artists

Malcolm Davis

Malcolm Davis works exclusively in porcelain and is famed for the shino glaze named after him.  His studio is in West Virginia, but he travels extensively to teach around the country.  He has recieived numerous grants, prizes and awards, and his work is in many prestigious collections.

Bill Shillalies

"I have been working in clay for 25 years. Working in woodfiring, pit firing, horse hair firing, soda firing and raku, my vessels take their influences from natural forces in our environment. I find physical impules are represented in the process of creating the work and the finished piece."

Andrew Quient

Andrew Quient earned his architecture degree at Syracuse University and his master's degree in art education at Queens College of CUNY. He formerly taught ceramics and design at colleges in the New York area, and now divides his time between doing his own work and teaching at his studio. He also travels the United States to give workshops. Andy's work has been published in Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter.

Posey Bacopoulos

Posey Bacopoulos is a studio potter working in  New York City. She has been making pots for more than twenty years.  Her work has been shown in many national juries and invitational exhibitions. It has won awards in the Tenth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National and the International Orton Cone Box Show. It has recently been published in several books including The Ceramic Design Book, The Best of Pottery 2, and The Art of  Contemporary American Pottery.

Julia Galloway

"I am interested in pottery that is joyous; objects that weave into our daily lives through use. Pottery decorates our living spaces with character and elegance. Teapots celebrate our drinking tea; a pitcher decorates a mantel when not in use; a mug with slight texture inside the handle allows our fingers to discover uniqueness. Pottery is a reflection of us. In making cream and sugar sets I am curious about their own inherent dialogue; the set itself is reminiscent of close conversations and their ritual celebratory use."

Barbara Karyo

"I strive to capture a figurative gesture, movement and personality that will resonate with the viewer emotionally. My teapots developed out of the desire to work on a smaller scale and with more playful and spontaneous forms than those of my sculptures. They have become a passion."

Sam Taylor

"To this day I am more influenced by the pots and potters around me than anything else. I aspire to make the pot that is wholly clear, that unquestionably and effortlessly meets the expectations of its user. I like to make a lot of pots believing that clarity emerges through repetition and observation. I like firing with wood because the same qualities of observation and repetition are important. Each firing is different which can be disappointing because nothing is exactly as beautiful as the time before and exciting because some pots are more beautiful than ever."

Toni Ross

"Shino is a perfectly imperfect glaze that keeps me wanting more: wanting to see the glint of gold, the burst of red or the simple yet complex shades of white that are never quite the same as the time before.  Shino - I love the colors, the feel, the interaction with the atmosphere both before and during firing.  I love the immediacy of shino and the breadth of time and place that it captures.

The surprises are at once exhilarating and terrifying."     

Stephen Heywood

"My work takes influence from things that are industrial, mechanical and manmade.  I often reference architectural structures that have surrounded me throughout my life. These consist of barns, silos, factories and water towers as well as many other structures. Many of these buildings are used for containment and are in essence vessels of function.  These buildings, which are often run down and abandoned show with their weathered exterior textures of flaking paint and rusted steel, a course of production and history.  In my work I look to their weathered exterior textures for inspiration and ideas on surface treatment."

Brian Jensen

Brian Jensen earned a MFA in ceramics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and currently teaches at Utah Valley State College.  He also works at Brigham Young University as the Ceramic Studio Manager.  His current work references an assortment of architectural styles combined with elements of antique furniture.  "In this body of work, I'm exploring the idea of storage...what we store, where we put it and why we keep it in the first place."

Lai Montesca

"Clay is the language in which I can converse with
the world. I like to think that someone I've never met can hold one of my pots and they will know more about me in that instant than a page of words could ever convey."