2025 Ceramics
Breanna Engelhardt | Ames
BCE Ceramics
IG: bceceramics
|
|
My art strives to enhance the lives of its consumers aesthetically and improve their mood, yet be functional for everyday life. My work is influenced by life experiences, American Contemporary, and traditional Japanese pottery.
My functional pottery is thrown on the wheel, trimmed, then hand sculpted creatures and foliage are added to the form. I cover the sculptures in a brushing oxide before finishing the piece in a high fire glaze. |
Joani Feiner | Adel
|
n late 2019 and prior to the Covid epidemic, l had tried my hand at pottery, attending night classes at an art center. I also took several private lessons. I wasn't very good, but l loved it.
After the shut down started, l bought a used wheel and started a small studio in our garage. Many hours later l started to develop a sense of direction. As an artist, l am fairly new and growing every day. I continuously challenge myself with trying different styles on the wheel and with handbuilding. Last year l had the honor of being selected by Iowa PBS to design and make a piece to be used as one of their donor gifts. l made a total of 34 exclusive pierced bowls for them. This year l have been invited to show at the Urbandale Library and Gallery. To date, most of my pieces have been wheel thrown and functional, although recently l have started making more decorative pieces. I love to try new designs, and I love to use multiple layers of glaze to make my pieces grab the eye. I mainly work with stoneware and porcelain. I am enjoying this journey immensely. After being forced to retire from my career due to an old injury, l have once again found purpose and joy. My pottery is mostly wheel thrown and functional, although recently I've added in more handbuilt and as well as decorative pieces. I like to make my pottery original by altering, sliptrailing, and piercing. I enjoy looking at my pieces and deciding what l can do to beautify them. Once bisque fired l will carefully consider which combinations of glazes best fit the piece. |
Lisa Jontz | Baxter
Backyard Pottery
|
|
Inspired by the beauty of nature in her own backyard, potter Lisa Jontz founded Backyard Pottery in 2001. After moving to a Baxter, Iowa farm in 2006, she found herself creatively stimulated by the gorgeousness of God's country-the bountiful Midwest plains. Functional Pottery. Reduction fired stoneware. |
Sara Krause | Marion
|
Sara Krause is a local artist and art teacher, based in Marion, Iowa. She has been making pottery for over 12 years, including her time at Coe College, where she majored in art with an emphasis in ceramics. Sara has a pottery studio at home, where she enjoys creating many varieties of wheel-thrown and hand-built porcelain pottery pieces. Sara's unique designs are often inspired by nature.
Sara's works include a variety of functional and decorative items, such as mugs, plates, bowls, vases, jewelry and ornaments. Many items are food, dishwasher, and microwave safe. Her collection includes a variety of Raku pieces. Raku is a specialized firing technique, stemming from an ancient Japanese tradition. This firing method allows artists to create stunning decorative pieces that would be the envy of any pottery connoisseur's collection. Pieces are removed from firing at 1,750 degrees and either smoldered in a fire pit or decorated with horse hair. |
Annie Larsen | Remsen
|
Welcome to AM Ceramics, where functional art comes from the heart and is shaped by the hands.
I am always drawing inspiration from the natural world that surrounds me in my rural NW Iowa home. I am also influenced by plants, foods, and objects that shape my own personal history. My hope is that the images highlighted in my work spark a joyful memory or emotion within the viewer, and we find a shared moment of reflection in the beauty that resides in the ordinary. I have a natural desire to educate others. I received a Bachelors in Art Education from Southwest Minnesota State University and have over 10 years experience teaching Art to all ages. I continue to teach classes part-time at Remsen St. Mary's Schools, in my Remsen studio, and workshops at the Le Mars Arts Center. Primarily wheel thrown functional ceramics, decorated with nature-inspired designs using underglaze and carving techniques. |
Eric Peterson | Perry
|
Possessed with a natural curiosity, Eric’s interest in pottery began in high school and further developed at the Octagon Center for the Arts, in Ames, Iowa where he was able to practice and perfect his art with
hours of open studio time at his disposal. Following this training, Eric apprenticed at a local interactive outdoor museum where his hand-thrown stoneware took shape. The simplicity of both form and function became a priority for him and his work reflects that in a variety of functional stoneware and earthenware that appeal to the eye and meet practical needs. Using a variety of clay, glazes, slips, and more recently, hand-etched drawings by his wife, Betsy, Eric’s work continues to develop into a variety of forms including flowerpots made with local Dallas County clay, pitchers, mugs, bowls, porcelain dishes and whimsical ware. Eric’s experience, hard work and fine-honed skills are evident in each piece. |
Ruben Ruiz | Huxley
Deer Creek Ceramics
IG: deercreekceramics
|
|
My fascination with nature is a major influence in my work. My aim is to create pieces that inspire a smile. It was in 2005 that I came in contact with clay for the first time, at the Irvine Fine Arts Center in California where I learned wheel throwing. The hand building part of my work is a self-taught process.
My work is made with porcelain or stoneware clay. I wheel throw most of my pieces and then either alter them, add texture, and/or create sculptural details. Each piece is individually glazed and then fired in a reduction atmosphere at temperature above 2100 degrees. |
Kate Trimble | Dallas Center
|
As a potter for over 40 years, I have been experimenting with wheel thrown, functional pottery inspired by a lifetime of traveling and living on an acreage in Iowa. After graduating from the University of Illinois with a BFA, I began my career by teaching art in Iowa schools but soon retired to raise a family. Cattle Shed Pottery was founded in 2008 with a drive to search for beauty and originality in functional pottery. I believe pottery needs to be seen, felt, and held and I welcome visitors to my studio in Dallas Center, Iowa.
My wheel thrown and altered pottery has represented what I see out my studio windows. My "birds on a wire" series has become a standard with many collectors. This year I have expanded this theme using black clay. creating a new positive/negative look that is unique yet still functional. |
Caroline Warren | Indianola
|
Caroline was raised on a small farm in Indianola, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University in 2016 with a BFA in Integrated Studio Arts.
Caroline creates unique, folk-style animal paintings on wood, which are used to decorate her hand-thrown, functional pottery. Caroline displays and sells her artwork at art festivals all over the Midwest, and her ceramic studio is located in Indianola, on her family's farm. I make wheel-thrown, functional ceramics, fired in an electric kiln, and decorated with my original designs, using printed iron oxide images. My ceramic forms are a canvas to display my love of nature and animals. My pottery is modern and I perform every step in my process by hand. |