My chosen medium of clay is one that I engage in a three way conversation.

It speaks to my head, my hands, and my heart.

It’s this interaction that for me is my creative process.

I've always adored ancient art and this hankering is apparent in my choices: the weathered pastel colors of medieval murals, lustery Raku glazes and the soft, smoky variations possible in sawdust firing. Simple sculptural shapes and wall pieces show these off best.

Clay came into my life after my last child left for college. After several classes at various art centers I was hooked. Simply put, clay feels so good and is so much fun. Everyone should have something in her/ his life that keeps that person engaged to the point that all else falls away. My goal is to create ceramic work that brings together function and visual appeal. I want my pottery to encourage use and at the same time be pleasing to the eye. Visual appeal may be enhanced from glazes breaking over texture or, on a smooth surface, from two or more glazes moving together to form fascinating combinations and patterns.

I am a part-time studio potter, but I find that particular part of the time is usually the best.

I first learned to throw in college (let's all just agree that was a long time ago and try not to dwell on it). My clay life has multiple facets, like many of my recent pots.  I am a huge sucker for ceramics workshops, I voraciously read books about pots and potters, and I shamelessly fire various and sundry kilns as often as I can generate the pots to put in them. I am especially intrigued by the surfaces generated by firing in atmospheric kilns; wood, salt or soda. The fact that during an atmospheric firing you usually end up playing with a huge fire doesn’t hurt either. 

My most recent body of work is thrown, textured, wood-fired, functional porcelain. I continue to be astonished that I have found a way to monetize my pyromania.

Peyton has been working with clay since she was just 14 years old, and founded Cloud 9 Clay in 2018. For Peyton, the creation process is grounding, centering, fluid, and pushes the boundaries of non-attachment and exploration both in the studio & beyond. At Cloud 9 Clay, each small batch, limited edition, and one of a kind ceramic ware is handmade from concept to completion by Peyton Flynn in Philadelphia. Created with a light heart and an open imagination, Cloud 9 Clay's experimental and ever evolving clay creations aim to brighten home & mood throughout one's daily rituals & routines. Cloud 9 Clay focuses primarily on wheel thrown stoneware forms, as well as patterned slabs, big sculptural vessels, and wood fired wonders.

I began working with clay when Paulus Berensohn came to Swarthmore College in 1963. I then continued at the Community Arts Center and several of us, led by Paulus, started the Potters Guild. Once, while working with clay in the mountains, I saw some plants that were apparently growing out of the rocks. This inspired me to begin throwing closed forms, which I began altering and joining together to form planters as well as small table fountains to which plants could be added.

“…from the Kindergartener’s elephant pinched in white earth, fired in glost sateen, beloved of an artisan Mother heroine…along the fervor of pit-fired sawdust, at 13 staving-off elusive academics as the earth itself smoldered to reveal the concrete…, through dreams of Vulcan hammering an identity out of work in Cornwall 35 years ago where legends had pointed toward weigh…, glancing far off the gallery life of Washington as clay darlings vied for portent…, to digging in the Crum Creek mud back home with the Clay Buddy, making it chunky and my own once again, re-acquiring that which I never really had…, should you more need words, there is work to behold…”

Born into a family of artists and raised in NYC, my life has been influenced by form, color and texture.  Although I’ve not had a great deal of formal training my experience of the world has always been through visual and tactile senses. For the last 10 years I have studied at the Community Art Center in Wallingford, Pa.  There I have taken classes in Wheel Throwing, Hand Building, Carving, Glazing, Burnishing and Smoking techniques, Rake and more recently, Sculpting.  It is the human form and the integration of it into my pieces that has become the focus of my work.

I am stunned by the beauty that humans are capable of expressing through art. Throughout my life I have investigated different creative mediums taking from each something that I could build on.  When I am working I find a place within myself full of stillness and gratitude, vision and possibility, my own uniqueness and still a kinship with others.  Clay has given me a path that allows me to integrate and bring all my experience together.  It offers endless possibilities

Price always seems to be the deal breaker. I’ve often heard “why should I pay $20.00 for a handmade mug, when I can go to “the store” and pay $5.00?”. Yeah, well the Second Hand Store has a wall of those “store” mugs for fifty cents. How do you compare the integrity and joy derived from an item made by a human to one a machine has poured into a mold, most likely in a place where living conditions/wages would be unacceptable to you? My answer: What karma would you want with your coffee?

My primary interest in ceramics has always been functional ware with a decided bent towards the decorative. With function as its primary touchstone, my work is made to be handled and regarded. I like this sort of connection between art and utility. I don’t consider the parameters of functionality to be limiting; nor do I believe that being suited for a purpose requires my work to be overly predictable or ordinary. Rather, harmonizing the demands of utility with those of imparting some measure of magic to everyday things, is a challenge I find inspiring. As I work on a piece, then, I aim to infuse an extra dimension that delights the user’s senses and illuminates what otherwise might have been a mundane moment. My work is made loosely to belie the stone-like quality of fired ceramic. I alter, decorate, and embellish both wheel thrown and hand built pieces and have little concern with exactness or symmetry. My primary sources of inspiration are Victorian and Art Nouveau decorative arts where enchanting the eye with extravagance and excess is paramount and the principle of “less is more” is delightfully ignored!

Currently an Associate with The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and a member of the Potters Guild, Jill graduated with a degree in Ceramics from a cooperative program at The George Washington University and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. Since then, she has continued taking advanced courses in ceramics and has attended many clay workshops around the country. Before coming to Philadelphia, Jill owned a pottery in Tampa, FL. In her previous life, Jill was a practicing attorney in Washington D.C. .

I have a passion for making functional pottery.  It makes my life whole to create pots to use every day as well as those I might only want to look at.  I love the challenge of making something as generic as a cup because it can represent my interests in art, its history, science, and the context of use.  I love that despite everything that goes into making a cup it really comes down to whether you want to use it or not.  Some cups are so successful that I reach for them every time I open the cabinet and only if they aren’t there will I choose another cup as an alternative.  Some are wonderful to look at, the image speaks to me or the shape is seductive but in the context of use, usage is the lesser part of the pleasure.  My pots are very personal things and I am gratified to think someone else has one of my pots because they developed a personal relationship with it too.  Many of my vases are not meant for bountiful bouquets of flowers.  They ask for only a few because they need to work with the vase.  My plates will often compete with the food.  One of my most respected colleagues once asked me in a critique whether, in fact, I actually liked to cook and eat!  The challenge for me is to create pots that continue to grow and change their visual identity as I change my relationship with the clay itself.  Whether successful or not, the thing that keeps me interested in making functional forms is the opportunity to keep rethinking what I know and value about working with clay.
I have worked as a K-12 art teacher, college professor, full time studio potter, and now chair the art department at Westtown School while teaching clay to 6th-12th graders but the one constant in my life has been working with clay and my family thinks that this is what keeps me sane!

I am elbow deep in love with all things clay! Clay found me by accident, and I've been hooked ever since. 

My utilitarian, decorative and sculptural work can be wheel thrown or hand built. I make traditional stoneware work that is often altered and almost always decorated with multiple glazes carefully hand-mixed, applied in layers, glaze fired, and slow cooled. 

Most recently, I've been experimenting with a variety of outdoor raku and saggar firing techniques, which gives me the opportunity for more hands-on involvement in that final firing process where all the magic happens. 

I teach classes and workshops, and can most often be found in my home studio in Downingtown, PA where my rescue dogs keep me company while I immerse myself in this labor of love.  

My other life plans were immediately derailed once I was "kidnapped by clay" in college.
I have maintained a studio in West Chester since the late 70's and sell my work thoughout the USA as well as the Potter's Guild shows. I love functional work and it pleases me to know my stuff has become a part of somebody else's daily life... And doesn't an artful presentation make everything taste better?

Visit my website at www.claybornpottery.com or e-mail me at nsalamon@thepottersguild.com

Clay Born Pottery
349 W. Barnard Street
West Chester, PA 19382
610.431.7420

For me, clay is all about texture, shape and color. Even though I was trained with an MFA from Kutztown University, clay has always spoken to me in a way no other medium possibly could. As I enjoy painting and drawing as well as clay, my working goal is to combine all these elements into one object through gesture, composition and color. I am strongly influenced by all the organic shapes, colors, and textures of nature, as well as whimsical characters in storybooks and everyday life. I want the pieces to feel like they are going to start dancing, or start walking off the table. I want them to feel fun, yet provoke thought and deeper meanings about everyday life, both good and bad, the funny and the absurd! Each one-of-a-kind sculptural piece is hand build out of terracotta or stoneware clay, and starts out as a series of forms that I construct, building form on top of form, until I get the look that I desire. I also sometimes add copper wire, semi precious and glass beads, gold paint and found objects. Each series of functional objects focuses on fun color combinations and adding delight to the food, flowers and plants that can go in them. My wall and hanging pieces incorporate words and symbols that are personal to me, and the colors that compliment them. I teach throwing, hand building and glazing at numerous local art centers in the area, as well as school residencies and workshops. I get as much from my students, as they get from me, because I love the teaching environment, and all the excitement of sharing knowledge and creative ideas!! I have also been published in Lark books, such as: HANDMADE TILES, HANDBUILT CERAMICS and SURFACE DECORATION FOR LOW-FIRE CERAMICS. My studio is in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA.

You can see more of my work on my website: www.bernadettestillo.com or contact me at b.stillo@yahoo.com

Ryan Wheeler is a potter based in Phoenixville, PA. He earned his BFA in ceramics from the Tyler School of Art, and teaches throughout the Philadelphia area. His passion is creating functional pots, mainly through wood and salt firing techniques with a focus on texture and the weathering of the clay surface.

Nathan Willever was raised in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Maine College of Art, in Portland, Maine. He is currently a full time studio potter living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NateWilleverPottery

I was born and raised in Fredonia, KS and earned a BFA in Ceramics from Emporia State University. I have taught high school Art and Design, Ceramics and Computer Graphics for the past 18 years. In 2008 I made the decision to pursue my life long dream of becoming a full time studio potter. I have always been passionate about teaching, making the transition to studio potter still allows me to teach and share my expertise in the field

I draw my inspiration from Greek antiquity and my Mexican heritage. I am currently teaching wheel thrown ceramics at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA