Theresa Bockenstedt
www.tbockdesigns.com

I AM T. BOCK! ;) Well, it's not like Iron Man, lol, but I am Theresa Bockenstedt and that seems to be a mouthful some times so I frequently go by T. Bock. I started creating ceramic projects in high school and then moved on to a real career of dental hygiene. After being a dental hygienist since 2004, getting married, and becoming debt free I am finally able to try to pursue a dream... to be an artist. The pots I make are my labors of love. Pure emotion in times of strength, weakness, and hope for my future. The pots I make are mostly wheel thrown sometimes hand built from cone 6 clay, fired in oxidation. Most are food safe serving dishes, but most of all I like to go where the clay takes me.

Rebecca Brandow
www.willowavenuepottery.com

One of the most admirable traits of clay is its ability to be ever-changing and flexible. It can be thrown, rolled, coiled, carved, slipped, glazed, altered, made to be utilitarian or visually aesthetic, fired in a variety of kilns and environments, and after all that, it can last forever.  It can be the most beautifully impressive sculpture or the most humble coffee mug.  This is what I love about working in clay.  I love the trial and error of testing new materials and the elation of a successful firing.  My work is constantly changing as I explore all the options available to clay artists, but I always strive for usefulness and beauty. 

Sometime during middle school, Rebecca discovered the joy of working on a pottery wheel.  Since then, she's always found a way to work in clay.  Now she works full time as a potter with a break every autumn to help her extended family with harvest.  Rebecca and her husband, Brian, live on a rural homestead in Guthrie county with their two dogs, chickens, and a small herd of fiber animals. 

Hilde DeBruyne
www.hildedebruyne.com

Hilde DeBruyne is a Belgian sculptor working in clay, metal and bronze. She was featured in "The Iowan" Magazine as "the best Iowa artist you have never heard of”. Her organic, feminine work ranges in size from tabletop sculptures to garden - and public art. Her public art  can be seen all around Iowa : Des Moines “Mural of the Birth Place of Des Moines”, West Des Moines "Circle of Life", Clive "Hope", Ames "Infinity", Indianola "Tree of Life", Webster City and Sioux City. She currently lives in Cumming, IA.

Linda Folden
www.lindafolden.com

I was born in Macau and raised in Hong Kong and have lived in the United States for many years. Drawing inspiration from my life experiences all of my pieces represent a piece of who I've been, who I am, and most importantly who I am becoming. Each piece reflects my thoughts, feelings, reflections, and emotions. From functional pieces with hand carved motifs to figurative dancers and children playing…each piece highlights the memories, and emotions that many people have experienced, the jubilation of a child's first step, the loss of a longtime friend or loved one, pieces that inspire hope and purpose, and pieces whose quiet subtleties provide a calm understated beauty that only brightens that which it surrounds. Using pinch pot, coil, slab built, carving and cutting techniques I hand create each piece while employing various glazes, stains, oxides to enhance each timeless work of art.

Sheri Heiland

Sheri Heiland studied ceramics at Iowa State University and Central State University in Edmond, OK.  She was honored to apprentice with Karl Christianson of Wilton, Iowa before he retired.  She has been a potter for over 30 years and has been the resident potter in the Cultural Center at the Iowa State Fair for the past 16 years.  Her work is mostly functional with a few bits of whimsy thrown in.  Until she moved 4 years ago, Sheri worked with high fire stoneware. She is currently exploring a new pallet of glazes while firing in an electric kiln at lower temperatures.

Emily MacFarland
www.emilymacfarlandceramics.com

Clay has been a part of Emily's life since she was a young child. She grew up attending art classes at her local art center. The sun filled studio became an influential part of her life. Emily attended college for ceramics but put career aspirations aside to stay at home with infant twins. This time focusing on motherhood while slowing honing her skills as a potter shaped the kind of work she now makes. Emily and her husband live in Des Moines with their three children, two cats and one dog where Emily works in her home studio.


I make pottery that is bright and cheerful. Our lives tend to be filled with items that were mass produced, in this landscape it it is nice to use objects that are thoughtfully made by a real person. The pottery I make is decorated using bright colors, these colors invoke a playfulness that allows us to smile and enjoy what we are doing. I try to fuse function with beauty to create work that is useful in every day life but brings a sense of joy to our daily activities.

Jim and Judith Miller
bluehousepottery.com

We create food safe functional stoneware and also, non-functional stoneware that we enhance with textured slab clay and gold luster accents. Our pieces always start by being thrown on the wheel.

Marion Nehmer
www.marionnehmerpottery.com

I find clay irresistible. It’s earthy scent. It’s texture, which is very supple. The way light falls over it when it’s leather hard. The way glazes melt in crevices and come out of the fire completely changed. I want to make pottery that is useful and beautiful, creating a lovely place to rest my eyes and contemplate a shape, a line, a color. I use porcelain and stoneware clay because they become the most wonderful colors when fired to a high temperature in a gas kiln; those of nature like warm green and amber. My translucent glazes pour over the surfaces I create and pool, enhancing relief work or a crease of the clay from my hand. I use the wheel to create fluid work, pushing and pulling clay in a rhythm that carries itself onto the surface. Graceful lines and relief carvings repeat the rhythm and beauty of forms from nature and the human body. The curve of a graceful neck, the swell of a belly and the delicate turn of an ankle are all repeated through my shapes. Pottery is a three dimensional art form and my surfaces are becoming more 3 dimensional as well. With reliefs that are both carved and applied, I take the rhythm of the pattern all the way through the foot. Leaves and petals break and pool for variation in depth of color. My newest work continues to explore the fluid dance of patterns, colors and forms of functional clay vessels.

Lynsi Pasutti
www.Lynsi-Pasutti.com

Enjoying the process of hand building, I construct simple yet interesting slab forms to create both functional and decorative pottery. I find beauty in nature and simple objects that have the ability to be reused and transformed into texture and surface design when pressed into clay; I incorporate prairie grasses to create miniature landscapes and thrifted doilies to mimic the intricacies of the natural world. My work tends to look 'earthy' as I have chosen to use brown clays and often celebrate the material by leaving portions unglazed. The raw clay color and texture adds another layer to a decorative piece that may be partially glazed, typically with a brown or green glaze. I primarily fire my work in an electric kiln, but wood fire whenever I can. Over the years, I have noticed that as I spend more time in my garden, my work has naturally evolved beyond nature-inspired surface design to embrace nature-inspired function as well: budvases, planters, and garden markers are new additions to the list that already consisted of vases, prairie grass wall boxes, and stamped trays. Of course, one must also include the cups and plates that complement the harvest!

Eric Peterson

Housed in a new barn located on his property, Eric Peterson is known for his functional kitchenware as well as wood fired pottery and local material glazes. The barn houses both a gallery and working studio.

Dan Sorensen

After graduating from High School in Garnavillo, IA Dan attended Luther College in Decorah, IA where he studied Art with a concentration in ceramics under Dean Schwarz. Following graduation with Deanâs recommendation, Dan enrolled at Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville, CA where he studied under the master potter, Marguerite Wildenhain. Because of Marguerite's Bauhaus background and her disciplined approach to teaching, Dan gained an appreciation for craftsmanship and that allows him to concentrate on the creative aspects of his craft.

In the fall of 1968 Dan took a position as art instructor in the Swea City, IA School. Dan met his wife Judy, a kindergarten teacher and they made their home in Swea City where they raised three children. It was in this first home with a stone foundation that Stone Cellar Pottery was born and for thirty five years Dan balanced a career as a teacher and studio potter. Dan retired from teaching in 2003 and now devotes his time to making pottery. Dan has exhibited in numerous shows, most recently the 2002 'Ripples Exhibit' which was shown in three venues in the United States and in 2007, Beyond Pond Farm, The Legacy of Marguerite Wildenhain in Sabastapol, CA. His work is in the collection of the McNider Museum in Mason City, the Pond Farm collection at Luther College, the Nobles County Art Center in Worthington, MN and many private collections.

Alex Wilson

I've been making things with clay since I was five and enjoy sharing the wonderful malleability of this material; at once ephemeral and permanent, structural and whimsical. 
My forms are drawn from the natural and manmade environment, resting on centuries of pottery tradition.
My crockery is meant to be regularly used in the kitchen, at the table or on a picnic, and is safe for food, microwave, oven and dishwasher.