Theresa Bockenstedt
www.tbockdesigns.com

I have been a serious potter for about 4 years.  Most of my work is wheel thrown, but I do have some hand built pieces too.    I love to add texture to my work using hand made clay stamps on cone 6 white stoneware.  My inspiration for my textures comes from growing up in a home of a quilter and wanting to make the prints on the fabric come to life.  

Linda Folden
www.lindafolden.com

My works are expression of my emotions, joy and sadness mingling with confusion and knowledge.  The bold contrasts and simple poses express the knowledge that the feelings of sadness, loss, and confusion can be interlaced with bright lights of hope, the deep sense of peacefulness that wisdom brings, and the contrast of our varying emotions moving through us as we try to find closure and understanding when all else seems lost.

I use pinch pot, coil, and slab built techniques to create pieces that express the thoughts, reflections, emotions and feelings.  A variety of under glazes and glazes are used to enhance the finish.

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.

Greg Lamont
www.lamontpottery.com​

My work references the Korean and Japanese folk pottery traditions and their influence on pottery making in the west during the last half-century. I make vessels that are intended to be used in the preparation and serving of food and drink, and the beautification of one's surroundings.
My journey in pottery began in a ceramics class during my sophomore year in college in 1972. After college, I took the occasional pottery class and eventually became a "basement potter".  In 2001, I, along with a few other local artists, had the opportunity to establish an artists' cooperative, Creative Artists' Studios of Ames (CASA).  So, while making pots is quiet and personal experience I want to be reflected in the pots themselves, I now am also a potter in a community of potters and artists working in a variety of media and working alongside both students and peers. It is now hard to imagine myself as a solitary potter. Every day I share resources, experience, and perspective with my fellow artists. As part of a university community I've been given many opportunities to teach students with diverse talents and backgrounds. Teaching has let me experiment with new ideas and perspectives, challenging myself at the same time as I challenge my students.
Being a potter is a very balanced profession. As a potter I am a designer, a maker, a business owner, a laborer, a chemist, and a physicist. I love throwing, trimming, pulling handles, glazing and firing. And so, the journey begun forty years ago continues as I strive to create pottery that is fresh and alive in its form, color and surface, and performs its intended function well. I believe a substantial part of the beauty of handmade pottery lies in its use, and the pottery I create is intended to take an active part in one's daily life. My wish is that you will incorporate my pottery as a part of your daily life and that you will sense the excitement and pleasure that I have enjoyed in making it.

Marion Nehmer
www.marionnehmerpottery.com

Growing up, Marion was surrounded with art collected by her mother during her travels across Europe and Japan. Her home was filled with gorgeous silks, ceramics and beautifully hand carved objects that made an impression on her and still influence her in her creative process. She studied art in college, making ceramics her area of interest.​

Marion creates functional fine craft ceramic art that is wheel thrown and altered. She looks for inspiration in the human figure and in nature. Human gestures and curves are subtly reflected in her shapes; the curve of a waist, the bend of an arm. An intimate gesture completes the piece; the hand that picks up a cup, pulls it to the lips and drinks. 

Following form and function, timeless stoneware and porcelain pieces are created with the intent to be used every day.
Marion has been honored to have work published in "500 Plates and Chargers," by Lark Books and currently works in a studio in Des Moines, where she lives.

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 shop downtown on 2nd Street in Perry, 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

Dan graduated from High School in Garnavillo, IA in 1968 and attended Luther College in Decorah, IA where he studied Art with a concentration in Ceramics under Dean Schwarz.  Following graduation with Dean's recommendation, Dan enrolled at Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville, CA where he studied under the master Potter, Marguerite Wildenhain.

In the fall of 1968 began a career as  Art instructor in the Swea City, IA School system.  Dan met his wife Judy, a Kindergarten teacher and they made their home in Swea City where they raised their family.  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 teacher and studio potter.  Dan retired from teaching in 2003 and now devotes his time to making pottery. 

Dan has exhibited in many shows. Most notably the 2002 "Ripples Exhibit" which was shown in three venues in the United States, The Legacy of Marguerite Wildenhain in Sabastapol CA.  His work is in the collection to the Mcnider Museum in Mason City, IA, The Pond Farm Collection at Luther College, the Nobles County Art Center in Worthington, MN, The Stinsen Prairie Arts Council in Algona, IA, and many private collections.

Karen and Stephen Steininger
​www.thepottersltd.com

My husband and I have been potters for almost 40 years. We have had a retail store in West Des Moines, exhibited at art fairs across the country, and sell our work to a wide variety of shops and galleries. Currently we are using thrown stoneware shapes as a canvas for slip-trailing, as well as adding faces and animal.

Rick Stewart

Rick Stewart is a figurative sculptor with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from Drake University. For the last 10 years, Stewart has created original artwork and performed historic restorations from his home studio. Before working exclusively in his own studio, Stewart worked as a master sculptor and mold maker for 10 years at Dahlquist Clayworks (later RDG) in Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to that as a museum artist for Neal Deaton, making exhibits for museums.  These include exhibits at the Smithsonian, Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, St, Louis Arch and Mt. Rainier among others.
His pieces include a life-size bronze sculpture of Iowa Olympian Shawn Johnson, Clyde Duncan of Des Moines North fame, U of I Basketball great the late Chris Street, and Iowa Athletic Director Bernie Saggau, and others on display at the Iowa Hall of Pride. The gold-leafed lions guarding Louis Sullivan’s Jewel Box Bank are bronze replicas created by Rick after vandalism destroyed one original terracotta lion and damaged the other badly.  He was able to restore one terracotta lion currently on display inside the Grinnell Bank standing along side the vandalized encased second lion. Rick carved new sections from Indiana limestone for the restoration of a Civil War monument in Eddyville, IA.  New hand, telescope, bayonet and scabbard were sculpted from sheet copper as part of the restoration of two Civil War soldiers for the monument in Elkadar, IA.  Rick has Bas-relief sculpture at several locations in Iowa, including The Iowa School for the Deaf, Iowa DOT rest areas, Des Moines, Perry, Cedar Rapids, Eddyville, Elkader, Remsen, and Newton. Somas Court in Perry, Iowa, has the largest number of his Bas-relief sculptures.
His art is both historical and storied in nature with an affinity for naturalism.
Stewart was born and raised in Newton, Iowa. He and his wife, Theresa, met in high school and have been married for 39 years. The couple has two children and four grandchildren.

Alex Wilson

I trained in a Victorian country pottery in the North of England, and  my ware carries on the tradition of useful craftsmanship, the forms influenced by natural structures and classical architecture.
My pottery is meant for everyday purpose and enjoyment, and is naturally lead-free, microwave and dishwasher-proven.