Melissa Zook's thrown and altered porcelain and stoneware vessels juxtapose modern minimal forms and organic mark-making. Using visual and haptic languages, she employs additive and subtractive processes to convey a sense of interruption on her surfaces, engaging the viewer and vessel in a tactile experience. Through exploration, being surprised, learning from the materials and process, and embracing the character that imperfections impart, Melissa infuses her vessels with the suspense created by the continual evolution of thought and creation. To enhance her vision, Melissa develops and fabricates many of her glazes.

Raised on a Chester County family farm, Melissa grew up relying on her imagination, hands, and grit. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA, and Pratt Institute with a Masters in Industrial Design.  After relocating her jewelry business from Brooklyn to the Philadelphia area in 2018, Melissa enrolled in a ceramics course to expand her jewelry line with a new material, clay. In the very last class of the session, she decided to try the pottery wheel….and so began the love affair.