Alex Matisse grew up in a converted white clapboard church in the center of a small New England town in a family of artists.

For three years, Alex apprenticed in the workshops of North Carolina potters Matt Jones and Mark Hewitt. Their work combines traditions, from the Anglo-Oriental school of Leach, Hamada, and Cardew to the folk pottery of the south-eastern United States and many places between. In their workshops Alex learned to love simple pots; adorned or bare, quiet and strong, they make their place comfortably in the home and speak to the thousands of years of pots before them, and all that is to come.

Alex's work is made in a fusion of pre-industrial country traditions in both process and material. It is fired in a large wood burning kiln and made of as many local materials as the chemistry will allow.

Ales believes in the beautiful object; that there are inescapable aesthetic truths, physical attributes, that remove time and place from the defining characteristics of the made object. These objects can be viewed today or many years from now and be understood as beautiful. Though their quotidian value may become antiquated, their aesthetics will save them. Alex believes in making pots that carry this truth while, as Henry Glassie told Alex in passing one day, holding one hand to the past with the other outstretched to the future.

Jessica Kanaley is a ceramic artist who celebrates her American roots with pottery inspired by the garden. She was raised in Rochester NY where she graduated with a bachelors of science from Nazareth College. After working in special education she completed an apprenticeship at the Rochester Folk Art Guild and founded the business Old Soul Clay. Jessica is currently participating in residencies and seeking adventure through her travels.

Julie Wiggins is a full time studio potter living and working in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She graduated from East Carolina University in 2001 with a BFA in Ceramics. In 2005, she received an honorary degree from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China, where she focused her studies on traditional Eastern techniques. Her work has been shown in galleries across the country, including AKAR Gallery, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Crimson
Laurel Gallery, and Lark & Key.  Julie’s work has been featured at the American Craft Council and the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, as well as several national conferences and exhibitions, including NCECA.  Julie has over a decade of experience as an educator and will be one of the presenters at the Functional Ceramics Workshop in 2016.

Guillermo Cuellar has been making wheel thrown stoneware pots since 1980. Originally from Venezuela, he moved to the St. Croix River Valley in Minnesota in 2005.  He treasures the breathtaking beauty that can be found in pots made for daily use in the home for preparing and sharing food.

Nancy Gallagher received her BFA from Kutztown University, originally in graphic design, then further studied functional pottery for four years with Bill van Gilder. Her recent work in earthenware both harkens back to historical pots, while maintaining a current graphic brush work and textural ethic.

Julie Covington is a potter working in Asheville, NCs River Arts District. Julie feels lucky to be surrounded by an amazing community of craftspeople, farmers, musicians, healers, and teachers who regularly inspire her to be a better potter! Julie makes sturdy, comfortable tableware decorated in a variety of playful designs.

From Roanoke, VA, David Eichelberger has pursued a career in ceramics in school, through residencies, and now as a professor.  He worked at Santa Fe Clay for a few years, then was a resident at the ExergyXchange in Burnsville, NC, then on to an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, then one year at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, TN, then 3 years as a Resident Artist at the Penland School of Craft.  David is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Ferrum College, in Ferrum, VA.  He lives in beautiful Floyd, VA, with his wife, artist Elisa DiFeo, and their two daughters, and are expecting another daughter this summer.

Doug Peltzman is a full time studio potter currently residing in Dover Plains, New York, a rural town on the eastern edge of the Hudson Valley.  After several formative years studying painting, Doug came to earn his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics at SUNY New Paltz in 2005. In 2010, he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from Penn State.  He has had the honor of being both a juror and curator of national exhibtions.  He has taught workshops at many art centers and universities across the U.S, including Arrowmont, Peters Valley, Goggleworks, Davis and Elkins College, UNT, SUNY New Paltz, The Clay Studio and The Art School at Old Church. Doug is also a founding member of Objective Clay. His pottery has been featured in many publications and can be found in homes and kitchens across the country.

Marian was born in Pittsburg, KS in 1951 and grew up in very small towns in a rural setting.   She received a B.F.A. from Arkansas State University in 1973 and has worked since then in her studio, hand building ceramic vessels.  

Marian lives with her husband in Austin, TX.  They divide their time between the city and a cabin in the Texas Hill Country.

Diana Fayt’s primary medium is clay and refers to her one of a kind ceramic pieces as “etchings in clay.” Drawing on her background as a painter, sculptor, printmaker and clayer, her surfaces are alive with strange and exotic stories. When Diana is not working in clay, you can find her drawing in her sketchbook, carving rubber blocks or scheming about the next online ecourse she is going to teach. Diana also divides her time designing ceramics, teaching technique and inspiring creativity in workshops around the world. Her roster of clients include, Anthropologie, Heath Ceramics and Terrain. She’s taught workshops 
at destinations such as, Clay Push, Austraila, Arrowmont School of Crafts, Santa Fe Clay and Metchosin School of the Arts, online, at creativebug.com and via her self-created online e-course, The Clayer. Diana is a graduate of the California College of the Arts. After thirty years of calling San Francisco home, Diana recently left the big city for the Sierra Nevada foothills with her sweet pooch, Louie