The Potters Cast

Alice Ballard maintains a studio in Greenville, SC where she teaches part-time at Christ Church Episcopal Middle School.  She also taught at the SC Gov. School for the arts for 10 years, along with workshops at Penland, Arrowmont, Odyssey and for the American Crafts Council Southeast. Collections include the Renwick Gallery (DC), Mint Museum (NC), Resen Cermic Collection (Macedonia), state art col...

Kip O’Krongly earned a BA from Carleton College in 2001 and continued her ceramics education in studios across the country before returning to Minnesota as the Northern Clay Center Fogelberg Fellow, Materials Technician, and then Anonymous Potter Studio Fellow.  Kip has been featured as a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist, on the cover of Pottery Making Illustrated, and was the Best in Show winner...

Frances Palmer has been making ceramics since 1987. Frances was trained as an art historian, yet has always made work with her hands. First as a printmaker and now as a potter and gardener. Frances loves the process of changing ideas into form. She doesn't  make or grow things to hold onto them, but rather to send them out into the world for others to live with and enjoy. Her handmade ceramics are...

Mary Lou Zeek is a graduate from Western Oregon University and was a studio artist for 28 years as a ceramic artist. Mary knew the skill and passion artists pour into their work. Mary has supported the arts through her work on the Oregon Artists Series Foundation and the Salem Public Art Commission. But mostly Mary has supported the arts through the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery. When Mary first opened th...

Kajsa Leijström lives in the most southern part of Sweden, which is a popular tourist destination. Kajsa has been running her own pottery studio since 1999 and most of her production is wheel-thrown functional ceramics. About three years ago, Kajsa made a major change in her work and started to make high fired stoneware.

Ann Rea abandoned art for over a decade. When she returned to art Ann wowed the artist world in 2004 with vivid landscapes of the vineyards of California. In less than a year of starting her art business Ann was profitable. Since then Ann has added to her business of amazing canvas works prints, postcards, public speaking, and artist coaching. Ann is voice worthy of our ears.

Robert Chamberlin is a conceptual artist living and working in Boston, Massachusetts where he recently received his MFA from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Art. Working across media (photography, performance, ceramics etc.) to express ideas and promote conversation. Robert is often at the focus of his work. Tackling projects that channel a contemporary socio-political issues...

Chris Taylor works as a ceramicist in Devon, the South West of England. His current work, the ornamental vase series, consists of thrown vases decorated using a variety of techniques that are reminiscent of historical vessels. He currently lectures at Plymouth College of Art.

Sue Tirrell is a ceramic artist living and working in Paradise Valley, Montana.  She holds a BFA from Alfred University and spent many years teaching ceramics in school, museum and community settings before becoming a full-time studio artist in 2008.

Bruce Gholson and Samantha Henneke, are studio potters who live and work in central North Carolina, in a celebrated and unique community known as the Seagrove Potters.  This husband and wife team own and operate Bulldog Pottery, one of the more than 60 ‘open to the public’ potteries, nestled in the scenic countryside surrounding the town of Seagrove.  Bruce and Samantha work primarily with porcela...

Sharon Alpren is a British girl now living in Melbourne, Australia. Sharon's background is in textiles and used to be a fashion buyer.  She took up ceramics when she moved from London to outback Australia and (not suprisingly!) found no work in fashion in her new hometown. Instead Sharon discovered clay and quickly became addicted to the process of ceramics. Sharon has never looked back!

The work of Bianka Groves is thoughtfully functional and has the ability to complete the elegance of any interior space. Groves received her BFA in 2012 from Corcoran College of Art in DC. She taught at Baltimore Clayworks and recently moved to Minneapolis where she now teaches at Northern Clay Center and makes work out of her home studio.

Godeleine de Rosamel is a french ceramicist and illustrator. After working for 10 years in Paris, Godeleine moved to Los Angeles 14 years ago. She studied art at l'Ecole de Recherche Graphique ( ERG ) in Brussels Belgium. Godeleine has illustrated a number of books before deciding to make ceramics - which she had always practiced on the side since childhood - a major part of her work. Since then,...

Brandi Jessup is a writer, a traveler, a maker, and most recently the new owner and director of Taos Clay Studio in Taos, NM. She received her BFA in 2012 from Alfred University, and is currently learning to reconcile her art practice with her new role as first time business owner.

Maria Dondero makes pots and teaches in Athens, GA with her husband and twin boys.  She received her MFA from the University of Georgia in 2008 and has worked as a studio potter and adjunct teacher ever since.  She makes functional pots whose aesthetics draw on the age old and worldwide history of ceramics.  While subtly referencing pottery traditions from around the world, Maria intuitively sketc...

Sarah Blackwell is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY.  She holds a degree in drawing and printmaking from Hampshire College and is proud to be a founding member of the artistic amoeba, The Royal Frog Ballet.  Sarah started working with clay in 2011, first as a student at The Greenwich House Pottery and then as a studio assistant at Clay Space 1205 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  She currently...

Kate Maury received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Currently she resides in St. Paul, Minnesota where she is a studio resident at the Northern Clay Center and teaches full-time as a Professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Her work is featured in...

Born in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1959, Mary Fox moved with her family to British Columbia in 1966. Mary is self-taught and has worked solely as a potter since 1979. Mary's  works are exhibited nationally and internationally, and she especially enjoys the time that she spends with customers from around the world who visit Mary's studio in Ladysmith, on Vancouver Island.

Holly McKeen is known for her Crystalline glazed porcelain and functional ware. Selling from her own Gallery in Chilliwack BC Canada since 2005, Holly approached her Pottery business with an entrepreneurial attitude as well as an eye for the art. She’s shown that taking the leap to Pottery as a full time job can pay off.

Laura B. Cooper is a potter working around Athens, Georgia. In addition to her own work as Laura B. Cooper ceramics, she also operates a pottery studio and gallery in Bishop, Georgia with six other artists. Their group is called Long Road Studios, and is comprised of seven independent ceramic artists working together to accomplish more as a group than they ever could individually.

Jeremy Nichols grew up making and flying model aircraft leading to degree in Aeronautical Engineering(1971). Jeremy changed direction to a career in Social Work while he started making pots for relaxation. Eventually Jeremy caught the ‘bug’ and earned a degree in ceramics, focussing on saltglaze.  He graduated 1997 in and established a workshop on an ex-farm north of London, England. His work is s...

Jenni Ward is a ceramic sculptor, art instructor and owner at Earth Art Studio. She is passionate about working with clay to build abstract forms and installations that reflect the beauty of the natural world. A natural teacher and philanthropist, she shares her creativity with students at her home studio and abroad.

Linda Bloomfield trained as a materials scientist but always dreamed of becoming a potter. She works from her studio in west London where she has designed and made porcelain tableware ranges for Liberty, Harrods and ABC Home. She throws on the wheel in porcelain and makes beautiful translucent glazes, which she puts on the inside of forms.

Patick Noe graduated in 1980 with an art major from the College of Charleston in Charleston SC. Patrick's emphasis was on painting, but he also took sculpture and printmaking. After college Patrick worked in clay for 20 years but wanted to get back into painting without having to give up clay. He started to experiment with using woodcuts to create relief in clay slabs and then painting and firing...

Robert Briggs has been a potter in Springfield Missouri for around 20 years.  Robert has been a semi full-time potter sinse around 2006. Robert and his wife, Ruth participate in most of their local art fairs and have several pieces in local galleries. They produce crystalline porcelain and raku artware.