at www.cooperstownartists.com. Their business includes digital photo services completed in an in-house digital studio.

The Kenyons do creative portraiture, architectural, interiors, collage and event photography.

The business runs the gamut from print to web, with digital video production, website design and add-ons, graphic design and an assortment of multi-media services.

"Between the two of us," said Kenyon, "we can put out heads together to create whatever it is people need."