William Baker has worked as a studio potter in western North Carolina for the last 14 years,initially as a resident artist at the Odyssey Center in Asheville before establishing his own studio in Bakersville near the Penland School of Crafts. William creates functional and sculptural work beginning on the wheel and fired in a wood burning soda kiln.  From the initial design of each piece to the loading and firing of the kiln, William strives towards a balance between refinement and the constant exploration of process, observing and sharing the interactions between clay and fire.

www.williambakerpottery.com

@williambakerpottery

Nancy Fuller graduated from the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, with a degree in Fine Art Printmaking and went on to obtain a MA in the History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A Mandarin scholarship took her back to Taiwan, her country of birth, and it was there that she discovered the art of wood-firing. To design and build her own wood-kiln in Scotland, she undertook a year-long training with anagama master Suzuki Shigeji in Shigaraki, Japan. Since then, her wood-firing journey has taken her to Europe, Australia, and the US where she has both undertaken residencies and participated in symposiums.

‘The presence of mind and body required for wood-firing has brought me closer to nature and in turn myself. Over time, the results produced from my anagama in Aberdeenshire have increasingly felt like a collaboration with the natural world and a celebration of what it is to be human. Tangible within each piece, formed of earth and born from fire, is the combined expression of a specific landscape, a time of year and me, the maker.’

www.nancyfuller.co.uk

@nancyfullerpottery

Juana Gómez Ramírez, known as Xhana Compash Otol, is a master potter from Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas, renowned for its rich pottery tradition. Since the age of eight, Juana has crafted intricate clay figures, learning from her mother, Feliciana Ramírez Gómez. Her studio is a family-run operation, producing traditional pieces like jaguars and water jars. Each family member brings their unique style, with Juana overseeing the work. Juana's artistry preserves the cultural heritage of her community, blending tradition with personal expression. She continues to share the legacy of Tzeltal pottery through her craft.

Chris Gustin is a studio artist and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Chris’ work is published extensively and is represented in numerous public and private collections. With over fifty solo exhibitions, he has exhibited, lectured and taught workshops in the United States, Caribbean, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has received two National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowships, and four Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowships, the most recent in 2017.  He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and was elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 2016. He was awarded the Masters of the Medium award from the Renwick Alliance in 2017.

Chris is cofounder of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine, and currently serves as Honorary Trustee on its board. 

@gustinceramics

gustinceramics.com

Brenda Hornsby Heindl

Joe Molinaro

Priscilla Mouritzen is a South African-born ceramic artist who has lived and worked in Denmark for the past 35 years. Recent Artist-in-Residence work periods (in Arizona, Montana and North Carolina in the US, in Kohila in Estonia and in Johannesburg in South Africa) have given her the opportunity to experiment with different ways of treating the clay surface prior to wood-firing. She fires her high temperature work at the International Ceramic Center - Guldagergaard in Denmark, in the huge Cross Draught kiln built by Fred Olsen in 1998, or the Train kiln built by Robert Sanderson and Coll Minogue.

Her lecture will explore the simplest ingredients - local clay bodies, kiln wash, kaolins and ball clays are always on hand when taking up a residency in a strange workshop in a new country. Using these materials, she created surfaces on work to be wood-fired which ensures diversity and richness of effect, and perhaps protects against a "too shiny, too brown" look emerging from the kiln. During a recent residency at Starworks she experimented with low temperature wood firing using terra cotta clays and terra sigilata, and continued this research during a visit to South Africa. Work of South African ceramic artists will be shown and discussed.

pinchpots.blogspot.com

@priscillamouritzen

Born and raised in rural upstate New York, Ted Neal has received degrees from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (MFA 1998), Utah State University (BFA 1995), and Brigham Young University Idaho (AAS 1991). His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions including: Earth Matters NCECA 2010 Invitational in Philadelphia, PA, Strictly Functional Pottery National in East Petersburg PA, Forms and Shapes: The Useful Teapot at AKAR Gallery in Iowa City, IA, NCECA Clay National in Columbus, OH. Ted is currently a Professor of Ceramics in the School of Art at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana, studio artist, and kiln builder.

John Neely is Professor of Ceramics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. With a BFA from Alfred University and an MFA from Ohio University, he has exhibited and lectured in the US, Europe and around the Pacific Rim. He is known in woodfire circles as the originator of the “train kiln” concept.

@neelyjc

Lindsay Oesterritter is currently a full-time studio potter in Manassas Virginia, she has been utilizing wood fire techniques for over 15 years. She is co-organizer of Southern Crossing Pottery Festival held in her hometown of Louisville KY. Most recently in 2024 Lindsay was asked to be on the organizing board of the North Carolina Wood Fire Conference, a biannual conference that brings artists from all over the globe together.  She also taught a summer wood firing workshop at Alfred University in Alfred New York, the top American University for ceramics. In 2020 she published her first book, Mastering Kilns & Firing. She earned her MFA from Utah State University in Logan Utah. She held the position of Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Western Kentucky University (2009-2015) and earned Associate Professor in 2015. Lindsay had the fortune to be a resident artist at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg and in Australia at Strathnairn Arts Association. She has had the opportunity to lead workshops, curate exhibitions, lecture and exhibit nationally and internationally and is continually inspired by the craft community.

www.loceramics.com

@alindsayo

For 39 years Lisa Orr has been professional potter and student of ceramics.  She completed an MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1992 and later received grants including a Fulbright and a MAAA/NEA.  Her work is in numerous public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the permanent collection of WOCEF in Korea.  Currently she teaches, lectures and shows nationally and internationally.

@lisaorrpottery

Travis Owens grew up making pots with his family at Jugtown Pottery, in Moore County, NC.  He began making pots at an early age; learning from his parents, much the way his family has passed down the craft for over 150 years. As is important with all Jugtown pots, Travis’ pieces use local clays and glazes, all of which are formulated at Jugtown and have their own unique style, which draw from historic forms of his family. 

Travis graduated from NC State University, College of Design in 2007 with a Bachelor’s in Art + Design. He has given talks about Jugtown and his family’s legacy to many groups around the country, and enjoys helping people learn about the wonderful legacy that continues.  Jugtown Pottery began by, and continues to use the influence of regional pots and classic ancient pottery forms blended to create a functional, understated and graceful pot.

Travis continues to hold this as the standard by which all pots must be made. He has a great respect for the role his family has played in keeping the area’s pottery tradition alive. As with all things, there must be an evolution from generation to generation, in order to keep the tradition going, but Travis also continues to make the classic utilitarian forms that his family made in the area a century and a half ago. At the Jugtown museum, you can find a history of Jugtown pots, but also a history of Owen/Owens family pots, which serve as representation and inspiration for everyone.

www.jugtownwares.com

Anne Pärtna is a graduate of East Carolina University (2007) and holds an MFA degree with concentration in Ceramics. She received her BFA degree from Estonian Academy of Art (2000), in her native Estonia where her family still resides on a farm on the Gulf of Finland. She threw her first pot on the hub of an overturned tricycle when she was nine years old while her younger brother spun the wheel. Anne prefers the volatile atmosphere of wood firing but also uses salt and simple glazes to bring the surfaces of her wide range of forms to life.

Anne and her partner Adam Landman live in Seagrove NC, where they are nurturing a partnership in business called Blue Hen Pottery. 

Her Bourry-box kiln takes roughly 24 hours to fire with an overnight shut down. Small amount of salt will be used at the end of firing. 

www.bluehenpottery.net

@bluehenpottery

Plenary Speaker

Dr. Elizabeth Perrill is a Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA. In 2018, the permanent reinstallation of the African Galleries at the North Carolina Museum of Art, completed during her five-year role as Consulting Curator for African Art, won an American Alliance of Museums Excellence in Exhibitions Award. Dr. Perrill was recently lead curator for the exhibition iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: South African Telephone wire on view at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, November 2024 - November 2025. Her primary research interests include histories of Southern African ceramics, South African contemporary art, and economic histories of ceramic arts in the modern and contemporary eras. Perrill’s single-author works include Burnished: Zulu Ceramics Between Rural and Urban South Africa (2022), Zulu Pottery (2012) and Ukucwebezela: To Shine (2008), as well as numerous scholarly articles and exhibition catalog essays.

Andrew Sartorious

Galen Sedberry is a potter working in Burnsville, NC - sharing a studio with his father and potter Ken Sedberry. Galen’s interest in clay peaked during a year off from college when he began helping Ken in his studio and learning the basics of throwing, glazing and firing. Galen then returned to college, receiving a degree in Appropriate Technology. After several years in the solar industry, first as an installer and later as a superintendent overseeing the construction of utility scale solar projects, his hands found their way back to clay.

Currently I am investigating the possibilities between deliberate surface decoration and the limitless variables derived from wood firing. I want my imagery to evoke themes of movement and energy, an aesthetic that I rely of the firing process to deliver. I relish this collaborative approach, as it forces me to give up a fraction of control - allowing chance and serendipity to play a small role. The imagery I choose to decorate my pots derives entirely from my immediate surroundings, including the natural color hues I see outside my studio window.

Takuro Shibata is a potter and the director of Starworks Ceramics and Material Research. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from Doshisha University in Kyoto. His background includes technical ceramic research including firing, developing and testing of clays and glaze. He has been a ceramics technical instructor at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki Japan and has been a resident artist at the Peters Valley Crafts Education Center in Layton, NJ and the Cub Creek Foundation in Appomattox in VA.

www.studiotouya.com

@studiotouya

@takuroshibataceramics

My journey began in 1978 while attending Saint Johns University in central Minnesota. I was originally interested in painting but after taking a ceramics class, drawn to clay. It simply felt right. In 1981, I had a opportunity to travel to central France and worked in the historic pottery village of La Borne. It was there I had my first experience firing wood-burning kilns. I was immediately seduced by the process and results from these kilns. Returning home in 1983, I sought an apprenticeship with Todd Piker at the, Cornwall Bridge Pottery and in 1988, moved to Wisconsin where I established the foundation for my first kiln.

David Stuempfle built his studio in Seagrove, NC in the late 1980s and since then has built three wood kilns. David’s ceramics have been featured in numerous articles and books, including Ceramics in America (2021). His work can be found in major museum and private collections throughout the United States and abroad—the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park Museum (Japan), the Museum of American Ceramic Art, the Mobile Museum of Art, the Fuller Craft Museum, the Asheville Museum of Art, the Chipstone Foundation, and the Museum of International Folk Art, among others. He has worked across Europe, Estonia, Japan, and South Korea to learn from other working potters, absorbing and adapting the intricacies of his international colleagues’ techniques. He has been a US/Japan Creative Artists Fellowship recipient, and an NEA/Central and Eastern Europe Visual Arts Fellowship recipient. He has taught at Penland School of Crafts, the Bascom Center for Visual Arts, Peters Valley School of Craft, studios in Canada, Portugal, and numerous universities and colleges.

Beyond his mastery of form and material, David is an energetic educator and advocate for the tradition. He lectures widely and provides intimate demonstrations of his monumental jar making throughout America. He has curated several exhibits at the NC Pottery Center as well as the Mint Museum, where he curated an exhibition devoted to world pottery traditions.

www.stuempflepottery.com