2025 Participating Artists

Kurt Anderson

Invent a universe. Give it its own rules, it’s own logic. Break the rules, bend the logic. Fill it with beauty and terror. Laughter and joy and misery and sorrow. Don’t leave anything out. The breadth and width of human emotions. It’s all valid. Doodle it. Doodle hard. Doodle your way to victory. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget where you came from. Once you were a kid watching the Jetsons all alone on Saturday. You were the dog left at the shelter, the free kitten in a box outside the grocery store. The awkward teenager with the gay dad, terrified people would find out. Now you’re a stone gargoyle perched atop the cathedral, wondering WTF is going on down there. You’ve seen so much. Packed it all away. It’s all filed away. Remember all of it. Use all of it, feel all of it. They invited you in so show them what you’ve seen. Don’t hold anything back.

Maria Andrade Troya

María is a ceramic artist working in Asheville, North Carolina. Originally from Quito, Ecuador she attended UNC-Asheville and graduated with a BFA in Printmaking. Afterwards she did a studio assistantship at Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts and pursued a pottery making career.

As a ceramic artist, María is deeply attracted to the reflective relationship between form and function in our homes. Pottery is the perfect embodiment of incorporating utility and beauty into daily rituals. Using white stoneware clay to throw pots on the wheel. Some of the decorating processes include: mishima/inlay drawings, wax resist, slip trailing and carving. The pots are then fired in an electric kiln to Cone 6 which allows consistency in the glaze surfaces as well as a wide palette of brilliant and jeweled colors.

She also has also added a body of work solely focusing on custom pet portraits. Using photos of your beloved pets to create unique drawings on mugs and other pottery pieces for one-of-a-kind work.

María’s pots also revolve around the love of cooking, entertaining and bringing the joy of gardening into everyday life.

Eleanor Annand

Observations of the natural word have taught me countless lessons—beautiful and brutal simultaneously. My work is inspired by cycles of growth and change, as well as the abundant texture and diverse organic forms that surround me in Western North Carolina. The surface compositions represent both micro and macro views of the natural world and the many metaphors it offers for the human experience.

My great grandfather immigrated from Scotland as a gardener by trade. His daughter, my great aunt, avidly grew orchids in her greenhouse. My father studied landscape architecture and was a devoted gardener. There is a botanical reverence that runs through the generations of my family and for me it manifests not only in the study of plants but also in my studio as I sculpt and draw.

Focusing on craft and tactile details, I create functional and sculptural ceramics with mid-range clay, both wheel thrown and handbuilt. Using slip, stains, and underglazes I draw and transfer layered compositions that are organic and freeform in composition.

Alexandra Barao

I make functional, wood fired pottery that is driven by the idea of reciprocity - that an energetic exchange exists between the material and the maker, the object and the user. I am drawn to utilitarian forms and quiet surfaces that allow space for the flame to leave its mark, highlighting the tones and textures of the material as much as the marks of my own hands. I find inspiration in geological formations, ancient winemaking vessels, and in the practice of baking bread - all of which innately relate to a process of transformation. These ideas of reciprocity and transformation are also what attract me to the wood firing process: the slow and gradual build up of heat, ash, and coal over many days' time, requiring the effort of many dedicated hands working in community. With each stoke of the fire, the mud slowly turns to stone, the wood ash gradually becomes glaze, and all of the collective energy and care becomes permanently imbued in the resulting pieces. I love that a single vessel can hold so much. My hope is that this feeling resonates with others as my work finds its way into new homes and hands.

Anja Bartles Porcelain

Originally from Hamburg, Germany, stencil artist Anja Bartels discovered pottery making while living in an intentional community in Virginia. Passion ignited, she returned home to study in the German Ceramics Guild, which honed her skills in a way much different from the typical experience in American art schools. With a strong focus on craftsmanship and technical skill, Guild training provided her with the groundwork for making a quality product paired with the practical experience of working with a master potter for three years. The apprentices must engage in all aspects of the business, including marketing, sales, accounting, and production.

Anja’s nautically themed porcelain employs several different techniques including slip trailing, sgraffito (a technique where underglaze is painted onto greenware and a design is carved back through, revealing the clay body underneath), poured and sprayed glazes, and a unique resist technique used in the making of her beautiful urchin bowls. These bowls are thrown and trimmed on the wheel, then several thousand small slip-trailed spikes are applied using a surgical bulb while she listens to audiobooks about shipwrecks. Anja’s personal aesthetic and process are consistent and highly developed, reflecting her upbringing in a port town and her love of ships and the ocean. It is as if her pieces were born in the sea.

Bosetti Art Tile & Pottery

Bosetti Art Tile and Pottery specializes in creating custom art tiles and pottery for your home. Imagine entering your home and being greeted by personalized tiles reflecting your favorite plants and animals. I enjoy drawing the flora and squirrels I see around me in Raleigh, but I'm happy to create backsplashes or fireplace surrounds that reflect what you see.

Nature and Art Nouveau are my two long-time influences. These subjects are filtered through my childhood, where a violin was always playing. My brother is a concert violinist. That's what gives my work its lyrical feel and sense of motion. The imagery is intentionally happy and celebratory because that's what coming home should feel like.

Judith Brater

Whether it was at my Granny’s in the 1950’s or 60’s , or with my Mom , ceramics was in my life . They supported and followed the local potters and I tagged along with them to museums , galleries, and festivals. I vividly recall watching potters throw at Pigeon Forge Pottery , mesmerized and longed for the opportunity to “ get on “ the wheel . I finally got the opportunity in 1969 - I was immediately “ hooked “ , and from that point on I knew what I was going to devote my life to - a self employed potter . For decades , I have passionately explored clay and developed a style that continues to evolve . While I resided in Tenn , my pottery was most represented in NC where I have been active in the Southern Highland Craft Guild since 1983 . I finally fulfilled my dream and moved to NC in 2023 . When someone tells me they have a piece in their home and it makes them smile , it’s the greatest reward , and all I need is to create another piece .

Pam Brewer

I would like to believe that with each coil or tap of the paddle, with each pinch or twist of the clay, the sculpture within reveals itself, through gesture and line. It is, after all, the essence of the object that is most important to me. Truthfully, the animal representation is a means of giving an identity to my greatest interest as an artist, the organic form.

The organic form is primal and simplistic, and speaks volumes regarding the core of our being, and our connectedness to one another. As a child it pained me to observe any concept of separateness, more importantly dividedness. It has been my life’s exploration to identify those crevasses and attempt to understand and heal them through my work.

But when the sculpture is complete, there IS the animal form or natural form, complete with experience and feelings, with its own voice and message to lead me forward.
It was quite by accident that I chose the oldest and most rudimentary clay, earthenware. It was by complete happenstance that I enjoyed and pursued the oldest process of creating clay forms, coiling and pinching.
And it was a surprise when I found that what I loved for my surfaces, terra sigilata, was the oldest form of sealing clay. It is great to know that my interests are ancient, and very few things in my life contrived, but purely organic – much like our dear Mother Earth.

Kyle Carpenter

As a studio potter, I work diligently to make well-crafted wares for everyday people. It’s seemingly less about the “ritual of the table” and more about respecting a long tradition of craftsmen before me and discovering my own voice. As a contemporary potter, I often look to past traditions for inspiration. My native state of North Carolina, of course, offers a deep well of talented potters, both folk and contemporary, to look towards for inspiration.

Simplicity in form offers a broad surface for me to embellish with lines, patterns, and drawings. Before I was introduced to the ceramics arts, I did a fair amount of illustration before and during art school. The combination of three-dimensional forms and two-dimensional drawings was a natural fusion of both my love of drawing and pottery, art and craft. It is my intention to bring together clear and abstract markings to engage the viewer to look closely at how design relates to the form of the pot.

Sandi Carter

My inspiration for creating daily-use tableware comes from the childhood ritual of my family always sitting at the table for our meals. Meal time was when we gathered to fill our hearts and souls, celebrated life and people and enjoyed the food that nourished our bodies. The table was set with simple plates and glassware and that tradition has followed into my own home. Using handmade dishes and serving pieces elevates the daily ritual even more.

In a world of disposable things, I invite people to value enjoying their meals and beverages using beautiful handcrafted tableware. A lovely dish bearing a simple meal will always be a wonderful experience. Vessels like vases and jars continue the theme of adding beauty to our lives.

Inspired by botanical sources and textures, my work evokes a strong sense of fluidity and movement with stamped shapes and carved broken lines. A dark clay body serves as the canvas for layered compositions featuring rich layers of colors, complementary contrasts, and sgraffito marks that combine to add depth and moodiness.

As an artist, my goal is to share my artistic voice in a body of work that brings collectors and users the same joy I have in making each piece.

Halfmoon Ceramics

Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, known as the "Holy City," I was surrounded by an omnipresence of religion and spirituality set within a hauntingly beautiful landscape. Even as a young child, I could feel the communal piousness and compulsory “southern charm” clash with an underlying despair that echoes the denial of historic racism, sexism, and violence.

I find myself captivated by this tension; an interplay between violent justice and spiritual forgiveness. I seek to reflect this in my ceramic artwork, where working with clay on the pottery wheel is a spiritual experience on its own. It synchronizes body and breath; creating a rhythmic connection to the Earth that mirrors our ceaseless quest for definition and meaning. Transforming clay with my fingers is both meditation and prayer.

My work comprises tight, modern, functional forms such as lidded jars, mugs, lamps, hanging pendant lights, and incense burners; featuring underglaze illustrations that juxtapose symbols from folklore, nature, Christianity, alchemy, and spirituality.

Laura Cooke

I want my pots to be staples in people’s cabinets and on their dinner tables, introducing uniqueness, meaning, and fun into their everyday routines. The lines and patterns on my pots are meant to frame food, embrace coffee, and circle flowers—and enhance people's experience of eating, drinking, and being a person in the world. I make simple forms and decorate by hand. The lines lead the user's eye around the pots; the patterns encourage them to meditate on the repetition and variation. My decorations are not perfect—they're more sketch-like—celebrating the connection to the natural world, where straight lines don't exist, and making each piece truly one of a kind. I wheel throw and hand build my pots and fire in an electric kiln.

Josh Copus

My ceramic studio practice is essentially an effort to distill the experiences of my life and infuse them into my work with clay. This practice grew out of an interest in creating personally significant work that communicates my enthusiasm for the material and the process of making, and strongly reflects the influences that inform the decisions I make in my life and in the studio. My current body of work in ceramics is built on a place based making philosophy that emphasizes the use of local and non-industrially process materials to create a connection to place and establishes the materials, the experiences surrounding them, and the people of those communities as a valuable source of influence. I use the natural world around me as source of inspiration for shapes and surfaces, interpreting the visual language of place to make work that comes from somewhere deeper than just my hands or my head. This process manifests itself in everything I do. Every act is a reflection of the same creative practice and communicates my unique expression. I do not distinguish between the time I spend working in the studio and the time I spend in the garden. Everything I do is my work.

Will Dickert

My work and practice are influenced by a strong sense of sentimentality for my family and friends, my recollection of childhood, and my home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Appalachia. I find inspiration in architecture, landscape, topography, geology, music, tools, toys and humor. In my life, objects provide a link to my sentimentality that I find comforting and somewhat mysterious. By using a holistic approach to making that encompasses my senses, the materials, history of process, experimentation, and careful observation, my intent is to elicit a feeling or sentiment that relates to time, place, people, purpose or impermanence through the objects I make. I am most interested in exploration of form, line and volume in the vessels and pots I make. The methods I use in my studio practice split my work into two intermingled yet distinctive avenues for exploration: wheel thrown pots that focus on the parameters set by function, and hand built vessels that reference utility but seek to expand my perspective and definition of functional ceramics and sculptural objects. I choose to woodfire my work in order to enhance and illuminate the forms through collaboration and manipulation of naturally occurring effects inherent to firing primarily unglazed stoneware clay bodies with wood. I am enamored with contemporary and historical pots and sculpture fired this way and aim to make work that is reverent to those examples and relevant to the evolution of the artform.

Lucy Dierks

My pieces express my delight with nature and like nature, I want them to reflect a harmony of form, surface, and purpose. I strive to make small intimate pieces whose design and texture invite you to hold them.
There is something about birds that speaks to me. The contradictory aspect of their bodies intrigue me. I find the patterning of their feathers and exquisite detail of their claws very satisfying. I perch them on my containers to encourage contemplation and conversation.

Gillan Doty

Website: https://www.gillandoty.com | Instagram: @gillandotypottery

Although not makers themselves, my family put a premium on things we interacted with on a daily basis, like a hand carved wooden bowl on the kitchen table or the salt glazed crock that three generations of Doty’s have made pickles in. My grandfather was a collector and curator who had a particular interest in folk art. There was a simplicity in these works, a delicate balance of precision and an unselfconscious attitude. Growing up around these sometimes strange and unsophisticated works was impactful, forming the connection to the work I would discover later on my own.

There is a vitality in the physical forms created by the hands of our predecessors. However, my intention is not to mimic, rather an attempt at creating something new that has an understanding of where it came from. Along with a deep reverence for historical works, I am drawn to primitivism, vernacular architecture, and the natural landscape we all exist in. Those influences are rooted in a similar place, simplicity, practicality, and functionality. I am constantly balancing those ideals with the persistent challenge of problem solving with this transformative but sometimes humbling material. When I am in the studio, I aim to create something new that is accessible while still possessing deeper connections to the world around us and the people who inhabit it.

David Fernandez

My stoneware pottery forms are contemporary interpretations of Attic Greek, early Mycenaean, and Egyptian pottery. In my travels abroad I have collected clay stamps from various countries (like South Korea). I have incorporated the stamping along with my signature carving to give my pieces a recognizable surface texture that I have refined over the 50 plus years I have been making pottery. That coupled with the wide color range of the reduction glazes I have developed, and the scale my work, makes my pottery unique.
I designed and built the high fire fiber kiln I use over 40 years ago. My friends are surprised when I tell them I fire from cold to cone 11 in five hours and fifteen minutes!

Susan Filley

I work with porcelain clay, a beautiful white clay. When fired, it becomes a luscious material with qualities like marble that feel very special. It is translucent when thin, extremely durable when in use, and as the Chinese described it - “as pure as jade and rings like a bell.”

I have been making pots for over 40 years. It was the functionality of the craft that first enchanted me. But now, for much of my work, I am making pots that may never be used. I value a favorite pot that lives on a shelf as much as one that might get to a dinner table. I am striving to simply make beautiful pots in all that I do.

I make many forms, using both the wheel and hand building. I love to make cups that perfectly fit the hand and lip, and traditional vessels that are simple in form, rich in history, and offer me the best of glazing opportunities. I also make more complicated sculptural forms.

In my pots and my development of form, there is a distinctive elegance.
I use many tools for carving and refining that allow me to make strong forms and graceful edges. I want a sense of gestural motion in my ‘dancing‘ teapots and strong fluid lines in the landscape forms.

I also have a passion for glazes. They enhance the movement of my work with luminous flowing crystal surfaces and embellish the pots with rich glaze depth and color. Layering of glazes promotes the microcrystalline effects. I have formulated copper red variations with delicate white crystals for cups and vessels, brilliant celadon on white glazes (the Dancing Teapot) and other fascinating microcrystalline effects that are not represented in the limited images.

After so many years exploring pottery and with my fascination with porcelain, I am still always striving to make that next pot more beautiful and intriguing than those before it.

Mudventions

Mudventions are the products of my cosmic imagination mingling with my hands in mud. Inspired by the textures, patterns and exotic organisms of the natural world I create a rare undersea garden of unique cerebral concoctions. By blending the aquatic with the botanic I aim to produce a distinct species of intriguing work highlighting the scientific artistry and dynamic complexity of nature. The divinely primal feeling of manipulating such a functional, earthy material and the magical mix of art and science embodied in the process make working with clay a highly satisfying and stimulating experience for me, one full of surprises and endless possibilities. It provides constant fuel for my creative fire, stoking my inspiration with exciting challenges. I combine wheel throwing with handbuilding in creating my work and love to embellish the surface by carving and impressing natural materials, found objects and my own personal handmade stamps into the clay. All of my work is hand painted with multiple colorful glazes and oxidation fired in an electric kiln to cone 6. I am especially devoted to making unique lighting creations with translucent porcelain. Ultimately I strive to give the world a beautiful menagerie of both decorative and functional creations that provide stimulating sensory enlightenment and inspirational illumination.

Daniel Garver

Daniel Garver is a clay artist, his work consists of functional and sculptural slipcast ceramics. The studio work is focused on creating systems which result in iterative processes that investigate structure and form. He has constructed a comprehensive library of interchangeable plaster mold parts from which he can compose a wide range of ceramic slipcast forms that are unique from, yet also related to one another. The work is pushed further through the use of color and pattern in relation to the structural composition. For source material, Daniel researches cast concrete, mid modern design, brutalist architecture and industrial design to inform his work. Daniel is currently a long term resident at the Penland School of Craft.

Phil Haralam

Phil Haralam’s studio practice is focused on both functional pottery vessels and ceramic sculpture, but all his work is rooted in craft traditions and material exploration. Haralam’s wheel-thrown pottery is rooted in American studio pottery traditions and by formal qualities of Song Dynasty porcelain. The refined profiles and surfaces of his work reflects his desire express control through the execution of craftsmanship, while the imagery responds to his environment.
Exploring the places where he lives, on foot and with his camera helps him to look closely at his surroundings and extract scenes that he Identifies with these places. His work includes imagery related to his garden and the areas in and around Greensboro, North Carolina, where he lives and works.
When done well, Haralam believes that functional objects can capture our attention, heighten our awareness, and perform its function with harmonious success.

Rose Hardesty

I use a combination of wheel throwing and hand building techniques to create wood/salt fired functional pottery using North Carolina clay. My forms are inspired by a mix of historical and contemporary ceramic pieces. These forms are canvases for interaction with the kiln atmosphere as well as layered surface decoration including painted slips, screen printed slip transfers, stamped slip inlay, drawn line inlay, underglaze crayon, and decal collage. I find inspiration in the creatures and small natural vignettes I see living in the mountains of North Carolina. Micro climates and the amazing biodiversity of the area create thousands of little worlds to be discovered, and those are what I draw from when I decorate my work. Each little world is perfect in its imperfection. With each piece I strive to make an object that will spark curiosity, showcase process, and celebrate the natural world.

Lynne Hobaica

I am inspired by the beauty and struggle of the stories we experience, often locating humor in moments that were once awkward, painful or embarrassing. Through color and form, my work dances in a world of play, deep emotion, and empathy.
I make ceramic objects with layers of narrative imagery built up on the surface. My work is fueled by thoughts on how our awareness of death propels how we live and is inspired by the stories we experience and will be remembered by. I reveal characters pulled from personal and historical mythologies and fairytales and give them an emotion or gesture that you might connect with; perhaps you recognize an old friend, a past lover or yourself. It is through these connections and more that I am inspired to create, ultimately to share my own stories, and the stories that others have generously shared with me.

Trista Hudzik

Contemporary pottery with an Old World feel. My passion for making pottery is largely rooted in my longing for a return to simpler times, to days gone by, when life wasn’t so complicated. I try to live my life with great intention. Enjoying and appreciating every moment, surrounding myself with love, magic and beauty as much as I possibly can! Living simply, loving the land, loving my community, and working with my hands, creating beautiful vessels for everyday life. This is what makes me whole. This living represents the cycle of life and celebrations that makes life meaningful, magical! I dig in my garden. I plant seeds. These seeds, I nurture into food. I cultivate this food into nutritious meals, which I share with my loved ones and my community. From this precious earth, I build the vessels in which to serve to my loved ones as we celebrate the richness of our lives, love, grief, and lifes many blessings. This cycle of creating, nurturing and celebrating is customary across time and civilization. Slowly these customs are disappearing. These rituals are an important aspect of life that for me making pottery completes. Living as a potter is an effort to retain these customs and values.

Bill Jones

I grew up in an old stone farmhouse and from an early age found beauty in simple articulations of material. A loosely laid stone wall, a sketch done with a finger in damp sand, the haphazard stability of a quickly erected structure. As a potter, I work with simple materials and methods in a constant attempt to channel this same beauty. I think of my pots as drawings - each piece a passing attempt to realize a form in my head. My memory of these forms is a living thing and as it changes and distorts, so does my work. The pots are articulated with the flowing lines, jagged marks and gentle indentations left by my hands. All work is shown and no blemish is hidden.

Eric Knoche

My most important artistic influence was the annual ‘Whitman’s Sampler’ boxes that my grandma bought for Christmas; the kind where each chocolate is a different shape and style and there is a key on the inside of the box to tell you what’s what. Of course there are other things that have influenced me, but I think that is the earliest and strongest.

I make sculptural pottery and abstract sculpture using a variety of hand building techniques including coiling, pinching and working with slabs. I use local materials as much as possible and I typically fire my work with wood.

Over the last twenty years I have focused on firing my work in Japanese-style wood kilns. In particular, I have fired a lot of my work in a style adopted from Bizen, Japan, where the work is covered in charcoal at peak temperature. The patina on the finished pieces is the result of the dynamic interaction between the materials, the forms, the placement and arrangement in the kiln, and the firing.

Becky Lloyd

Website: https://www.lloydpottery.com | Instagram: @beckylloydyogamama

My work uses a centuries old technique called sgraffito to create very intricate patterns and designs. Each piece of hand thrown porcelain is coated with a black terra sigillata slip. I then use a very sharp knife to cut into the slip to expose the white porcelain underneath. This technique allows me to indulge in my passion for design and challenge my skills at the same time.

Over the last several years my work has become more personal. A refuge. An expression of beauty, love and grief all at the same time. I have always had a keen interest in ancient civilizations and the incredible art they produced. Those ancient worlds hold endless inspiration for me and always will. But I am now looking inside myself. Searching. Searching for what I have lost. In late April of 2014, Steve my husband, partner in clay and life passed away unexpectedly of an undiagnosed heart condition. This man that I spent over 26 years of my life with was everything to me. He was always my biggest fan but I now know he was also my biggest inspiration. A true artist. An amazing potter. Never have I worked in the studio without him by my side. The pots we made together were an expression of the love we had for each other and our work. I cannot help but reflect on what was. It has shaped my life to what it is. Moving forward is inevitable, but in looking back and remembering I am carrying along memories and ideas of all that we had together. Now I must look inside and find the courage and grace to continue what Steve and I started together so long ago. Steve will always be in every piece I make and every piece I decorate. How could it be any other way?

Christine Kosiba

I have always been attracted to the process of sculpting clay; the tactile give and take, the immediate response of the material…. malleable, spontaneous, and filled with infinite possibility. Clay grounds me, yet allows my ideas to take flight.

The natural world has been my primary influence and inspiration. My focus on myth, imagery, narrative, and archetypal energies blur for me the lines between human and animal, and shared stories emerge in each piece. Animal metaphors convey the human condition and also speak to the interconnectedness of all living things.

I work intuitively allowing the sculpture to develop organically. I will often apply multiple layers of colors and treatments and approach surface finish in a painterly fashion. Found objects may be incorporated to accent, embellish or define the work.

Each piece has its own evolution and story which guides its ultimate form and finish.

Leah Leitson

I have always enjoyed making pieces that can be functional forms for everyday use as well as presentation pieces for special occasions. My forms are predominately inspired by eighteenth and nineteenth century decorative arts, particularly utilitarian silver tableware and Sevres porcelain. My work is also influenced by my reverence for plant forms in nature. My intent is to artistically integrate these influences together with function, so my work expresses a single vision.

Becky Lloyd

My work uses a centuries old technique called sgraffito to create very intricate patterns and designs. Each piece of hand thrown porcelain is coated with a black terra sigillata slip. I then use a very sharp knife to cut into the slip to expose the white porcelain underneath. This technique allows me to indulge in my passion for design and challenge my skills at the same time.

Over the last several years my work has become more personal. A refuge. An expression of beauty, love and grief all at the same time. I have always had a keen interest in ancient civilizations and the incredible art they produced. Those ancient worlds hold endless inspiration for me and always will. The natural world continues to be a balm for my soul and a source of never ending wonder and awe. But I am now looking inside myself. Searching. Searching for what I have lost. In late April of 2014, Steve my husband, partner in clay and life passed away unexpectedly of an undiagnosed heart condition. This man that I spent over 26 years of my life with was everything to me. He was always my biggest fan but I now know he was also my biggest inspiration. A true artist. An amazing potter. Never have I worked in the studio without him by my side. The pots we made together were an expression of the love we had for each other and our work. I cannot help but reflect on what was. It has shaped my life to what it is. Moving forward is inevitable, but in looking back and remembering I am carrying along memories and ideas of all that we had together. Now I must look inside and find the courage and grace to continue what Steve and I started together so long ago. Steve will always be in every piece I make and every piece I decorate. How could it be any other way?

Cornbabies

As an artist, I wanted something that could tell the story of my people, the Lumbee. I have always enjoyed working with clay. It simply comes natural to me. I find it a medium that is easy to control and shape. As an experienced potter, I began making Native American figurines and named them “cornbabies”. I came up with the concept from my childhood. Growing up on a farm, my daddy grew corn. When the ears of corn began developing, they would always have the prettiest golden or pink silks flowing out the top of the corn. I would pull one of the ears of corn with the golden yellow silks to make a baby doll. I would add some pieces of cloth and I would be ready to play house. Today, as I shape the clay, I draw inspiration from the intricate structure of an ear of corn. The kernels, husks, and flowing lines are meticulously crafted to reflect both the organic beauty of the corn and the graceful form of the female figure. Each figurine is a testament to the nurturing and life-giving qualities inherent in both nature and women.

I form the clay into different shapes by rolling, curling, cutting, squeezing, flattening, or slabs. I use different clay bodies or hues for skin tones instead of underglazes, and admit I sometimes run into problems because of the different moisture content and shrinkage of the clay bodies. I work with coils as well as the wheel, blending the old with the new. I created a mold for a native pattern of eagle feathers and accents in a circular pattern from plastalina molding clay. I then poured molten aluminum metal into the mold. After it cooled, I extracted the solid metal casting. Upon cleaning it, I had my finished work, a shield. Referring to my art, “I try to put a little Lumbee into each piece and want to find it a good home.”

I have returned to my roots. I now process raw indigenous clay found in my backyard to make workable vessels and other forms that are very similar to those found on ancestry land thousands of years earlier. In my studio, the raw clay undergoes a transformation. Each step, from kneading to shaping, is meticulously done with intention and respect for the material. The clay speaks to me, guiding my hands to create forms that are both functional and artistic. The firing process is where the magic happens – the raw earth metamorphoses into a durable and timeless piece of pottery. Each with its unique color, character and story.

Andrew Massey

Like many other artists, my path to ceramics was not linear. Drawing from my interest in machinery, architecture, and design, I started my college career studying mechanical engineering but quickly shifted my perspective to art as soon as I started engaging with clay. The material drew me in. I was compelled by its tactile nature: how it could be shaped on the wheel, sculpted, and then changed back to stone through the help of fire. As in a potters right of passage, the teapot form captivated me and I began throwing, extruding, cutting and assembling sculptural teapots. Drawing from my love of the mechanical word I incorporated this aesthetic of industrial components into my work and it has melded with my process of assemblage and interest in detailed carving. My current body of work has blossomed from the teapot form into more functional and sculptural directions. I find the balance between functionality and sculpture alluring. I stretch scale, function, and perceived function with my work. I play with both traditional forms, with detailed layered surfaces, and whimsical sculptural pieces where I incorporate many different assemblage techniques. I do not try to fully fool the eye with my surfaces and shapes but rather draw inspiration from the architectural and mechanical world while retaining what I love about the quality of clay.

Brenna Dee Ceramics

My body of work is wheel-thrown from porcelain clay and high fired in an electric kiln. I mix all of my crystalline glazes in small batches from raw materials and apply them by hand, building up several coats of glaze with a brush. I employ a long firing cycle, utilizing multiple holds at varying temperatures to achieve the two dimensional crystals on my pieces.

My forms are composed of simple, clean lines and I return at multiple points in the making process to refine the profile of each piece. I find that this minimalism provides a refined canvas that allows the glazes to shine, offering a sense of play within a paradigm of precision.

Miolla Ceramics

My work is all handbuilt by using the ancient techniques of coiling and pinching. This process of creating helps me practice to be more grounded and calm both in the studio and out. The slowness of these techniques has a way of connecting me to the present moment, teaching me patience and allowing me to accept things as they come. My finger markings from pinching visibly show the process and add to the uniqueness of each surface. Overtop the textured surfaces I create a range of designs that are sometimes simple, to focus more on the forms, but sometimes they have a playful feel with drawings, colors and carvings. These designs are either hand painted using underglaze or hand drawn using underglaze pencils. My passion for creating started in 2D with drawing and painting so it was only natural to incorporate that into my ceramic work. I also love to make vases with curves and angles, using just a clear glaze or a matte glaze to accentuate their silhouettes.

Reiko Miyagi

Drawing inspiration from the Japanese belief of "yaoyorozu no kami," which holds that all beings and objects possess a spirit, my art embraces the interconnectedness of nature and our surroundings. Growing up in Japan, where nature is central to culture, I developed an appreciation for its subtle aesthetics. Through my work, I aim to nurture the mind and foster harmony, reflecting the spiritual essence present in all things. My Studio Tabula Rasa's name symbolizes a fresh, open mindset, where each creation begins anew. Inspired by natural forms and ancient cultures, I express my gratitude for the beauty of the world, recognizing that while I cannot replicate nature’s perfection, my art honors its impact on our lives. Handmade, natural objects are key to creating positive environments and celebrating the precious moments we share. Through my craft, I seek to inspire harmony and beauty in the spaces they inhabit.

Sean O'Connell

I believe in the beauty of handmade objects. Making functional pottery is a deliberate attempt at slowing down, connecting to something deeper, and taking time to appreciate the pleasure of labor.

Ben Owen III

I remember, from my early years in clay, my grandfather’s frequent advice, “Keep it simple, Son. Keep it simple.”
How can something that sounds so easy on its face value prove to be an incessant and monumental daily challenge? I am constantly striving to advance my repertoire of shapes, colors, effects, and expressions while simultaneously honoring my grandfather’s voice, which was drawn from his forefathers’ experiences in clay. Hailing from a deep-rooted pottery tradition and becoming the family’s first university-educated clay artist, I am challenged to sort through the balance of tradition and vision, finding my own unique voice in the chorus of fine performances. I strive to create truly new works of art in clay that are clearly “Ben Owen III”, while paying homage to the time-honored Owen aesthetic.
Some of my works appear in traditional Owen shapes; rendered in a new, grand scale; and modeling colors and finishes of which my forefathers never dreamed. I am intrigued by the exploration of matrix and cohesion relating to glass and pigments. The discovery that follows often leads to the next big question along my journey, as I seek to take my discovery to the next level. I move slowly and methodically along my path, often stopping to evaluate my adherence to my grandfather’s guiding principle of simplicity.
My current work carries the echoes of deep history from the Asian cultures which have been consciously studied by Owen potters for three generations; and the stories of England and early America, as my forefathers were the makers of the settlers’ simple necessities including whiskey jugs, candlesticks, butter churns, and canisters. I attempt to breathe new life into these simple earthen vessels; infusing them with artistic vision that makes them comfortable at the world’s finest locations, yet friendly enough to be daily companions.

Gillian Parke

Fine bone china and porcelain are frequently associated with treasured heirlooms that are passed down between generations. My association with porcelain stems from early childhood summer trips to visit my grandmother in Northern Ireland, where she would take me to local china shops to buy small porcelain souvenirs. As I pursued my ceramic education, and started working with porcelain, these memories came to the forefront to influence both my techniques and directions. My current work combines elements of manufactured porcelain and Japanese pottery, particularly Shigaraki and Imari ware. Fine porcelain is highly processed and purified, mass-produced, and fired in a controlled manner using saggars, effectively removing any evidence of an individual artist. In contrast, Shigaraki ware is typically handmade stoneware with feldspar inclusions fired in an anagama kiln, the only decoration coming from the randomness of wood ash. Imari is highly decorated porcelain that was for the export mark

Parmentier Pottery

We have been working together in clay for over 45 years. Each piece moves back and forth between the two us to complete all of the intricate steps involved in our work. As nationally recognized potters, we have participated in nearly every major art fair in the county. We are members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, Piedmont Craftsmen and Carolina Designer Craftsmen. Our Mars Hill studio is open by appointment where custom orders are always welcome. For the past 10 years we have been members of Ariel Gallery, located in downtown Asheville, one of the most prominent craft co-operative galleries in the country.

Teresa Pietsch

My work is all about color and subtle texture and the red earthenware as the lifeblood underneath. I decorate each piece using a mono-print slip transfer method. I start by painting colored slip onto newsprint and then placing the newsprint onto leather hard clay and rubbing it until the image has been transferred onto the clay. This creates a weathered texture and adds an aspect of imperfection. I then embellish the image with slip dots or carved lines for another layer of texture and detail. Most of my work is fired in a gas soda kiln. I spray a solution of soda ash into the kiln towards the end of the firing and this glazes the pots. The soda glaze and a light reduction, gives me a variation to the surface that I find appealing. My hope is that my work brings a smile and joy to the person using the piece.

Gretchen Quinn Pottery

I make functional ceramics with a clean, modern feel. The starting point for all of my pottery is to make something that I would like to have and use in my own home. It seems so simple, but it took me a long time to finally embrace this idea. Once I did, my pots just started to come out better and developed into a cohesive collection.

I’ve always been under the spell of well-made crafts and much of what I make spins out from my love of Danish Modern and Shaker designs where simplicity, utility and honesty are the guiding principles in their work.

My pieces are handmade out of a beautiful, dark brown stoneware clay and finished with a glossy white glaze. I decorated each piece with a variety of mix and match, hand carved patterns that emerge after the glaze firing. The pattern details that I add to my pottery are carved freehand. I never use pre-made patterns, templates or textures. To me, it’s the freehand carving that makes my pots feel fresh and modern and what tells the user that every piece is handmade.

All of my pottery is made and fired in my Raleigh studio and durably designed for daily use.

John Ransmeier

Making pots, for me, has always been about evolution.The functional work seems to get a little better as the years go by and the sculptural pieces are improving as well.Glazes ,of course, are always a challenge but I enjoy seeing them mingle on the pots and am determined to always try new combinations of overlap and blending.I hope to always stay in touch with the amazing possibilities of this material and feel lucky to have had a chance to explore a small part of them.

Sabha

My journey with clay began in childhood, thanks to my mother. She placed me in the sandbox in our backyard, where I began shaping mud-pies and discovering the joy of working with mud. I’ve never left that box.

My work is best described as having an Esoteric Sensibility. It reflects my fascination with the hidden, the mystical, and the obscure elements of ceramics. I seek to engage with meanings that may not always be obvious—drawing on symbolism, the arcane, and the profound. Lately, my focus has shifted toward themes of skin and aging—vessels that embody the imperfect, the impermanent, the cycles of growth, and eventually, decay. Clay, with its raw and organic nature, is the ideal medium for conveying this narrative to both the viewer and the user.

There’s a mysticism in my approach to the craft. I invite the observer to look beyond the surface and explore deeper, more personal interpretations. The texture of clay in my pieces often mirrors the texture of skin, creating a tactile and symbolic dialogue that invites contemplation.

Greg Scott

I am a ceramist, painter, sculptor, and teacher dedicated to creating expressionist works that bridge Fine and Decorative Arts through painting and ceramics. By continuously exploring form and surface, I draw inspiration from historical influences while crafting pieces with remarkable depth. My distinctly anthropomorphic vessels are defined by their foot, navel, and surface, reflecting a unique fusion of structure and expression. A fluid, intuitive approach to drawing, form, and color is at the core of my painterly vessels, giving them a dynamic and expressive presence.

Eric Serritella

Yes…we are to blame. We are messing up the environment. Humans’ continued disregard and negative actions are eliminating ecosystems and driving extinctions. The planet is warming, lands are burning, waters are rising, and resources are disappearing. This is our doing, and we need to change our behaviors now. The planet will outlast us. It is our present world, and the future world of our children, that we are trashing.

Artwork has a voice, and mine speaks to environmental awareness and changing behaviors. Each sculpture captures and holds the beauty nature maintains, even when in peril. My work is a conduit to emotion through inquiry, recognition and familiarity. It serves as an arena for connection, resonance and reverberation.

Through aging and decay my sculptures challenge the viewer with both the nature of the material and the messages within. I unearth how nature maintains its splendors with tenacity and triumphs of existence, despite human disregard. I appreciate how materials mirror the environment’s fragility and durability—easily damaged if disrespected and yet invincible in their inherent beauty and longevity.

Each organic creation is filled with metaphor, both literal and implied. Anthropomorphic elements and vessel forms link humanity as timelessly inseparable from our natural surroundings. Each sculpture fosters awareness to affect viewers’ behaviors toward the environment that must change immediately and begin by walking with softer steps.

Jenny Lou Sherburne Pottery

I want my work to express a sense of exuberance and joy, and to that end I apply an abundance of decoration and a bright colors. Currently I work in two different clays and temperatures as I feel that they bring out to two slightly different styles. My porcelain work speaks to the "production potter" in me, requiring less extreme forms and finer tuned decoration. My work in earthenware is more energetic, with deeper textures and gestural forms. It's important to me to try to keep my making process fun, and even adventurous. I am inspired most by Dr. Suess, and Antonio Gaudi while taking great joy in all the permutations of our organic world as well as all our man made attempts to recreate and honor it.

Andy Smith

My three-dimensional work is a fusion of traditional and organic forms. My love of architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright is seen in the two-dimensional pieces. I fire using raku, smoked, and sagger techniques. These varied firing techniques add to the texture and creative appeal. It is my intention that my work enhance the spaces in which they reside.

Gertrude Graham Smith

I love and celebrate the movement and soft responsive feel of porcelain clay thrown on a potters wheel in my pieces. Strong profile/form and tactile interest reflecting the clay's reaction to touch are vital. Altering the forms and surfaces of freshly thrown pieces immediately on the wheel can evoke a sense of lively spontaneity. All my work, except large scale pieces, is single-fired, (i.e. glazed when leather-hard), in a soda kiln where flames decorate anticipated edges and glazes particularly responsive to firing in soda are utilized. If I have to analyze the work, it celebrates a childhood enthralled with animated cartoons, cups and saucers whirling in dance combined with awe at the formal beauty of my grandmother's holiday table settings. My contemporary interpretation is in functional and whimsical porcelain. Larger pieces are built up over weeks by throwing soft coils off of the leather hard sections below. Smaller objects are fully functional, sturdy for eating, washing up, and stack easily, patterns and colors creating a kind of interactive sculpture. Candelabra reflect a current desire and passion to bring more light into the world.

Rachel Smith Pottery

Working with clay in Seattle in the early seventies, my work reflects the Scandinavian, Japanese and native people of the Pacific Northwest. Even earlier, my mother put clay in my hands and showed me how to make a pinch pot bird. Influences include teachers from the UW in Seattle, Patti Warashina and Robert Sperry in Ceramics, and Richie Kehl, who not only taught drawing, but encouraged experiment. A week long clay workshop with Michael Simon reinforced the idea of experiment. My time of teaching pottery, in Seattle and in North Carolina, taught me how to break down processes and encourage experiment for my students. I have always worked with cone 10 reduction fired clay, mostly stoneware, with some forays into Raku. Most of my work is functional, altered thrown pieces, and slab built. Recent explorations have added what I call hanging sculptures, and face masks, a harken back to a fellow student who shared face techniques that he learned from Ben Sams. I love using found and created textures on functional and sculptural work. I continue to wonder, what would happen if!

Ariana Stein

When I make pots, I am weaving together the facets of my identity. I grew up in a multicultural household, with a Hungarian mother and American father. Hungarians take much pride in pastoral customs, traditional craft, and folklore. I credit childhood immersion with the aesthetics of my ceramic work.
My decorative patterns depict floral motifs and birds, two common patterns found in Hungarian pottery. I paint my designs with colored slips in an organic, flowing fashion similar to pottery from Korond in Eastern Hungary and Transylvania. I sometimes create large narrative vessels depicting folk tales, combining lush imagery with a personal, often feminist interpretation. Each element of form, decoration and narrative works together to create a conversation around the timelessness and value of folk culture.
While my decorations and concepts draw from Hungarian traditions, my processes correlate to my immersion in American pottery. I work in the pottery town of Seagrove NC, surrounded by the town’s rich history of ceramics tied to the unique geology of our region. I work with local stoneware bodies and salt fire my work, both techniques used historically in North Carolina pottery. My work finds a middle ground in two separate folk styles, reflecting my personal experience and culture.

David Stuempfle

My work is at the intersection of traditional art and contemporary studio pottery. In addition to the many technical problems all potters face, I also consider other questions: Can my work be a part of my surrounding environment while also relating to pottery in other parts of our shrinking world? Is it possible to make traditional pottery based on innovation and integrity instead of reproduction and romance? Can I learn to make things that reflect my other interests in nature, music, travel, and books? Balancing these concerns, I’ve tried to make pottery that is unique to myself and communicates with others. While materials and process are equally important, my natural emphasis has been form. I’ve tried to use my past experiences as a repetition potter constructively by making individual pieces in related series. I keep an open mind to accommodate changing ideas. Some days I am searching for a new gesture, other times I am trying to distill a shape down to what is absolutely necessary. Although good ideas, materials, and techniques are essential, for me, judgment is left for the finished work alone. Studying history has taught me an appreciation of the great diversity of ceramics, and has also given me an awareness of our own short time to contribute. This has led me to focus on a limited range of work with the intention of exploring it in depth. My most recent work includes hand built sculptural forms, smaller functional pots, as well as contemporary and traditional larger pieces.

Angelique Tassistro Herron

Angelique Tassistro creates functional pottery with a sculptural approach. As a child, Angelique mistook the word “imagination” as “magic nation,” and she dreamt of such a land where dreams came true. This idea of “magic nation” stayed with Angelique over the years and has become her life philosophy of sorts.

Raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in an eccentric Southern family that fostered play and creativity, Angelique recalls a childhood marked by wondrous adventures like fort-building and elaborately themed birthday celebrations with larger-than-life cakes fashioned four-stories high. She’s continually inspired by these fanciful childhood memories, and especially of playing dress-up in her grandmother’s home. The house was Angelique’s first “magic nation,” and the attic especially enchanted her; to this day, it’s still brimming with vintage clothes, 1940’s hats, costumes, bolts of fabric, old paintings, broken furniture, and piles of books.

Those rich and imaginative childhood adventures fully stoked Angelique’s pursuit of creative endeavors and inform the unique style of her handmade ceramics. Each piece is approached with the attitude of “dress up,” demanding playfulness and imagination. She uses clay to create simple forms embellished with enchantment, raw and colorful patterns that exude a definite child-like—but not childish—quality, like a tea party for adults. Her style is fun and a bit outrageous. Her cake plates are perfect matches for extravagant desserts and her wine cups beg to be held with two hands.

Angelique’s work is playful and vibrant, with architecturally-influenced forms made alive with layers of color and dynamic lines. She uses a unique subtractive process to work backwards in time through the layers of visual information previously added to her pots.

Angelique’s surfaces are created by layering underglazes on top of another. Each pattern has five colors of underglaze. Two colors cover the entire piece, Angelique uses a wooden tool to hash a pattern into the wet underglaze. Then three accent colors are used to fill in the pattern. After the underglaze dries it is washed off under running water. The pieces are allowed to dry completely before Angelique buffs each one with a dry rag. She uses a underglaze pencil to add depth and highlighting the shapes of color. Lastly, Angelique adds a clear gloss glaze.

Angelique uses white earthenware clay. Her pieces are electric fired to cone 6. Underglazes are almost all Ammaco velvet series. She has been known to mix her own colors by mixing multiple colors together to get the desired color she is looking for.

Charlie Tefft

I create functional pottery that brings joy to everyday moments, blending utility with narrative through hand-painted animal imagery. My work is inspired by my lifelong fascination with the natural world, particularly the wildlife of North America. I aim to capture the energy and character of these animals, using them as a way to create connections between people, place, and pottery.
Each piece begins with wheel-thrown or hand-built forms made from white stoneware or porcelain clay. After bisque, I apply layers homemade oxide washes and some underglaze to illustrate birds, foxes, rabbits, and other animals in motion or repose. The pieces are then finished with an ash-based glaze and fired in a gas kiln, where the fluidity of the glaze combined with the brushwork, contribute to the uniqueness of every piece.
I strive to create pottery that is both visually engaging and deeply functional—objects that invite use and interaction while fostering a sense of connection to nature and the handmade. Ultimately, I hope my work enriches daily rituals, whether through a favorite mug for morning coffee or a serving bowl passed around the table.

Kate Waltman

Working with the traditional tools of a potter’s wheel and wood-burning kiln, I transform local clays into objects of beauty and desire. I work in cadence with tradition to bring historically influenced ceramic objects into the modern age as employable and decorative pots.
My vessels begin as raw local earth that are diligently processed into clay, slips, and glazes. The limitation of materials gives structure and freedom to my making, allowing me to fully explore the subtlety and character of each variant as I compose a body of work. 
I begin the surfaces by carving an underlying armature of lines that stick to the bones of my forms, providing an arbor on which to cultivate patterns. Precise incising illustrates the surrounding flora, depicting the constraint of wild plants into domestic gardens. Through extensive drawing I hone a plant to its essential silhouettes, using the resulting motifs to structure my forms with symmetrical balance. Rhythmic ordering overtakes the capriciousness of nature just as the form of a domestic pot masters the feral clay.
The pots, damp and raw, are committed to a kiln. The earth joins with the fire’s erratic atmosphere regaining a bit of its wildness, and fusing with the patterns. 

Evelyn Ward

My pots are simple in form and surface design with architectural references. I try to make balanced pots that would be nice to have in the home for use or just be around. I really enjoy making pots and hope that they bring a little light to people’s lives. I’m currently working with a dark brown stoneware clay because I love the rich color of the clay body and wanted to have some areas of bare clay showing through on the surfaces of the pots. I’m using a printing technique called mono-print transferring to decorate the surfaces. I paint slip onto cut pieces of paper and then transfer them onto the pot making a design. I love the imperfections that this process leaves on the surface of the pot. And the clean lines I can get from the process. I started out as a printmaker and have always gravitated to the qualities of hand printed images.

Julie Wiggins Pottery

Julie Wiggins Pottery offers mindfully handmade porcelain pots/wares for the home. As a maker, one of my primary goals is to create useful, well-designed handmade objects that strike a balance between uniquely functional forms and a narrative design. Crafted using a combination of wheel thrown and hand built techniques using clay slabs. A variety of bisque and plaster molds are used to capture a form or shape. Often, each piece is touched 9 times from start to finish. Floral imagery and geometric patterns accent the work using transparent glazes, the surface designs stand out with the hand drawn inlay of blue and black slip. Pots are fired in an electric or wood/salt kiln to 2300 degrees using glazes Julie developed. Building on her formal academic training, experience as a non-profit ceramics studio manager and teacher. Julie spent several years refining her current line of functional pots. Her signature style is unique with drawings of floral and geometric designs combined with utilitarian pots for the home. Julie has traveled throughout Asia, Europe and Central America studying historical pots. She brings these ideas back into her studio to create a contemporary approach with a nod to history. Each piece is hand drawn with decorations reflecting her love of nature, connections with others, movement and captured memories of growing up on the coast of North Carolina and travels around the world. Woman owned, handmade from start to finish in her Bakersville, NC studio where she lives near Penland School of Crafts where she tends to her gardens with her pup, Leon Bridges and 2 cuddle kitties, Trixie and Smokey.