Bev Andrews

Member: Kiln Club

email: bev.andrews@b1global.com

website: www.bev2art.com

instagram: bevsceramicart

 

The possibilities afforded by clay are endless.  I enjoy experimenting with different forms whether thrown on the wheel, hand built, or a combination of both. My goal is to create unique pieces that have character, simplicity and grace.  I like my vessels to reflect both the antique and contemporary and I find raku firing a great fit to achieve this goal.   The Zen concept of "shibui," which refers to "simple unaffected beauty in harmony with nature that has a tranquil effect upon the viewer" guides much of my work.  In addition to raku firing, I do wood and salt firings for my functional vessels.

 

 

Stephanie Basralian

Member: Ceramic Guild

website: www.stephaniebasralian.com

instagram: handbuiltceramics

 

Stephanie Basralian is a ceramic artist in Alexandria who makes handbuilt, often wood-fired, tableware and sculpture. Her work is both modern and rustic, highlighting form and the qualities of clay, and inspired by natural elements like rock, trees, and soil/clay itself.

 

 

Lisa Battle

Member: Ceramic Guild

website: www.lisabattlesculpture.com

instagram: lisabattlesculpture

 

My abstract ceramic sculptures and vases celebrate the primal forces of nature—earth, water and fire—and the animating energy streaming through all life. I work with coils and slabs of clay to explore form, line, and a sense of movement. My sculptures are wood fired, leading to surfaces that have depth and subtle variations of texture and color, imparted by the movement of wind and fire through the kiln.

 

 

 

Chuck Berk

Member: Ceramic Guild

website: www.charlesberkceramics.com

instagram: chuckberk

 

Charles Berk is a Virginia-based porcelain ceramicist. His work has influences from Asian ceramics, mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionism, and the Washington Color School. Through his use of color and form, Berk emphasizes the translucent and decorative nature of porcelain in each vessel he creates.

 

 

 

 

Ana Cavalcanti

Member: Ceramic Guild

instagram: fineceramics

 

Ana loves being a ceramic artist. Using her  hands as a tool enriches her soul and calms her mind. Her primary goal is to fuse functionality and art. Embossed textures play an essential role in her work. She works out of her home studio in Bethesda, MD, where she sells and teaches workshops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Coffin

Member: Kiln Club

email: jq.coffin@verizon.net

website: jennifercoffin.com

instagram: jqcoffin

I fell in love with ceramics during my college years at Old Dominion University studying fine arts. I also studied and worked at the Chrysler Museum School of Art in Norfolk, VA. It was at the Museum School that I gained my skill, knowledge, and appreciation for the ceramic arts. Since then my home studio has been my place of design and production. My work has shown and sold in the Washington, D.C. area for the past 25 years.

 

 

Lorraine Colson

Member: Kiln Club and Ceramic Guild

email: LOTO3944@gmail.com

Originally I was a functional stoneware potter until discovering crystalline gazes while visiting the Smithsonian craft show.  I was seduced by the magical quality of these glazes and intrigued by the chemical and firing challenges and unpredictability of the results.  Working strictly in porcelain, I strive to create shapes and surfaces that enhance and best display crystal formation as well as develop new recipes and kiln firing techniques to expand the pallet of crystal colors and shapes.

 

 

 

 

Christine Coyle

Member: Ceramic Guild

email: Christine@Cellardoorpottery.com, COYL4750@gmail.com

website: www.cellardoorpottery.com

facebook: CellarDoorPottery

instagram: coylepots

 

​Chris creates wheel thrown and hand built pieces. Her artistic vision is influenced by harmonious composition of the Far East and designs of the American Southwest​, ​setting shades of raw stoneware against glossy, vibrant high-fire glazes.

​Patterns in her pieces vary, a culmination of precisely placed individual indentations with as many as 500 typically used to decorate a vase.

 

 

Donna Downing

email: donnadowning@post.harvard.edu

 

Donna often experiments with decorative techniques to capture images of our natural environment, on both wheel-thrown functional pottery and on sculpture.  Favorite topics include horses, wetland birds, and amphibians – reflecting both her childhood in rural Oregon and career as an environmental lawyer.  Donna views pottery as a success if they either make somebody laugh or smile in reminiscence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pam Eisenmann

email: eisenmannclay@earthlink.net

website: eisenmannclay.com

instagram: eisenmannclay

 

Pam Eisenmann loves to work with full, fat forms reminiscent of living, growing things, and enjoys the sensuous, tactile aspects of clay. Her interests and influences vary among organic shapes, animal behavior, incongruities, comics and stories.  The resulting work sometimes takes the form of whimsical creatures, botanical shapes and surfaces, and altered vessels.

 

Laura Fall

email: graceland.clay@gmail.com

website: www.utility-ware.com

instagram: laurafallceramics

 

Laura is primarily a hand builder and works with soft slabs of stoneware clay.  She textures her slabs with imprints of utility meters, auto emblems, and many random objects that create interesting narratives.  Laura creates lamp bases, vases, trays, drinking vessels and wall hangings.  Her finished wares range from a dirty, distressed look to a refined translucent finish.  To Laura, clay is tactile, manipulative, and defiant; always presenting a creative challenge.

 

 

 

 

Tracie Griffith Tso

Member: Ceramic Guild and Kiln Club

email: inksart@gmail.com

website: inksart.com

website: torpedofactory.org

Etsy: TracieGriffithTso https://www.etsy.com/shop/TracieGriffithTso?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=780868468

facebook: facebook.com/Tracie-Griffith-Tso-59068853626/?pnref=lhc

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traciegriffithtso/

pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tgriffithtso/

 

Tracie Griffith Tso painted her first bamboo brushstrokes as a child at a brush painter's studio in California. She specializes in traditional spontaneous flower-bird painting. The award-winning artist developed her style with a teacher schooled by a Hong Kong master. She learned to throw pots at age 12, a skill which, when combined with painting, produces functional clay art.

Her work reflects compositions from an artist's vision. She paints without sketching, as she was trained on unforgiving black ink on rice paper or silk, so no two pieces are alike. She specializes in the freestyle drawing of animals and enjoys reflecting personality and movement in body language. Her subjects include koi, rabbits, pandas, squirrels, siamese cats, birds, horses, frogs and many more. Her unpainted clay forms are made by hand, adding decorative texturing inspired by classic silk designs. Compositions are painted and fired in an electric kiln, in excess of 2000° F, creating a microwaveable and dishwasher-safe durable stoneware.

Griffith Tso teaches Chinese brush painting, sells her pottery and prints at the the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Va. in Studios 22 and 19 and can be found there on Fridays painting. Also find a selection of pottery and prints at TracieGriffithTso on Etsy. She lives with her husband and furry muse workshop rabbit, Willow, in Reston, Va.

 

Mami Grignol

 

Mami creates handbuilt functional pieces and enjoys making practical ware such as butter dishes, meant to be used every day. She uses three types of clay, each with different coloration and properties, then selects specific surface decorations that showcase and integrate well with each earthy palette.

 

 

 

 

Shirley Gromen

Member: Ceramic Guild and Kiln Club

website: shirleygromenceramics.com

instagram: shirleygromenceramics

 

My work is a portal into the ever-changing natural world of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Using sgraffito to interpret different species of birds, fish, insects and plants on functional and sculptural porcelain forms I hope to bring to the user/viewer an awareness and appreciation of the variety of interdependent life that surrounds us.

 

 

 

 

Scott Kaye

Member: Ceramic Guild

website: Kayepottery.com

email: scott@Kayepottery.com

Functional pottery has been my passion for over 40 years. The Master Potters who mentored me taught me that form follows function. That concept has continuously guided my work.

I make functional pottery for daily use. I often utilize the curves of a handle or the motion of a ribbon to capture the fluidity of the clay. I focus on the pots purpose and I have refined my work over time to ensure that aesthetics and function are merged so that the work is not only beautiful to look at, but feels great and functions as you would expect.

 

 

Stephen Lally

Member: Kiln Club

website: www.stephenlallypotter.com

instagram: slallypottery

 

Stephen’s studio is in the Del Ray area of Alexandria, and he travels to Maryland and Pennsylvania to woodfire his pots. The firing lasts 24 hours, with the kiln burning two chords of scrap wood to reach the temperature of 2,300F. Portions of the pot are unglazed so that the passage of the flame is permanently recorded on the skin.

 

 

 

Marsha Lederman

Member: Kiln Club

email: mar.lederman@gmail.com

website: www.marshalederman.com

facebook: Marsha Lederman

instagram: Marlederman

I have always loved working with clay so I was so happy to be able to add sculpture back into the mix of my work, having spent most of my professional life as an illustrator, designer and portrait artist.

I am grateful to be part of a communal studio, working alongside other artists at The Lee Arts Center in Arlington where I’ve been able to follow my own inspiration as well as learning from other artists.

I like bringing aspects of the natural world into view; to enable people to bring the outdoors into their homes. Birds especially hold a special place for me, having taken care of and fledged baby birds from the time I was growing up, and bird watching wherever I find myself.

I also love to add personality and whimsy into my work and having people relate to each unique  piece.

Experimenting with various clay bodies and techniques has been a goal of mine, as well as exploring underglazes and glazes. Lately I’ve been creating sculptural hanging pieces, and sculptures, as well as vessels.

Image: "Flora", scultural wall lhanging, cone 6 with underglaze pencil, underglazes and glaze

 

Klaudia Levin

Member: Ceramic Guild and Kiln Club

email: kmlevin@comnetcore.net

website: klaudia-ceramics.com

facebook:  Klaudia.Levin

twitter: kmlevin@comnetcore.net

Working on the wheel is my one true passion. As an artist, it allows me the creative freedom to simply play with the clay. I work with both porcelain and stoneware and use various firing technics. The original shape of my pieces emerges from an organic creative process, in which I help the clay to take its final form.

Hand build and wheel thrown fruit bowl, made of stoneware and reduction fired.

 

Polina Miller

Member: Ceramic Guild

email: polinamiller@gmail.com

Polina Miller’s first home was in St. Petersburg, Russia, and her strongest artistic influences come from the many hours that she spent in the Hermitage museum, entranced by works of art from around the world and across time.

Polina is always striving to capture and master specific artistic techniques, or styles, and then finds herself eager to learn and master something new. In addition to drawing inspiration from nature, or from other forms of art, Polina has found that inspiration also comes from engaging with the local community of artists at the Lee Art Center and the Washington Ceramic Guild.

Polina says that turning dirt into beauty– combining the potter’s elements of earth and fire, are as close to magic as one can get. She thinks that making art is less about leaving your distinctive mark than simply doing what you love.

 

 

Laura Nichols

Member: Kiln Club

email: Laura@Pigpenpottery.com

website: Pigpenpottery.com

instagram: PigPenPotteryva

facebook: facebook.com/PigPenPottery

I have been making homemade pots for everyday use since the early seventies. Some refer to my decorative whimsies as “barnyard art,” and for good reason. I still live on the farm where I grew up. I live with the chickens, guineas, herons, foxes and owls that appear on my pots. My functional stoneware is fired to cone 6 in a reduction kiln.

Image:  Sourdough Starter Crock, thrown stoneware, reduction fired to cone 6

 

 

 

Barbara Nowak

Member: Kiln Club

email: BJNowak6012@Outlook.com

My predominate focus is making functional pieces to be enjoyed daily in the home but have also made some small sculptural work.  I enjoy the colors of nature and that influence shows up in my work.  I am also interested in texture and how glaze flows over the surface of a pot.  I have had some wonderful teachers over the years who have inspired and encouraged me in classes and workshops.  Work created by ceramic artists years and even centuries ago inspires me, as well.  I’m currently exploring the kohiki technique that was introduced to me by Akira Sataki and the beautiful forms created by Hans Coper.

 

 

Roni Polisar

email: Roni.polisar@gmail.com

website: Ronipolisar.weebly.com

instagram: Polisar_Pottery

 I work both on the wheel and with slabs to produce functional pots.  I am attracted to the essential nature of vessels--giving, receiving, holding--enabling that ancient, hard-wired human need to be communal.  I am drawn to the primitive – simple forms and earth pigments.

I am excited by the narrative of material and  process, and often allow the clues of forming to remain evident in my work.  Wood firing in particular compliments these interests, especially when rewarded for the labor intensive effort with a pot whose form emerges from the kiln in perfect harmony with the marks of the flame and the blush of the ash, as if the kiln has participated in the final sculpting of the pot.

Image: Skirt Vase:  thrown and altered stoneware, wood fired.

 

Peggy Reichard

Member: Kiln Club

email: preichard1@verizon.net

website: www.peggyreichard.com

facebook: peggyhoffmann.reichard

instagram: peggyreichard

“My work reflects my life:  boating, traveling, and living inthe middle of five acres of an old growth oak forest. My environment is full of creatures and I enjoy working with their images on clay.  In particular, I am fond of the pileated woodpecker, song birds, fish, foxes, jellyfish and an image of a street dog from India.

I also find the boat form, a lovely elongated oval,compelling and return to it again and again. Another focus is altering simple wheel thrownforms to create more sculptural vessels.  My goal is to create functional pieces that warrant a second look.”

Image: “Fish with Seaweed.”  8 inch bowl.  Porcelaneous stoneware with slip transfer and laser jet decal.

 

Trinka Roeckelein

Member: Kiln Club

email: info@trinkadesigns.com

website: www.trinkadesigns.com

facebook: Trinka Roeckelein

 

I am a sculptor working in clay to create both indoor and outdoor pieces, most of which contain an interpretation of a human or animal. My work focuses on the whimsy aroused by the increasingly complex coexistence of urbanity and nature or people and animals. Some of the pieces are totems or groups of unlikely combinations of living creatures into harmonious compositions – a peaceable kingdom of sorts. As city footprints continue to broaden across the globe, the natural balance of space, energy and resources must adjust. The need for individuals, whether human or animal, to coexist tranquilly with one another becomes more pressing and important.

As a native of Washington DC, I’ve noticed the presence of wildlife increase within the city.

This, coupled with multiple visits to a game preserve in Botswana, fuels my motivation. The African environment contrasts largely with my daily existence in DC. I am captivated by the wild animals … their shapes, sizes, movements, sounds … and the variety and vastness of the African bush. My sculptures reflect elements from both locations.

I work in clay because of the way it feels, its tireless unpredictability and technical challenges, and the endless variety of surface treatments. I fire each piece repeatedly to build layers, every time adding more oxide, glaze or underglaze, until I am pleased with the results. Each pieces is unique, which underlines clay’s basic connection to the earth and compliments nature’s intrinsic one-of-akindness.

Image: Mod Donkey, clay, glaze

 

Ji Shin

instagram: jishindesign

 

Born in Asia and raised in South America, Ji finds her inspiration from her multicultural background, having lived in Africa and Europe before returning to VA in 2019. She has a passion for all visual arts, and believes in the interchangeability of media and techniques as tools for expression, just as each language translates the same beautiful word into different sounds.

 

 

 

 

Dominicus So

email: dominicusso@gmail.com

Dominicus began throwing pots on the wheel in Hong Kong in 1984.  Now, he throws pots and creates sculptures in the Metropolitan Washington DC area in the U.S. Decorated with slip, layers of glazes, or surface texture, his stoneware and porcelain works are fired mostly in cone 6 electric kilns, and occasionally, in Raku and wood kilns.  His elegant forms are influenced by Chinese and other classically shaped vessels.  His glaze combinations are inspired by the four seasons and nature.  He uses clay to highlight the beauty, complexity, and serenity of our natural environment, as well as the spirit present in all things.  Realizing people are busy, he seeks to use ceramic arts to promote users' deeper sense of spirituality in relationships among people and with the natural environment.  His functional pieces also help people gather together to be nurtured by the food and other's company.

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel Witt

Member: Kiln Club

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUAN YING

Member: Ceramic Guild and Kiln Club

email:  suanyt145@gmail.com

“I am interested in making pots for everyday use, not only to be handled and lived with, but also to provide visual enjoyment.  My forms are primarily thrown on the wheel and I use both stoneware and porcelain clay bodies to make individual pieces.  Surface decorations are important to my work and I feel that decorative brushwork, slip trailing and glazing techniques can greatly enhance the form of the piece.  Recently I have turned to soda firing to produce dramatic effects on the surface of my pots.  The unpredictability of the path of the flame and soda vapor across the piece will render each pot unique and distinctive.”

 

 

 

 

 

Terry Young

Member: Kiln Club

instagram:  @TY.Ceramics

 

Initially trained in wheel-throwing, I have found that hand building better suits my aesthetic. I am influenced by images in the natural world.  These impressions act as a springboard and allow me freedom to express my own vision of the world. Form, texture, shape, color and function intrigue me.  My style is varied.  My curiosity to try new styles, techniques and forms is ongoing.