It is our mission to provide our community with education in and access to the ceramic arts. Youth who engage in the arts early are more likely to develop confidence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Clay encourages kids to think in 3D, experiment without fear of failure, and see beauty in imperfection.

The CSoM After School & Outreach Program provides youth immersive experiences in visual arts, by improving their understanding of contemporary art and providing free-of charge hands on experiences in clay. We also have a youth scholarship program that helps fund registration for our paid programming for those facing financial barriers. Scholarships offered include full or partial scholarships for weeklong Spring Break and Summer camps as well as Family Workshops.

By removing cost barriers, these programs ensure that all youth-regardless of socioeconomic status-can access artistic resources and opportunities. We are seeking funding to increase our scholarship pool and to continue to bolster after school and outreach activities. Any level of giving is welcome!

"Chase"
Potsketch by James Bailey
Media: Monotype, collage, graphite
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

James Bailey was born in New Jersey, and grew up in Minneapolis, MN. He earned his M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently an artist and Professor in the School of Art at The University of Montana. In 1998 he established Matrix Press and runs the Annual Day of the Dead Steamroller Print Project. James has exhibited his work in over 300 exhibitions nationally and internationally. His work can be found in numerous collections including those of the Walker Art Center, New York Public Library, Jundt Art Museum among others. He was also included in the documentary film titled Midwest Matrix and he serves on the board for the Printmaking Legacy Project.

"Donkey in the Rain"
Potsketch by Courtney Blazon
Media: Graphite
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Courtney Blazon is an artist and illustrator living and working in Missoula. She is a graduate from Parsons School of Design, where she received her BFA in Illustration. She has shown in Missoula at The Radius Gallery, The Brink Gallery and The UC Gallery. Outside of Montana, her work has been shown in Seattle, Portland, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings (Western Edition), Studio Visit Magazine, and juxtapoz.com. She received a Montana Arts Council Artists Innovation Award in 2011. She is represented by Radius Gallery in Missoula, MT.

"Persimmon on Floral Plate"
Potsketch by Isobel Buck
Media: ink, watercolor, pastel, graphite on watercolor paper
Dimensions: 5x5"

Isobel Buck is a graphic designer and illustrator living in and originally from Missoula. She spent many years in Colorado where she worked as a graphic designer and taught graphic design for Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs. Before that, she received her B.A. in Art from the University of Montana in 1996. Her digital art stems from her traditional media sketches and studies of nature - flowers, weeds, trees, bugs, and animals - particularly rabbits. She loves to paint in watercolors and oils. Her digital work is implemented mainly through the tool of Adobe Illustrator, and always with the help of a graphics tablet.

"Lotus and Teapot"
Potsketch by Leland Buck
Media: Drypoint Etching
Dimensions: 6 x 6"


Leland Buck is a photographer, writer, filmmaker, audio recordist, and coder exploring communities through documentary, travel, and portraiture. He lives in Missoula, MT.

"Skyhoney Danglers"
Potsketch by Eva Champagne
Media: collage, gouache, india ink, pencil, sodafired porcelain stoneware blend, 925 sterling silver
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Eva Champagne is an American ceramic artist and educator, raised in the great cultural melting pot of Hong Kong. She has taught in both university and workshop settings in the US and abroad, focusing on such topics as soda firing, soda kiln building, ceramic surface techniques for all temperatures and firings, wheel throwing, and a wide variety of hand building methods. Her work and writing have been featured in Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated, among other publications. Eva's ceramic work is exhibited in the US and internationally. She received her B.A. in Studio Art from Humboldt State University, completed Post-Baccalaureate study at the University of Florida, and earned her M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Montana-Missoula. Eva has traveled extensively for artist residencies including AIR Vallauris in France, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, Red Lodge Clay Center and The Clay Studio of Missoula in Montana, and Gaya Ceramic Art Center in Bali, Indonesia. She returned to Gaya Ceramic Arts Center twice after her residency to lead workshops, before joining to serve as Managing Director for five and a half years. Recently, she returned to western Montana and continues her studio practice. In the spring of 2025 she will be leading workshops in California and Idaho, and in the fall, Europe.

"Pastoral?"
Potsketch by Lane Chapman
Media: Woodblock relief print
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Lane Chapman is a utilitarian potter influenced by the natural world. Starting out as a painter and illustrator, she transitioned into clay after being hooked by her first class. Lane obtained a BFA in ceramics in 2017 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. After graduating, she moved to Rochester, NY for a two-year residency at the Flower City Arts Center. Lane was a long-term resident at The Clay Studio of Missoula from 2019-2021, and was a resident at Wildfire Ceramic Studio shortly thereafter. She is currently pursuing her MFA in ceramics at University of Montana.

Potsketch by Jennifer Combe
Media: Acrylic on wood panel
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Jennifer Combe is an artist, mother, and Professor of Art at The University of Montana. Before shifting to higher education, she taught K12 in Washington State public schools for fifteen years. Her visual work investigates gender, contemporary mothering, and neurodiversity. Her visual work has been exhibited at The Missoula Art Museum, Holter Museum of Art, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Radius Gallery, The Midwest Center for Photography, and the Washington Center for Performing Arts. She is invested in educational programs that integrate community arts and social theory. Her work has been featured in The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, The Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, The Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, and Visual Arts Research. Her work is featured in the book, An Artist and a Mother, published by Demeter Press. Her most recent publication is Collaboration with the Land: Connection Through Making, in the book Transformative Motherscholarship in Art: Public Pedagogies of Childhood, published by Bloomsbury in the Feminist Thought in Research Series.

"A Hand"
Potsketch by Stephanie Dishno
Media: Clay and Glaze
Dimensions: 8 x 4 x 4"

Stephanie Dishno is an artist and educator creating work in Billings, Montana. Currently, she is the Assistant Professor in Ceramics at Montana State University Billings. In 2023 Stephanie was a guest speaker and demonstrator at IMPACT - Fourteenth Conference on Architecture, Art, and Design, University of Monterrey, Monterrey MX. Prior to this, Stephanie instructed at The University of Montana Western and was an Artisan at Studio Greytak. From 2020 to 2022, she was a Long-Term Resident Artist at the Clay Studio of Missoula and was the Studio Manager and Co-Founder of Wildfire Ceramic Studio. Stephanie has also attended two short-term residencies at Red Lodge Clay Center and was a Co-Director for a year and a half at FrontierSpace Art Gallery in Missoula, Montana.

Stephanie's education in the arts includes a BFA from Herron School of Art and Design in 2012, a Post-Baccalaureate from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2016, and an MFA from the University of Montana in 2020.

Potsketch by Chris Dufala
Media: Pencil and paper
Dimensions 5 x 5"

Chris Dufala was born and raised in New Jersey and received his MFA in Spatial Arts/Ceramics at San Jose State University. Chris is dedicated to his studio practice, maintaining an active exhibition record, is a former resident of the Archie Bray Foundation, The Clay Studio of Missoula and Osage Artists Community. He has instructed as faculty, lectured on his working process, and led visiting artist demonstrations at several institutions, including: NCECA, University of Montana, Montana State University Bozeman, State University of New York Fredonia, Bowling Green State University, and Western Michigan University. To name a few. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Studio Arts, Ceramics/3D at Santa Ana College in Southern California.

Potsketch by Avi Farber
Media: Ponderosa Charcoal, Porcelain, Stoneware
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Avi is a multimedia artist working with woodfired ceramics, documentary photography, 3D Printing, and new media/sound, based in New Mexico. After earning a degree in Philosophy at Bates College, Avi took a job fighting wildfires for the US Forest Service, then pursue a Masters in Interdisciplinary Design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Avi's work has been exhibited internationally, and his documentary photography of wildfires has been recognized by National Geographic magazine. Avi was a short term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula in July 2024.

Potsketch by Cait Finley
Media: Paper, glue, plaster, mason stain
Dimensions: 7 x 7 x 4"

Cait Finley is an American artist working in Montana. Their work is about the differences between human perceptions of time, and geological time. Using sculpture, writing, video, and performance, to fantasize kinships with entities much larger and more nebulous herself. Preferring to think of things like petroleum, capitalism, and global warming as entities in order to see more clearly how they fit into human narrative timelines. And exploring the ways humans attempt to speed up and slow down geological time to more comfortably align with our corporeal, fleeting understanding of being.

Finley received an MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University in Syracuse NY and a BFA in Ceramics from The University of Montana in Missoula MT. Exhibiting nationally at Mana Contemporary, Chicago IL; Art Helix, Brooklyn NY; CB1, Los Angeles CA; Cornell University, Ithaca NY, and internationally Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm Sweden, QiPO Art Fair, Mexico City Mexico, Bunsunrad Gallery, Bangkok Thailand and Das Gift, Berlin Germany. She has been the recipient of The Freeman Asia Fellowship, Mansfield Fellowship, and granted artist in residence at The University of Montana Missoula MT, Anderson Ranch in Snowmass CO, OxBow in Saugatuck MN, as well as the Turner Residency in Los Angeles CA.

"Single User"
Potsketch by Ron Geibel
Media: Porcelain
Dimensions: 5.5 x 5.5"


Ron Geibel received an MFA from the University of Montana. Geibel has exhibited his work in Canada and throughout the United States including the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair, NYC; Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis; Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston; and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati. Ceramics Monthly Magazine recognized Geibel as an emerging artist in 2015. Currently, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX.

"Lolo Creek III"
Potsketch by Bev Beck Glueckert
Media: Relief Print
Dimensions: 5 x 5 "

Bev is a long-time Missoula artist and art educator. She studied art at University of Providence- Great Falls, MSU- Eastern, University of Idaho, and graduate studies in printmaking at University of MT.

Lolo Creek III (potsketch) came out of a body of work from her Open Air residency in 2024 at Travelers Rest State Park.

Potsketch by Arthur Gonzalez
Media: Ink on paper
Dimensions: 5x 5"

Arthur Gonzalez is an internationally exhibiting artist with over fifty one-person shows in the last forty years, including eight in Manhattan, New York. He has received many awards including the Virginia Groot Foundation twice and is an unprecedented four-time recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship within a ten-year period. He is in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art in Gifu, Japan, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the Goodwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College New York, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and most recently, the Holter Museum in Helena MT. He is the author of "The Art of Rejection" an autobiography of a career through reaction drawings on rejection letters. He is a tenured Professor at the California College of the Arts. Gonzalez has been an artist-in-residence in many places including University of Georgia, Athens, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Penland School of Craft, North Carolina, University of Akron in Ohio, Tainan National University in Taiwan, Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, Washington, and the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana.

Potsketch by Matthew Hamon
Media: hand cut, found photograph
Dimensions: 5.5 x 6.5 "

Matthew Hamon is a portrait photographer who lives in rural Montana. His photography exists conceptually and aesthetically in the spaces between photojournalism and staged editorial imagery. Matt hails from a small, remote town in Northern California. A sense of place informed by wandering the woods as a child inspires his enquiry. Self-described as "post-rural," Matt currently lives in Potomac, Montana near the Blackfoot River and teaches in the School of Art at the University of Montana in Missoula. Matt is a featured artist in Scott Ligon's forthcoming book from Watson-Guptil/Random House, "Digital Art Revolution." Matt's work has been featured on CNN, Outside Magazine, LifeFramer, 1 Million Photographers (1MP), 6Mois.fr, and Month of Photography, Los Angeles (MOPLA).

"So Hot"
Potsketch by Maggy Rozycki Hiltner
Media: Hand-stitched cotton and Round embroidery
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Maggy Rozycki Hiltner is a full-time studio artist and activist living in Red Lodge, MT. She comes from a family of makers: her mother and grandmother's needlepointed pillows, made quilts, and stitched or knitted their clothes and toys; her father built odd things and cooked outrageous meals and painted murals in their home. Hiltner searches antique shops, thrift stores and yard sales for embroidered linens, collecting the brightly colored flowers, foliage, and animals that appear in her work. What she cannot find she hand-stitches and mixes in with the collected embroidery. She uses the familiarity of the stitch along with seemingly lighthearted and cheerful designs to convey more serious subject matter. She often uses humor and Dick and Jane-style characters to tell her stories, and very rarely is everything quite what it seems.

"Defender"
Potsketch by Barb Schwarz Karst
Media: Oil & Vintage Collage on Canvas Panel
Dimensions: 7 x 5"

Barb Schwarz Karst is a contemporary painter who is best known for her series, Montana Rust Belt, which focuses on abstract close ups of machines used centuries ago during the country's early labor development. Her other bodies of work include her Stark Unreality Abstract Expression series, Crucible portraits on casted aluminum, and Shifting Winds blind grid Western genre portraits. She has twice received a fellowship and mentorship through The Art Institute of Chicago and holds MIS and BS degrees in Art/Art Education. She shows annually in New York City and her works have been featured in worldwide exhibitions and publications.

Barb Schwarz Karst is the owner and founder of Schwarz karst Studio- a contemporary art studio located in Missoula, Montana. Her innovative conception of the blind grid process and unique ability to blend traditional materials with unconventional media brings a flare of contemporary freshness to the global art community. Barb's expression of deeply personal subjects through her paintings acts as the catalyst for her historically powerful portraits and contemporary abstract paintings. Barb has acquired numerous accolades, publications, and extensive professional training; and her professional works have been featured in exhibitions, museums, print publications and private collections around the globe.

Potsketch by Hannah Kautto
Media: ceramic
Dimensions: 6 x 5 x 2"


Hannah Kautto was born and raised in Rochester, MN. Kautto's work navigates the dialogue between objects and the power they have for interpretation through exploration of the utility of objects and questioning their purpose. She received an Associate of Fine Arts degree from Rochester Community and Technical College (MN) in 2015. After graduation, she moved to Minneapolis, where she spent two years working in a ceramic production studio and in 2018, moved to Missoula, MT. Kautto was a summer resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula in 2023 and in 2024, was awarded a BFA in ceramics from the University of Montana (Missoula).

"Two Lips"
Potsketch by Zola Kell
Media: Watercolor Pencil Crayons
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Zola is a queer mixed-media artist, and everything she makes is a celebration and a declaration of her queerness. She is currently fascinated by creating playful objects, working with textile media and salvaged materials to give life to sculptural forms. Her pieces range from meditations on how her queerness blooms in her body and her life, to reveries on mythic figures that were imprinted on her in childhood and investigations into the magic of the natural world. She lives in a very, very small commune.

"Radiant Zinnia"
Potsketch by Alex Kraft
Media: Porcelain and glaze
Dimensions: 2 x 4.5 x 4.5"

Alex Kraft earned her BFA, Bsed at Northern Arizona University and MFA at the University of Montana. Artist residencies include short-term: Archie Bray Foundation; Clay Studio of Missoula; Pentaculum/Arrowmont; Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts; Red Lodge Clay Center (x3); Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center; Jingdezhen Tioxichuan International Studio; and long-term: Arrowmont; Roswell Artist in Residence Program. Among other endeavors, experience writing and curating include the large-scale NCECA exhibitions and social media project 50 Women: A Celebration of Women's Contribution to Ceramics; Nasty Women/Artaxis; and Critical Function: 4 Critics/40 Artists(x2). As Associate Professor she oversees the ceramics program at the University of North Georgia-Dahlonega.

"MT. Ash"
Potsketch by Kathryn Kress
Media: Mixed media on board
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Kathryn Kress is a 4th generation Montanan. She graduated from the University of Montana in 1971 with a BFA in drawing and printmaking. Kathryn has made a career as a studio artist since the late 1970's. She has made a living as a design consultant for residential and commercial interiors and exteriors for 30 years. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in private and public collections throughout the western United States.

"We Do Different the Same"
Potsketch by Steven Krutek
Media: Mixed Media
Dimensions: 5" x 5"

Steven Krutek studied art at Colorado College, the University of Montana (MFA), SALT Institute for Documentary Field Studies, and with photographer Stuart Klipper. Steven teaches drawing, two-dimensional foundations, photography, painting, art history, art education, and a course for the Wilderness and Civilization program at the University of Montana. He has also taught elementary and secondary students in various capacities since 1997. Steven has exhibited work throughout the Inland Northwest and internationally. His work has recently been published on the cover and within The Sun Magazine. Through his current work, Steven seeks to reconcile art's inherently wasteful creative processes with art's ability to communicate environmental awareness. When he isn't teaching, making art, or spending time with his family, Steven performs Balinese music with the Missoula-based community gamelan, Manik Harum.

"Insight is earned"
Potsketch by Ladypajama
Media: Mixed media on cereal box
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Ladypajama is an artist, writer, lover of life. She is a self-taught artist who believes that the act of creating is more important than the products produced from creating. Using art to grow, emote, and meditate are essential in her life. Ladypajama publishes a monthly zine that she sends out via the mail. She likes to think of this zine as a memoir in real time. She is also an avid journaler and is constantly making art. When asked what kind of art she makes she usually responds, "flat art." She mostly creates two-dimensional art. Mixing paint, pencils, pens, and collage materials, she often builds scenes with awkward looking people and mutated animals. Always interesting and always changing, Ladypajama's art hopes to inspire and interest all who view it.

"Don't Forget To Breathe"
Potsketch by Elena Lourenco
Media: Organza & cotton thread over printed image on wood block
Dimensions: 6 x 6 x 1.5

Elena Lourenco received her MFA in Sculpture from Arizona State University in 2007. As a graduate student, she received a travel scholarship to study the physical and spiritual connection between people and the landscape along the Ganges River in India, which had a profound effect on her work. As a post-graduate student, she studied abroad at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. Lourenco creates mixed media objects and installations that communicate powerful narratives about both society and self- utilizing metaphor to communicate ideas of causality, change, loss and their resulting effects on the human psyche. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across the US and Internationally including Scotland, Latvia, and Italy. Lourenco has taught all levels of Sculpture since 2008, and currently lives and works in southern California where she teaches in the Division of Fine and Performing Arts at Santa Ana College.

"Paintbrush"
Potsketch by Katie S. Machain
Media: Reduction Linocut Print
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Katie Machain is a Missoula based artist who works primarily in woodcut printmaking. She received her BFA from The University of Montana in 2013 and has continued to develop her artistic ability as a professional picture framer for the Art Attic Framing and Design. Katie is married with two children and enjoys spending time with them outdoors where she feels the most inspired. For more information, visit her website at www.katiemachain.com

Potsketch by Cathryn Mallory
Media: Crocheted cotton twine, acrylic paint, copper tubing
Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 2"


Cathryn Mallory recently retired after 30 years of teaching and serving as director for the Gallery of Visual Arts within the School of Visual and Media Arts at the University of Montana-Missoula. Originally from the Chicago area, she received her BFA in fiber from Northern Illinois University and MFA in sculpture from the University of Oklahoma. Her work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions on a regional and national level and is featured in the permanent collections of several major museums in Montana, South Dakota, and Nevada. Mallory also serves on the board of directors for the Clay Studio of Missoula.

"Ascending"
Potsketch by Jonathan Marquis
Media: Colored Pencil on Paper
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Jonathan Marquis is a multi-disciplinary artist and mountaineer seeking immersive experiences with wildland terrain to consider more-than-human geographies. His investigations began as an endeavor to draw the remaining glaciers in Montana. He has since covered thousands of miles on foot, translating his encounters through drawing, painting, video, and alternative photographic processes.
Marquis received his MFA from the University of Arizona. He launched the Glacier Drawing Project on Kickstarter and debuted the completed project at the Missoula Art Museum. His works have been exhibited nationally and abroad, including at the SFO Museum, the Center for Visual Arts in Denver, 516 arts in Albuquerque, NM, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson, and the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Marquis is an arts educator at Pima Community College and The University of Arizona. He splits his time between Montana and Arizona. For more information, visit www.jonathanmarquis.com and on Instagram @jonathanbmarquis.

"Jar"
Potsketch by George McCauley
Media: Paint, gouache, ink, gold leaf
Dimensions 5 x 5"

George Metropoulos McCauley, a Greek/American potter, has had 30 solo shows and has been included in 300 exhibitions. He has taught and conducted workshops internationally. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants and his pottery and sculpture are included in international collections in 12 countries and multiple publications. McCauley continues to have a busy workshop and exhibition schedule and still finds time to produce his own local television show," George's House of Interesting Things" on HCTV, and "GHOC Wednesday Night Videos on the internet. He has 2 films to his credit, "Archie C. Bray, Life at the Brickyard" 2008 and "Ron Meyers and the Usual Suspects" 2013. Additionally McCauley has been working with the low income and disabled community for 40 years. He maintains a studio at his home in Helena, Montana where he makes colorful earthenware pots, high temperature wood firing, earthenware wood firing and narrative sculpture. Along the way he has worked as a chef in a Greek restaurant, full-time cowboy/horse trainer, concrete inspector, aluminum siding salesman, western catalog model, lifeguard and carpenter.

"Crevice"
Potsketch by Jack Metcalf
Media: Ink on paper
Dimensions: 7x7x1"


Jack Metcalf spent his youth in the swamps of the southeast smearing the line of where illusion ends and reality begins. His creations emulate a diary of sorts. The work balances draftsman precision with an ambiguous blather of imagination, insight, and delight. Metcalf studied architecture at Savannah College of Art and Design, printmaking at East Carolina University, and earned his MFA at UM. Metcalf's work has been exhibited locally and nationally. He is currently active within the Missoula art community and runs Real ODD Good JOB.

"Goin' Back"
Potsketch by David Miles Lusk
Media: Hand colored print
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


David Miles Lusk is an artist living and working out of Missoula, Montana. David received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in printmaking from the University of Montana in 2014. He is inspired by the intersection of science and mythology, nature and humanity.

"Bumblebee"
Potsketch by Prisilla Mouritzen
Media: Lithograph
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Priscilla Mouritzen was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She studied at the School of Art, Durban, South Africa. In 1979 she moved to Denmark where she serves on the board of directors for Guldagergaard, International Ceramic Research Center, and maintains a studio north of Copenhagen. Priscilla's work has been shown at the Museum of Anthropology, Xalapa, Mexico, 20+1 Tozan Kilns, Arizona Presenters Exhibition, and The Clay Studio of Missoula, where she had a solo exhibition in 2006. Most of Priscilla's work is pinched in porcelain clay and wood fired. The scale is intimate, as demanded by the pinching process. The works show a use of pattern that echoes memories of her childhood in Africa.

Potsketch by Daniel Mrgan
Media: Woodburning, colored pencils, woodstain
Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.5"


I am a graphic designer and illustrator currently residing in Missoula, Montana. My work and influences can best be described as one small, weathered building on the edge of town with creaky wood floors and a broken elevator, occupied by tenants such as silent cinema, Eastern-European stop-motion animation, folk art, melancholy, and music - all sitting around, drinking tea, eating soft boiled eggs, and watching Olympic games, nature documentaries, and arthouse cartoons all night long. If I'm not drawing, I'm probably cooking, reading, or riding my bike to a quiet place in the woods.

Potsketch by Courtney Murphy
Media: Gauche
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Courtney Murphy began working in clay while living in Brooklyn, NY. After several years of working for potters around the city, she moved to Portland, OR and received a post-baccalaureate in ceramics from the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Courtney moved to Montana in the summer of 2009 for a ceramic residency at the Archie Bray Foundation. She was a resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula from 2012-2014, and currently serves on the board of directors.

"Companionship"
Potsketch by Janina Myronova
Media: Ink on paper
Dimensions 5 x5"

Janina Myronowa creates narrative through figurative forms and composed backdrops. Utilizing a specific and distorted representation of the body, each composition shows a different personality and personal story to collectively reference a graphic novel and arcing story. Imparting her own emotion through linework, Myronowa's works are strategically charged with color to saturate and amplify their individual stories.

Janina received her MFA from the Department of Ceramic Art at Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts (Lviv, Ukraine) in 2012, an MFA from the Department of Ceramics and Glass at The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts and Design (Wroclaw, Poland) in 2013, and her PhD from the Department of Ceramics and Glass at Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in 2019. Continually developing her work and practice, Myronowa has attended numerous residencies including opportunities at the New Taipei Yingge Ceramics Museum (New Taipei, Taiwan), Clayarch Gimhae Museum (Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea), Lefebvre and Fils (Paris, France), the Polish Sculpture Centre (Oronsko, Poland), and the International Ceramic Research Center (Guldagergaard, Denmark), International Ceramic Studio (Kecskemet, Hungary), Northern Clay Center. She is currently a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation.

"From a Dream"
Potsketch by Jill Oberman
Media: Cut Paper, Watercolor
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Jill Oberman is currently the Curator and Gallery Coordinator at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana. Moving to Red Lodge from Carbondale, Colorado, Jill recently worked as a studio artist and as an Educator at the Aspen Art Museum, and served two terms as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Jill earned her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Crafts, and her BA from Hamilton College. She has been a resident artist at numerous art institutions, notably the Anderson Ranch, the Archie Bray Foundation, and Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts. Past employment includes work as the Executive Director of the Carbondale Clay Center, the Executive Director of the Clay Studio of Missoula, the Programs and Administration Director at the Archie Bray Foundation, and the Studio Manager of the ceramics program at the Anderson Ranch Art Center. While in her studio Jill focuses on creating minimal, architectural ceramic sculptures that have been widely exhibited throughout the United States, as well as sharing her passion of ceramics through conversation with anyone and everyone who will listen.

"Automatic Work Amongst The Horses (Between You and Me) - A Self Portrait of Us"
Potsketch by Jerod Peitsmeyer
Media: Mixed Media
Dimensions: 5x5"


Jerod Peitsmeyer is both a working studio artist, having recently created and designed product labels and an album cover, as well as an art historian and student of contemporary visual culture and community. His pursuits revolve around creating and expanding access to art by reimagining and reconstructing institutional paradigms. Jerod recently received an MA in Art with a concentration in Art History from University of Montana.

"After Maurizio Cattelan"
Potsketch by Jazmine Penelope
Media: Stoneware, glaze, duct tape
Dimensions 5 x 5"


Jazmine has a BA in visual art from Bennington College (2008) and a BS in Ecology and Organismal Biology from the University of Montana (2023). She is a multidisciplinary artist with a specialty in ceramics and biological illustration. She is inspired by the traces of the intimate in human history and the earthly interweavings of humanity and nature. She lives in Missoula, Montana with her partner Lee Stuurmans, their two cats, a garden, too many houseplants, and their new little daughter.

Potsketch by Brandon Reintjes
Media: Cigar Box and Mixed Media
Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.5 x 1.5"


Brandon Reintjes has concentrated most aspects of his life on creating art and celebrating art made by others. Though he works as Senior Curator at the Missoula Art Museum, he maintains a regular studio practice. He received his undergraduate degree in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his MA in curatorial and critical studies from the University of Louisville.

"It All Measures Up"
Potsketch by Karl Schwiesow
Media: Resin, Tape Measure, Glitter, Magnets
Dimensions 5 x 5"


Karl Schwiesow is an interdisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media. He has a background in carpentry and furniture design, sculpture, ceramics, a variety of 2-dimensional media, including photography. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art from Sierra Nevada College and a Masters of Fine Art from the University Of Montana. He has been an artist in residence at a variety of prestigious ceramic artist residencies including the Red Lodge Clay Center, Sonoma Community Center, and the Archie Bray Foundation. Karl is teaching a variety of fine art classes at the University of Montana.

Potsketch by Richard Shaw
Media: Ink on paper
Dimensions: 5x5"

Richard Shaw was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute where he received his BFA in 1965. He completed his MFA at the University of California at Davis in 1968. He began teaching at the San Francisco Art institute in 1966 where he taught for twenty years. He recently retired from teaching at the University of California at Berkeley where he taught ceramics and drawing. One of two National Endowments Grants allowed him to explore a photo silkscreen method of reproducing decals and allowed him to work with a professional silkscreen artist, perfecting ceramic transfers. Richard has been a resident artist at Shigaraki Cultural Ceramic Park in Japan, the Manufacture National de Sevres in Paris, the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, and the Peter Voulkos Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. He was elected as a fellow of the American Crafts Council in 1998, Honorary Member of NCECA (the National Council of Education in Ceramic Arts) in 2010 and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts Legends Award 2011. His work is collected in both private and public collections nationally and internationally. Public collections include the Whitney Museum of American Art, The San Francisco Museum of Art, The Taipai Museum of Modern Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Victoria Albert Museum.

"Nine Patch"
Potsketch by Kelli Sinner
Media: Porcelain, Handmade Paper
Dimensions: 6 x 6 x .5"

Kelli Sinner received an MFA in Ceramics from Penn State University and a BFA in Ceramics from Utah State University. Before moving to Montana, Kelli was a Professor of Art at Minnesota State University Moorhead, teaching ceramics, papermaking, exhibitions, and design. Kelli has completed artist residencies at the Zentrum fur Keramik, Berlin, Germany; Penland School of Craft, Penland, North Carolina; Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, Montana; and The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, MT.

Potsketch by David Scott Smith
Media: Ceramic, glass
Dimensions: 4.5 x 7 x 5"


David Scott Smith is originally from Spokane, WA. He has lived for extended periods of time in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Louisiana. He received his MFA from Louisiana State University and worked for several years at Southern Louisiana University and Flathead Valley Community College teaching ceramics and 3-D design. He currently is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD. David has been featured numerous times in Ceramics Monthly magazine, including the article David Scott Smith: A Bricolage of Light.

"The Secret Garden Series: Ways of Seeing"
Potsketch by Heather Stockton
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


A second generation born and raised Missoulian, Heather Shibahn Stockton spent most of her youth being encouraged to explore, learn, and create art in the mountains that surrounded her parents' home. With continued support from her family and friends, Heather earned a BA in Fine Arts, an MFA in Media Arts with an emphasis in Integrated Digital Media, a K-12 State of Montana Teaching License through The University of Montana. She is currently in her 7th year serving as Operations Executive for the Zootown Arts Community Center. Her spare time is spent exploring the nearby mountains and water with her husband Sam, and pups Larry Walker & Peter Forsberg.

"That's No Pipe"
Potsketch by Lee Stuurmans
Media: Gouache on paper
Dimensions: 6.25 x 6.25"

Lee Stuurmans is also not a pipe, but he is homomorphic to a torus, so in that way he has a great deal more in common with a pipe than a banana. That feels important. Now, it's also important to point out that Lee Stuurmans is largely innumerate in his current condition. He believes that the peanut butter of blame can be spread equally between himself and the education he received as a lad. However, Lee Stuurmans is optimistic about his prospects to gain numeracy as he ages. Much hay is made about the potential of youth, but what of the potential for personal growth among adults? Lee Stuurmans has long observed that adults are just strong children, and perhaps we ought to act as though this were true, to treat our contemporaries gently and encourage them in their interests, and celebrate their victories with genuine happiness.

"Release"
Potsketch by Patricia Thornton
Media: Monotype Print
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Patricia Thornton uses art is the instrument through which her ideas, life stories, and observations take form. She works with a wide range of two-dimensional media, including installation, painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and photography (depending on the needs of the piece). Her approach to making art is process based, experimental, and playful.

Potsketch by Patti Warashina
Media: Pencil and ink on paper
Dimensions: 5x5"

Patti Warashina was born in Spokane, Washington. She went to college in Seattle, and received her BFA, and later her MFA from the University of Washington. While in college, she studied with sculptors Robert Sperry, Harold Myers, Rudy Autio, Shoji and Shinsaku Hamada, and Ruth Penington. Her first solo exhibition was in 1962 at the Phoenix Art Gallery. Warashina later married fellow student Fred Bauer, and from 1964 to 1970, exhibited as Patti Bauer. Warashina's work is best known for satire, humor, and dream-state figures, expressed through low fire polychrome ceramic material. She has received numerous awards for her achievements. Together with fellow artists Robert Sperry, Howard Kotler, and Fred Bauer, Warashina helped to bring national recognition to the department of ceramics at the University of Washington's School of Art in the late 1970's.

"Along the Path"
Potsketch by Teresa Garland Warner
Media: Oil
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

After balancing a medical practice and painting for 30 years, Teresa turned to art full time in 2009. Based in Missoula, she has shown locally at Cassens Fine Art, Dana Gallery, Radius Gallery, and Paws Up. Statewide, she has exhibited at the Missoula Art Museum, Yellowstone Art Museum, and the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, where she was invited to participate in the exhibition Montana Women in the Visual Arts, 1860-2011. Nationally she juried into Salon International, National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 (Receiving a Merit Award); Oil Painters of America 2020 Western Regional Exhibition, American Artists Professional League 92nd Grand National Exhibition 2020 at Salmagundi Club in New York City, Brinton 101 in 2022 at The Brinton Museum, Big Horn, WY, and Sears Museum 38th Annual Invitational, St George, UT in 2025. Art Renewal Center juried one of her paintings as finalist and two more as semi-finalists in the 17th ARC International Salon in 2024.

"Tough Yet Tender"
Potsketch by Kaitlynn Webster
Media: Collage
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Kaitlynn Webster is a multidisciplinary artist and curator whose work explores the links between time, our relationships to one another, and the self. She is fascinated by and devoted to collaboration. Her current practice embraces the dynamic exchange of collaborative, community zine-making, as well as experimental film photography. She does not know how her camera works and frankly, she likes it better that way. She completed a BA at Fresno State, an MFA from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a certificate in curation from the School for Curatorial Studies, Venice. She now works at The Clay Studio of Missoula and lives in a very, very small commune.

"After Dark"
Potsketch by Adelheid West
Media: Paper and glue
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Adelheid West found home in Missoula's Northside neighborhood in 2009 after a long drive from Stillwater, Oklahoma. She raises food and a family, and turns pots at the Clay Studio of Missoula. Heidi recently held elected office as Ward 1 City Council Representative. Heidi has BAs in Political Science and Studio Art with minors in German and Horticulture as well as a MS in Plant and Soil Science, all from Oklahoma State University.

"Simmer"
Potsketch by Derick Wycherly
Media: Ink and Goauche
Dimensions 5x5"


Derick Wycherly is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy, Montana and a visual artist who specializes in printmaking and papermaking. Derick received an MFA in 2022 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Printmaking and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design with a concentration in Film/Animation/Video in 2011. Between degrees he worked at Harlan & Weaver, a renowned intaglio studio in New York City. Derick's prints on handmade paper can be found in Hand Papermaking's Paper Portfolio #14, "The Language of Color". Derick is currently the Associate Curator and Collections Manager of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture in Missoula, MT.

"Pregnant Dog/Weasel"
Potsketch by Adrian Arleo
Media: ink and embroidery thread on yupo paper
Dimensions: 8.5 x 6"

Adrian Arleo is a ceramic sculptor living outside Missoula, Montana. She studied Art and Anthropology at Pitzer College (B.A. 1983) and received her M.F.A. in ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design in 1986. Arleo was an Artist in Residence at Oregon College of Art and Craft in 1986-87, and at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in 1987-88. For nearly thirty years, Arleo has focused her work on the human figure, often combining it with animal imagery, and other elements of the natural world. Some works allude to a relationship of understanding or connection between the human and animal realms. In others, human figures possess animal features in a way that reveals something hidden about the character or primal nature of the human.

"Zebu Herd"
Potsketch by Molly Brown
Media: mokuhanga relief print with hand coloring on handmade paper
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Molly Brown is a Missoula based visual artist working primarily in relief printmaking. She received her BA from Bennington College in 2015. Since earning her degree she has worked as a letterpress printer and illustrator in Santa Cruz CA. She has continued to develop her practice at Penland School of Craft, and through apprenticeships in various print and hand papermaking processes. Her prints engage human relationships to nature through an interplay of material and process. They use the craft traditions of relief print and handmade paper to create images and substrates that reward close observation and engender orientations of care.

"Bird on a Wire"
Potsketch by Susan Carlson
Media: Ceramic
Dimensions 7 x 7"


Susan Carlson is a local Missoula artist who is a member, student and studio artist at the Clay Studio of Missoula. She attended Gonzaga University and the University of Montana where she earned a BFA. She has served on the board of directors of the Clay Studio of Missoula.

"Doe Eyed"
Potsketch by Nancy Cofflet
Media: acrylic, gouache, metal leaf on board
Dimensions: 6 x 6 x 2"


I am fascinated by animals. They come in a myriad of shapes, textures, and colors. They also express a rainbow of emotions. I try to capture their strength, dignity-and humor. After many years working in oil pastels I have fallen in love with painting. My studio is in the back of an historic building off of Main Street in Baker City, OR -a town known for its arts and artists.

"Head Home"
Potsketch by Theo Ellsworth
Media: India ink, copic brushtip markers
Dimensions 5 x 5"

Theo Ellsworth was born in Los Angeles, California where he lived until he was six when his family relocated to Missoula, Montana. His father worked in hospice and his mother worked for a company that provided services for people with mental disabilities. Ellsworth has an older brother and a younger sister. He notes having difficulty paying attention in school, oftentimes daydreaming during lessons. Ellsworth dropped out of high school and received his GED. Ellsworth travelled around the United States, living out of his car, occasionally returning to Missoula. He used this period as a time of introspection and to figure out how to make art and comics the central focus of his work. He sold his car and used that money, in addition to working odd jobs, while he wrote the first six issues of Capacity. While Ellsworth tried some formal art classes, he found the instruction counterproductive to his own artistic style and vision. He is instead self-taught. Ellsworth notes Henry Darger, Adolf Wölfli, and Martin Ramirez as artistic influences.

"Pot-Bellied Sketch"
Potsketch by Stephanie Frostad
Media: Graphite and Oil on Paper
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Stephanie J. Frostad studied at Studio Arts Center International in Florence, Italy where she began painting in 1985. She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1990, and in 1994 completed an MFA in Painting at The University of Montana. Frostad has exhibited throughout the Northwest, in California, Maryland, Washington D.C. and abroad in Canada, China, Italy and New Zealand. In 1994 she was awarded a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections including The University of Victoria in British Columbia, The Butte-Silverbow Arts Foundation, The Montana Museum of Arts and Culture, The Missoula Art Museum and The University of Washington Medical Center. Born and raised in Walla Walla, Washington, Frostad now makes her home in Missoula, Montana.

"Stir"
Potsketch by Steven Glueckert
Media: Pencil Colored Pencil
Dimensions: 5"x5"

Stephen Glueckert was born in Missoula and received a BFA from the University of Idaho and an M.Ed in Art Education from Western Washington University. He has taught at The University of Montana, the University of Papua New Guinea, and throughout the Pacific Northwest. He spent ten years at the Northwest Children's Home as a counselor and teacher. He has been a recipient of a Montana Individual Artist's Fellowship. He is Curator Emeritus for Missoula Art Museum. In addition, being a practicing artist, he has written extensively about contemporary artists living and working in Montana.

"Leaving My Imposed Boundries Behind"
Potsketch by Emily Hall
Media: Mixed Media
Dimensions 5 x 5"

Emily Hall is a self-taught artist from the small town of Grangeville, Idaho. Mainly working with acrylics, paper, and wax, her artwork is largely autobiographical and illustrative in nature, with dark humor being an underpinning theme in most of her scenes. Having worked in the Picture Framing industry since 2000, she is now the current owner of Art Attic Framing & Design. She is truly blessed being able to combine her love of art, passion for presentation, preservation, and meaningful conversations all in a day's work.

"Handle with Care"
Potsketch by Candice Haster
Media: Porcelain and Gold Leaf
Dimensions: 3 x 3 x 1.5"

Candice Haster is ceramic artist and middle school art teacher who thinks Missoula is a wildly special place. She's originally from KC, MO and has lived, made art, and taught in NYC, Providence, and Portland. Works include clay, printmaking, felt, installation, performance and oftentimes a special invitation to play. She's currently inching toward a large scale installation of her small works, Holding No. 5: The Clay will Remember. Ask her questions, she loves questions.

Potsketch by James Heath
Media: Porcelain and Underglaze
Dimensions: 5x5x3.5"

James Heath is originally from Butte and has lived in Missoula since 1982. He graduated from The University of Montana, with a BFA specializing in ceramics. His passionate relationship with clay began in 1999, at the Clay Studio of Missoula. Jim's involvement in the ceramic arts has grown with the Clay Studio. He has served on the Clay Studio Board of Directors since 2005.

"Studs the Cat"
Potsketch by Yve Holtzclaw
Media: Ink on paper
Dimensions: 5x 5"

Yve is a genderqueer artist and educator originally from Atlanta, GA. Since graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with their BFA in ceramics and art history in 2020, they have been awarded the Donis A. Dondis travel grant, completed a residency in ceramics at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and organized shows both locally and nationally. Their work focuses on the intersection of the metaphysical and the tender through immersive and nostalgic installations of anthropomorphized climate, animals, and architecture. Yve is currently a long term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula

"Song Bird"
Potsketch by Sarah Justice
Media: Encaustic and oil pastels
Dimensions 5 x 5"

Sarah Justice is currently the Executive Director of Education at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls, Montana. Alongside being the director Justice leads artistic workshops, teaches figure drawing and figurative sculpture, as well as maintains a thriving studio practice and exhibition record. Justice's work has been in multiple publications, received substantial grants based on artistic merit, and has won numerous artistic awards. She earned her Masters of Fine Art, from the University of Montana, in the Spring of 2017.

"The Jig is Up"
Potsketch by Beth Korth
Media: Acrylic and graphite on paper
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Beth Korth received her MFA from the University of Montana in 2016 after her undergraduate studies at the University of Wyoming. Beth has shown work across the western United States and in Japan. Korth's multi-media work explores everyday relationships using iconic tropes and animal bodies to signify the familiar way we have told stories while activating twists into the bodies' form, layers of drawing, and bright expressive colors she complicates stories to capture contemporary human nature and the stories of our lives today.

"things fall apart"
Potsketch by Dyna Kuehlne
Media: Mixed media paper, beeswax, pigment
Dimensions: 7 x 7

Dyna Kuehnle is a sculptor and installation artist living in Hot Springs, Montana. She earned a BFA at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB and her MFA from University of Montana. Her bronze cast found objects are incorporated into large-scale installations which have been exhibited at MAM, Beale Park Art Center, and several galleries. She received a Montana Arts Council Percent for Art commission in 2000 and participated in MAM's 2009 Montana Triennial. After a big move, with her studio still boxed and in storage, she has been working at the kitchen table with whatever is lying around the house.

Potsketch by Jennifer Leutzinger
Media: Hand-stitched textile
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Jennifer Leutzinger prefers stumbling through life, naïve and hopeful, challenging expectations whenever possible while making things up as she goes along. She first accomplished this with The Brink, a contemporary art gallery she opened and ran in Missoula for six years, and now with Bob's Your Uncle, a gallery/studio space she opened this year on the westside. Born in El Paso, Texas, Jennifer was raised an Iowan, residing primarily in Cedar Falls. She obtained a BA in Journalism from the University of Iowa in 1990, studied layout/production art at The Art Institute of Seattle in 1992, and received a BFA in Painting from The University of Montana in 2002. Jennifer, after moving to Missoula in 1995, has participated in various group and solo shows throughout Montana, including an upcoming exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum in 2025.

"Spill"
Potsketch by Beth Lo
Media: Porcelain, epoxy
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Beth Lo is a ceramic artist and retired professor from the School of Art of the University of Montana. She has exhibited her work internationally and has received numerous awards for her work including the USA Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Beth and her sister, author Ginnie Lo, have collaborated on two children's picture books, Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic (2012) and Mahjong All Day Long which won the 2005 Marion Vannett Ridgeway Award. She has also collaborated with her mother, Chinese brush painter, Kiahsuang Shen Lo. Beth is also active as a bass player and vocalist for several musical ensembles including The Big Sky Mudflaps and Salsa Loca. The Big Sky Mudflaps is a swing and jazz ensemble that has played on the NBC Today Show and the Kool Jazz Festival among other national venues.

"Venetian Blinds"
Potsketch by Max Mahn
Media: Collage
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Max Mahn is an illustrator and printmaker based out of his home town Missoula, MT. After nearly 10 years working exclusively with spray paint, Max shifted gears and created Twin Home Prints, a freelance design and screen printing studio in 2014. While incorporating his years of experience with a spray can into his bold and whimsical illustrations and design, Max began to find his niche in the gig poster world. Following this passion for years to follow, Max has gone to create limited edition prints for some of today's largest national touring bands including Wilco, The Melvins, Trey Anastasio, Primus, and Andrew Bird.

"Late"
Potsketch by Kayla Mccormick
Media: Photograph, encaustic
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Kayla McCormick (she/her) is a self-taught photographer and designer from Missoula, MT. Her work attempts to capture how the balance of light and matter plays such an important role in our memories. After her images are processed and printed they are then saturated in beeswax as a way to protect and preserve the memories and emotions in a more tangible way. The blurred imagery is intentional. Oftentimes the blurred lines and melting colors can leave clues and tell stories better than words can - transporting our visual senses to unforgettable moments in time.

Potsketch by Claire Dawn Meyer
Media: Charcoal, handmade & synthetic dyes
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Claire Dawn Meyer was brought up in small town Livingston, MT where she was
blessed to grow up with a loving and artistic family. Since she could walk, Claire has been taking art classes with her beloved grandmother and traditional impressionist painter, Mary Ann Meyer. Her grandmother's formal education helped develop skills that Claire has used throughout her artistic years. Her work has always been inspired by the beauty in nature, the bond between color and emotion and the nuances in day-to-day life. Meyer has been a painter her whole life, and more recently has become
an installation enthusiast. During the formative college years at the University of Montana, Meyer began experimenting with self-made fabric dyes, soft sculptures as well as large paper installations. Her need to experiment and use non-traditional materials created a totally new way of working. Her current studies brought her to explore the combination of her traditional knowledge base with the energy and
interest of new materials to create a cohesive collection.

"Hand of Fatima"
Potsketch by Leslie Van Stavern Millar
Media: Monotype Relief Print
Dimensions: 5.5 x 5.5"

The Hand of Fatima (Hamsa) Series

Wikipedia - The hand, particularly the open right hand, is a sign of protection that also represents blessings, power and strength, and is seen as potent in deflecting the evil eye.

The first time I saw the Hand of Fatima was on the top of minarets in Iran, where my family lived in the 1950's. I became fascinated with this powerful symbol of protection.

I have been revisiting the theme of the Hand of Fatima since 2020 in the aftermath of the pandemic and personal and worldwide challenges. The Hand of Fatima is common to both Jewish (identified as Hamsa) and Arabic cultures. I consider art a healing force on many levels. This print attempts to encapsulate positive healing protective energy for one's personal environment.

"Having Some Words With a Horse"
Potsketch by Andrea Morgan
Media: Acrylic, Charcoal, Pastel on birch
Dimensions: 5 x 5 x 1.5"

Andrea Morgan is a self-taught painter and paper mache sculptor living in the Blackfoot River Valley of western Montana. Her various occupations (restoration ecologist, landscaper, vegetable farmer) have kept her hands in the dirt and her head in the clouds for as long as she can recall. Morgan's art is, in essence, an expression of her wonder and curiosity as she explores the wild lands and wild characters in the quiet spaces of her habitat.

Morgan's painting process starts with dynamic layers of color and marks on wood. She works without a plan, allowing colors and concepts to evolve and shift, adding and subtracting paint, ideas, and subjects until, as she puts it, "I capture the wild thing before it runs away". Her paintings offer viewers a sense of joy and delight at first glance. A closer look reveals depth, history, a sense of humor, and surprise.

Morgan's series cover both serious and lighthearted topics, including the intersection of native/non-native species on the prairie, fence lines across western landscapes, the somewhat ridiculous aspects of American cowboy culture, and imaginary birds riding imaginary bikes.

Andrea Morgan
www.andreamorganstudio.com

Instagram: @blueroosterarts

"Papaya"
Potsketch by Stella Nall
Media: Acrylic and beadwork
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Stella Nall is a Montana based multimedia artist and poet. She is a First Descendant of the Crow Tribe, and is involved in the community of Missoula as a member of the WMCI Indigenous Art Advisory Committee, by playing in the local band Cry Baby, and by frequently sharing her work through exhibitions, publications, murals, and interactive installations which invite participation. She is currently an exhibiting artist with the Art Mobile of Montana, and her work lives in numerous public and private collections, including The Montana Museum of Art and Culture, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

"The Casual Observer"
Potsketch by Josh Quick
Media: Mixed
Dimensions: 5 x 5"


Josh Quick is a native Montanan, illustrator/author of "Montana Quick Facts" and "Yellowstone Quick Facts", drawer of many regional things and graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle. His family moved to Montana in the 70s and built a cabin in the woods leaving young Josh with ample time to fill up sketchbook pages with transformers and dinosaurs which has continued into adulthood minus the rustic drawing space. Josh currently lives and works in Missoula.

"Bottom of the Barrel Saloon"
Potsketch by Kelly Seitz
Media: Pen and Ink
Dimensions: 6 x 6"


Kelly Seitz is an artist and educator working in Missoula Montana, and the Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Clay Studio of Missoula. Kelly received a BFA in Ceramics and licensure to teach from the University of Montana in 2019. It is their passion to make art accessible to everyone. Having grown up in a low income family and a part of the LGBT+ community, they especially strive for young people from struggling communities to have the chance to express themselves and explore their identities through the arts. In their work, Kelly loves to toy with visual storytelling and highly detailed imagery. There's always more than meets the eye at first glance.

Potsketch by Monica Thompson
Media: Textile Collage
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Monica Thompson lives and works in Missoula. She studied Fibers and Graphic Design at the University of Michigan and Textiles at the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC, where she was awarded the Edwina Bringle Scholarship for a student showing excellence in textiles. She has exhibited in solo and juried group exhibitions throughout Montana and the northwest, including the Paris Gibson Museum of Art, and the Missoula Art Museum annual auction.. Thompson teaches Elementary art in the Missoula County Public Schools.

"Canyon Storm at Sunset"
Potsketch by Dagny Walton
Media: Pen/Marker
Dimensions: 5 x 5"

Dagny Walton, aka Stray Dog Press, is an illustrator and printmaker. Originally from Colorado, she received her BA in Classical Studies from the University of British Columbia and her MFA in Fine Art from the University of Montana. Dagny applies her background in Classical Studies to a literal interpretation of the myth of the American West and incorporates themes and visuals from Greco-Roman mythology in her work. Her work explores the inheritance of stolen land, the industrial exploitation of the landscape, and the deification of the cowboy archetype. She also examines the interplay between human ambition and natural entropy: the permanent consequences our actions have on the land, and the chaotic nature of the environment that threatens our own existence.

Dudley Anderson
"Zuc"
Media: Wheel thrown raku
Dimensions: 7x 4.5 x 4.5"

Dudley Anderson was regularly exposed to and inspired by commercial art while assisting his step-father as a child. Even then, he was often directed by his art instructors to explain his "out of the box" creations. He began his journey with ceramics in 1969 at the Ketterer Art Center in Bozeman, MT. In the 80's his ceramic work was displayed in the Missoula Art Museum and consequently, he received invitations to enter works in shows in other states. In more recent years, his interests led him to use exotic woods, leather, resins, and brass to create art, golf putters, and knives. At present, he is creating highly textured vessels by utilizing drying methods while throwing on the potter's wheel with a stick and only one hand and often firing with the Raku method.

Andrew Avakian
"Salt and pepper set"
Media: Terra Cotta, underglaze, glaze
Dimensions: 5 x 3 x 2"

Andrew Avakian received a BFA in ceramics from Western Carolina University, and spent two years studying ceramics at the University of Florida as a post baccalaureate. He completed residencies at Cub Creek Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Virginia, and at Odyssey Clayworks in North Carolina before moving to Missoula, MT. He was a long-term resident at The Clay Studio of Missoula 2016-2018. His vessels combine architectural elements with painterly, layered surfaces. His studio is located inside the historic Brunswick Building in Missoula.

Sasha Barrett
"-Still- Life"
Media: Earthenware and cast concrete
Dimensions: 7 x 8 x 8"

Sasha Barrett was born and raised in Sumy, Ukraine. After moving to America in his youth, Sasha pursued education and a career as a ceramic artist. Completing his BFA in ceramics from Boise State University, Sasha has been a UM resident artist at The Clay Studio of Missoula and a Work exchange at The Clay Studio of Philadelphia. Sasha has been a receiver of various grants like The Alexa Rose Artist Grant and was the 2019 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist. Currently Sasha resides in Missoula, Montana where he is pursuing a MFA in ceramics from the University of Montana.

Jesse Brinkerhoff
"We Remembered What We Were Made Of"
Media: Earthenware and traditional majolica
Dimensions 9 x 3 x 5" and 6 x 3.5 x 3"

My work is about giving joy a way out. I think we have been misled as to the location of Joy. We must somehow get to it through the body because Joy isn't experienced on the surface and moreover it cannot emerge from a surface. My sculptures are a result. Their proportions and pattern motifs are a result of excavating into the dark, of unearthing pain, and only then integrating what these lost, buried, or stolen places need in order to become whole. Clay allows dualities to be easily held in the same conversation. I feel successful when I can depict both the impetus of pain and the disposition of light without preference. For me, clay is the perfect medium for this aim.

Recently I've been playing with scale to get closer to cutting through the noise of a world starved for internal joy. These figures are an attempt to open people up to a grounded kind of joy - whether symbolic of transformation, inclusivity, or personal journey.

Cori Crumrine
"Super Rookies"
Media: Cone 1 white stoneware & underglaze, pine
Dimensions: 3.5 x 4.25 x 3.5"

Cori studied ceramics at Bowling Green State University (BFA 2013) and the University of Montana (MFA 2018). Cori has continued her creative studies through several assistantships and residencies and was recently a visiting instructor and artist-in-residence at Kansas State University. She is currently a staff member at Queen City Clay (OH). Cori was a short term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula in July 2024.

Driven by her sweet tooth and magpie-like greed for color, her work is an attempt to harness delight and intrigue using a medley of saccharine palettes and confectionery forms.

Chris Dufala,
"Bottle"
Media: Cone 10 porcelain, underglaze, glaze, underglaze monotype inlay process
Dimensions: 10x5x3"

Chris Dufala was born and raised in New Jersey and received his MFA in Spatial Arts/Ceramics at San Jose State University. Chris is dedicated to his studio practice, maintaining an active exhibition record, is a former resident of the Archie Bray Foundation, The clay Studio of Missoula and Osage Artists Community. He has instructed as faculty, lectured on his working process, and led visiting artist demonstrations at several institutions, including: NCECA, University of Montana, Montana State University Bozeman, State University of New York Fredonia, Bowling Green State University, and Western Michigan University. To name a few. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Studio Arts, Ceramics/3D at Santa Ana College in Southern California.

Tatum Ernst
"Drift"
Media: Stoneware, glaze
Dimensions: 5x 3x 7"

Tatum is a ceramic sculptor born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Her passion for clay brought her to Missoula where she received her BFA at the University of Montana in 2024.She joined the Clay Studio of Missoula as one of the University of Montana Resident artists in summer 2024. She is currently a studio apprentice for artist Casey Zablocki and a Clay Studio of Missoula intern.

Tatum is interested in pushing the boundaries of functionality, re-imagining how ceramic objects can operate beyond their obvious roles in our daily lives.

Donna Flanery
"Vase with Friends"
Media: Stoneware, underglaze, cone 10 reduction
Dimensions: 20 x 5 x 5"

Donna Flanery makes pottery and comics. She received an MFA from the University of Florida, 2013. Her BFA is from the University of Montana, 2005. She has been a Resident Artist and Fellow at The Archie Bray Foundation 2007-2009, and The Northern Clay Center 2006; a Resident Artist at The Pottery Workshop, Shanghai 2010, The Zentrum fur Keramik, Berlin 2013, and The Clay Studio of Missoula, 2015-2016. Her playful painted pottery offers support and encouragement in a world full of serious problems.

Rebecca Harvey
"Bump Vase"
Media: Thrown and altered ceramic
Dimensions: 6.5 x 5.25 x 5.25

Rebecca Harvey was born in Columbus, Ohio. Past positions include Professor and Chair, Department of Art at Ohio State University and Professor and Head of Programme Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art in London, UK. She is currently the Executive Director of The Archie Bray. Her work is based in the residue, both physical and intangible, of objects. Project-based sculptural work reflects the implications of place on process and materials, on weight and heft, and the expectations of material. Ceramic work often focuses on both shape and the shape contained, on surfaces that scratch at the air and push against assumptions of domesticity.

Phletcher Henderson
"Lunar Nest"
Media: Hand built ceramic
Dimensions: 5.5 x 10.75 x 10.75"

Phletcher is a ceramic-focused multimedia sculptor born and raised in the outskirts of Missoula who is currently earning his BFA in ceramics from the University of Montana. He joined the Clay Studio of Missoula as one of the University of Montana Resident artists in summer 2024. His work focuses on viewing the often overlooked aspects of the natural and artificial worlds surrounding him through a new lens. Phletcher enjoys using minimal yet impactful textures and forms to reflect his relationship with these tokens.

Amanda Krolczyk
"Cry Baby"
Media: Cone 6 Porcelain
Dimensions: 8 x 5 "

Amanda Krolczyk is a woodworker and ceramic artist based in Missoula, Montana. Her artistic practice is deeply rooted in the natural beauty and rugged landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, which have profoundly influenced her choice of materials and thematic elements across her diverse body of work. Amanda earned her BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from the University of Montana in 2014. Following her graduation, she immersed herself in the local art scene, serving as a curator for a gallery in Missoula before joining Opportunity Resources Inc., where she taught ceramics to adults with disabilities. In 2017, Amanda founded Plaid Beaver Co., her own business dedicated to creating and selling artwork. Since then, she has been a prominent figure in Montana's art community, with her work featured in numerous curated and juried exhibitions and publications throughout the West. Amanda's journey into the arts was unconventional; initially a pre-med student, she found herself disillusioned with the medical field. It was through a serendipitous course enrollment that she discovered her passion for ceramics under the instruction of Beth Lo, a pivotal moment that redirected her career path. Her background in biology continues to inform her artistic practice, blending scientific curiosity with creative expression.

Susan Maruca
"Vase"
Media: Carved Stoneware, Cone 6
Dimensions: 5x3x3"

Susan Maruca is a scientist, educator, and ceramic artist/enthusiast in Missoula, Montana. She is intrigued by the patterns, textures, and forms in nature, as well as the relationships between living beings and inanimate objects. She makes mostly functional ceramic work that attempts to reflect the organized randomness, slow movement, and structural coherence abundant in organic systems.

Greg Morris
"3 Faced Jar"
Media: Woodfired Stoneware
Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 8"


Greg Morris is a Missoula-based ceramicist. A fire-whisperer from a young age, he has opted for a focus on wood-fired ceramic work rather than pursuing a career in arson. His time in The Peace Corps in Ecuador allowed him to pursue his other passions, poisonous dart frog collection and parasailing, often combining the two as he ventured deep into the rainforest for collecting. Greg has an appreciation for the absurd and embraces the lack of control inherent in life - as demonstrated by his willingness to hand off the writing of his biography to a ghost writer.

Melissa Mylchreest
"Vase"
Media: Stoneware
Dimensions: 16x3x3"

Melissa Mylchreest is a freelance writer, editor and maker based in western Montana. She writes about everything from bluegrass bands to architecture, barn raisings to evolutionary biology, ranch hands to fine artists. She holds a MS in environmental studies as well as a MFA in creative writing, both from the University of Montana, and has taught college-level classes in composition, creative writing, and environmental literature. Her nonfiction has been published widely, and she is also an award-winning poet. She occasionally works as an editor, and especially enjoys collaborating with artists and scientists on their written work: Artist's statements, pedagogy, research findings, etc.
When she's not writing she spends her time working as a director of a national journalism nonprofit. And when she's not writing OR working, she likes making functional art - usually out of clay, but not always. She also enjoys cooking, growing food, and spending as much time as possible outdoors with her two-legged and four-legged friends.

Kelsey Ochs
"Winged Bottle"
Media: Iron rich stoneware, cone 6 oxidation
Dimensions: 10x3x3"

Kelsey Ochs is a ceramic artist, and the owner of Throw Ceramics in Missoula. Her ceramics practice focuses on functional stoneware and porcelain forms intended for everyday use. She has been working with clay in one form or another for over 20 years. Her training as a studio artist and architect informs her work, and she is constantly refining her choices of clay bodies and glazes with functionality and aesthetics in mind.

Mary K Porter,
"Abstract #1"
Media: Porcelain
Dimensions: 6 x 3.5 x 3.5"

Mary K. Porter is a ceramic artist formerly based in Kansas City MO. She now lives in Missoula, MT and celebrates "the precious ordinary" by making art that is out of the ordinary.

Marnie Prange
"Blue Delta"
Media: Slip cast porcelain, cone 10 reduction
Dimensions: 7 x 8 x 4

Ceramics have been a constant in my life since early childhood. My mother, Sally Bowen Prange, maintained a studio in the basement laundry room of my childhood home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where her career as a ceramic artist flourished. She was my earliest teacher and greatest influence.
After receiving a BA in Art with an emphasis in ceramics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I pursued graduate degrees in creative writing from Hollins University and the University of Alabama, later teaching at universities across the United States. I returned to ceramics in 2016 after raising two sons in the Bitterroot Valley.
Currently I am a poet, journalist, and functional potter working as a studio artist at The Clay Studio of Missoula.

Sue Tirrell
"Winter Feed Pail (Grey Horses with Blankets)"
Media: Wheel-Thrown Porcelain with Underglaze Sgraffito Design; Wire and Tubing
Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 8"

Born and raised in Red Lodge, Montana, Sue Tirrell received an AA from Cottey College in Nevada, MO in 1995 and a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1997. Her work draws inspiration from her experiences living in Montana and the West, her fascination with animals and interest in folk art, illustrated fairy tales and vintage kitsch. Sue's work has been exhibited widely in the US, Canada and Australia and she has taught ceramics and multi-media workshops across the country from college classrooms to one-room schoolhouses. Sue lives and works north of Yellowstone National Park, in Montana's Paradise Valley.

I came to clay as a college freshman, intent on studying Graphic Design and was won over by the prospect of activating sculptural and functional objects with narrative surface design. My pots employ mythic animal imagery, crisp design and riotous color to bring playfulness, character and storytelling to daily kitchen rituals and special occasions.

Janet Whaley
"Hummingbird Centerpiece Pitcher"
Media: Porcelain
Dimensions: 8 x 8.5 x 5"

Janet Whaley's images on her hand-painted porcelain works depict personal and traditional mythologies - both the realms of the imagined and not imagined. She explores the subjects of aging, birth and rebirth, and relationships, blending her own personal experiences with myths and fairy tales and images from nature. Born in Idaho and raised in Missoula, Janet started her art studies at the University of Montana in 1966. After a time, she switched gears and began a twenty-six-year career in nursing. During this time, she continued her art studies and finished her MFA in ceramics from the University of Montana in 1996. She now maintains her studio practice in her Missoula home.

Tara Wilson
"Vase & Candlestick"
Media: Woodfired stoneware
Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 3.5"

Tara Wilson was captivated by the woodfiring process during her undergraduate studies at the University of Tennessee. Armed with an MFA from the University of Florida she ventured westward for a transformative residency at The Archie Bray Foundation. Montana's rugged beauty stole Tara's heart and in 2008 she planted roots and set up her studio near Helena. She has shared her expertise through lectures and workshops throughout the United States and her work has been exhibited internationally. She facilitated the Cultural Confluence Woodfire Symposium in 2018 and serves as a founding host of The Montana Clay Tour. When not in the studio, Tara can be found roaming the hills on her mountain bike.

Valerie Yardley
"Untitled"
Media: Raku Fired Ceramic
Dimensions 10" x 1.5"

Valerie Yardley sometimes feels she is a ceramic artist by chance. She was a weaver many moons ago, had success in Philadelphia and started a tapestry studio. She went on to begin a fabric workshop for adults who were intellectually challenged - she was much more successful with them at keeping straight edges than teaching other adults! Her weavings became dimensional and tubular figures so it was no surprise that when she turned to ceramics she enjoyed the same. She feels her pieces are narrative and is never quite sure what will happen. When people asked me about her weavings as to how long they took, she learned to answer, 'My whole life!' The same is true of ceramics.

Amy York
"Bradley House Vase"
Media: Stoneware and Underglaze
Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 4.5"

Amy York is a potter and general clay enthusiast. She has a BFA in painting and education from Ohio University. She taught high school art, ceramics and adult education ceramics for a decade in the Montana public school system.

Amy makes functional ceramic wares specializing in wheel throwing and cone 6 surface decoration. She currently resides in Huson, MT and her pots are featured in many businesses in western Montana.

David Hiltner
"Bird Trophy"
Soda Fired Porcelain
10 x 8 x 8"
100% donation by artist

David Hiltner is currently the Executive Director of Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana. In the summer of 2005 David and his family moved to Montana to establish the Red Lodge Clay Center. Prior to moving to Red Lodge David was an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. Before joining the faculty at Wichita State University in 1999, he taught at Syracuse University, Northwest College, and at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He received his B.F.A in Ceramics from Wichita State University in 1993 and completed his M.F.A at Syracuse University in 1997.

Shalene Valenzuela
"Hung Up - Pink Tangle"
Slipcast earthenware, underglaze, glaze, 2024
9"x4"x5"
100% donation by artist

Shalene Valenzuela was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She received a BA in Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA in Ceramics from California College of Arts and Crafts. She has participated in artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and the LH Project and has taught at Flathead Valley Community College, University of Montana, Oregon College of Art and Craft, and various art centers in Montana and California. Shalene has been a guest artist and speaker at several art centers, colleges, and universities and her work has been featured in many group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. She currently serves as the executive director at the Clay Studio of Missoula. Shalene is the recipient of the Artist's Innovation Award in Ceramics (2013) and an ARPA Grant (2021) from the Montana Arts Council.

Casey Zablocki
"Vase"
Woodfired Ceramic
13 x 4 x 12"
100% donation by artist

Casey Zablocki was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula. He received his BFA from Finlandia University and studied ceramic design in Kuopio, Finland. He has studied as an apprentice to Peter Callas and designer/artist Hun-Chung Lee. He did post baccalaureate studies at Montana State University for one year. Casey was the Woodfire resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula from 2013-2015, and currently maintains an active studio practice in Missoula.

Richard Notkin
"Those Who Do Not Learn #1"
Ceramic, saw dust fired, wood mounted
3x5.5x1.25"
100% donation by artist

Richard Notkin (Vaughn, Washington) is a studio artist who has created ceramic sculptures and teapots laden with social and political commentary for more than five decades. His art is in more than 70 museum collections throughout America, Europe and Asia. Among his awards are three Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and grants from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Tiffany Foundation, and the Hoi Fellowship from United States Artists. Notkin is a Fellow of the American Craft Council, received the Honorary Membership Award from NCECA, and Meloy Stevenson Award from the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts.

Karen Van Galder
Byron
Soda Fired Stoneware, 8x8x14"
100% donation by artist

Having lived in many places, I have never encountered such a dynamic and inspiring community of artists, nor such a rich variety of firing techniques to explore as there are in Missoula. My recent body of work delves into the wildlife of the Northwest and the profound connection that native cultures have with the land and its creatures. Through sculpting, I seek to evoke a sense of wisdom, resilience, and quiet strength-especially in older beings whose stories are etched into their forms. My goal is to create pieces that not only capture a viewer's interest but also invite them to reflect on the depth and spirit of the subject. Each sculpture is a narrative, a moment suspended in time that speaks to the enduring relationship between nature and humanity.

Krissy Ramirez
"Saguaro Jar"
Earthenware, glaze, underglaze
10x6x 6"
100% donation by artist

Born and raised in the border town of Douglas, AZ, Krissy discovered her enthusiasm for clay at Cochise College. Furthering her education, she received a BFA with an emphasis in ceramics from Western New Mexico University in 2017. Then, after completing a 2 year artist in residence program at WNMU she moved to Montana without visiting the big sky. During her time in Missoula she has been part of; the post-baccalaureate program at the University of Montana, co-founded and was a resident artist at Wildfire Ceramic Studio and is currently making work in a new private space called Speakeasy Clay Studio alongside other amazing artists. Krissy is currently a resident artist at The Clay Studio of Missoula.

Ryan Matthew Mitchell
"Arrangement"
Media: stoneware and porcelain.
24x13x7"
DONATED BY MO GARY

Ryan Matthew Mitchell (b. 1978) currently holds the position of Program Development Director at Jingdezhen Taoxichuan International Studio in Jingdezhen, China. He received his MFA from the University of Montana in 2005 and continued to reside in Missoula, Montana from 2005-2007 as a resident artist at The Clay Studio of Missoula. Since his years in Montana, Ryan has been selected for several artist-in-residence programs. In 2007 he was a resident at Australia National University in Canberra. He participated as a resident artist at the LH Project in Joseph, Oregon in 2008 and 2009. He was selected as one the first Americans to be an artist-in-resident at the FuLe International Ceramic Art Museums in Xi'An, China and has since participated in the residencies of Suzhou University in Suzhou China (2015), the Artists for The Western Forests of Thailand with the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary (2015), and the Meikong River residency in Changrai, Thailand (2015).

Ryan was a resident artist at The Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis (2010), receiving the prestigious 2010 McKnight mid-career residency fellowship. While working in Montana, Ryan designed/built kilns, instructed ceramic courses/workshops, and shared a passion for the development of ceramics in the western states; Ryan now extends his contributive spirit globally to make significant contributions to the Arts and Culture in China. Ryan has curated or been featured as an artist in 12 exhibitions and has arranged for more than forty international artists to visit and create their art in China. Ryan is recognized widely for his energetic and creative output. He is also regarded for a visual language that has evolved through the blending of disparate elements of concept, materials, expression, process and craft. Displaying confidence and a fluency of materials, Ryan's artwork asserts the importance of the maker as force and voice, but at the same time denies the logic of personal or particular narrative conventions and representations. The resulting works speak to the complex nature of shared experience. Ryan has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Holter Museum of Art (Helena, MT), Bentley Projects (Phoenix, AZ), Plinth gallery (Denver, CO) LillStreet Art Center (Chicago, Il), Biasa Art Space (Bali, Indonesia), and Jest Gallery (Whitefish, Montana).

Kayla Noble
"Bookends"
Woodfired stoneware
10x9x6" each
100% donation by artist

Kayla Noble is a woodfire artist born and raised in New York's Hudson Valley. She holds a BFA in ceramics from the State University of New York at New Paltz, completed a long term artist residency at Taos Clay (Taos. NM), and has taught and given workshops at numerous community studios in New York State. Noble's practice is rooted in functional pottery; she crafts vessels in conversation with communal action, rituals of food cultivation, and the relationship of service and containment. She owes much of her exposure to clay and reverence for craftsmanship to her grandfather, Brad Benn, a practicing potter and harpsichord builder. Kayla is currently the wood fire resident artist at The Clay Studio of Missoula.

Renee Brown
"Plum Wulfenite on Olivivan"
Ceramic, optical resin, multi media
8.5 x 10 x 5"
100% donation by artist

Renée Brown spent many summer days playing in the creek bed next to her home growing up in Conyers Georgia. Clay has always been under her nails. In 2002 Brown left the Interior design field to pursue her MFA in Ceramics at the University of North Texas. Upon receiving her degree, she completed several artist residencies in Montana including: The Archie Bray Foundation, Red Lodge Clay Center, and The Clay Studio of Missoula. She now maintains a studio in her home in Missoula, Montana.

Chris Alveshere
"Orange Teapot"
Colored Porcelain, cone 9, electric fired
7 x 8 5"
100% donation by artist

Chris Alveshere is an artist, educator, and co-owner of Workroom Montana, a community arts space in Missoula, MT, and Flecks + Specks, a ceramic grog business. He currently teaches adult and youth community education classes in addition to maintaining a full-time studio practice. Originally from North Dakota, Chris received undergraduate degrees in ceramics

and art education from Minnesota State University in Moorhead, MN and his MFA in ceramics from Alfred University.

Austin Coudriet & Matthew O'Reilly Collaboration
Stoneware, glaze, wood fired
44x13x7"

A collaborative work between two former long term resident artists donated for the Potsketch Auction

Austin was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 2019 he earned his BFA with a dual emphasis in sculpture and ceramics from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. There he focused on fabricating large ceramic sculptures and expanding his skills in the wood shop. Austin most recently was a long-term resident at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY (2019-2021). During the start of the global pandemic, Austin moved back to Nebraska for six months, where he held a fellowship position at the LUX Center for the Arts. In 2019, Austin founded a ceramic collective group called Mud Ties and currently leads both the Social Outreach and the Social Media team. Austin was a long term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula from 2021-23 and is currently a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation.

Matthew is a Canadian artist interested in the complexity of a person, catalyzing conversation, and figurative ceramics. He completed his MFA at the Alberta University for the Arts and was an artist in residence at the Medalta Clay Center before arriving at the Clay Studio of Missoula as a resident from 2022-2024. Currently, Matthew is the Residency Arts Technician at the Bemis Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska, mentoring residents and overseeing the sculpture studio.

Ethan Arias
"Tall Sodafired Vase"
Stoneware, Sodafired, Slipped
6.25x 6.25x 20"

Ethan, a Coral Springs, Florida native, started studying ceramics in 2021 at the University of North Florida. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Studies with a focus in Fine Arts Materials and minors in Marketing and Ceramics in May of 2024. While in his undergraduate studies he earned two research grants to enhance his study of ceramics materials. As an artist, Ethan is focused on wheel-thrown, functional ceramics that are fired in atmospheric kilns. Ethan is currently a long term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula

Peter VandenBerge
"Cat Man Do"
Glazed earthenware ceramic
Measurements: 9 x 5 5/8 x 4" man, 9.5 x 6.25" cat on fire brick, and others

DONATED BY THE ESTATE OF KATHERINE HEATH

Born in the Hague, Netherlands in 1935 and trained in the United States, Peter VandenBerge has enjoyed a successful career that spans several decades. He received his B.A. from CSU, Sacramento in 1959 and his M.A. from UC Davis in 1963. VandenBerge has taught classes at State University of New York, College of Ceramics at Alfred University, University of Washington, Seattle. He taught ceramics at California State University, Sacramento for over 30 years.

His work has been exhibited at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; San Francisco M.O.M.A; Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.; Oakland Art Museum; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and many others. VandenBerge was also included in a traveling exhibition from the Museum of Decorative Arts, featured in the Louvre, Paris and other major cities.

Phil Mahn
"Storage Jar"
Thrown, altered, slip/sgraffito, wood fired
21 x 16"
100% donation by artist

Philip Mahn was born and raised in Great Falls and currently lives near Missoula. His development as a potter has been through independent study, mentoring, and a variety of community ceramic studios like the Paris Gibson Square, The Clay Studio of Missoula, University of Montana, and the Archie Bray Foundation. His work is a collaboration of the intuitive interaction with clay and the embracement of the firing processes that make it uniquely ceramic.

Alison Reintjes
"Vase"
Slab-built and press-molded stoneware
11.5 x 6.5 x 6.5"

Alison Reintjes first moved to Montana in 2001 for a residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena. She has completed additional residencies at Greenwich House Pottery in New York, Jentel in Wyoming, Mount St. Francis in southern Indiana, and the Clay Studio of Missoula. She has exhibited at the Oregon College of Arts & Crafts, AKAR Gallery, Museu de Cera mica de l'Alcora in Spain, ASU Ceramic Research Center, Lill Street Art Center and the Northern Clay Center.

Julia Galloway
"Urn for the Southern Sea Otter"
USFW - Iisted as threatened in 1977
Wheel thrown and carved porcelain with underglaze, 2023
11x6x6"

Julia Galloway is a potter and a professor at the University of Montana, Missoula. Julia has exhibited and lectured at more than 300 venues across the United States, Canada, and Asia and her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Ceramic Art, and Alfred Ceramics Art Museum. She has served on the Board of NCECA, the Archie Bray Foundation, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Green Task Force. Julia was awarded a United States Artist Grant, the NCECA 2023 Fellows Council Award, and was named a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Montana, first person in the arts to receive this award since 1986.

Josh Deweese
"Serving Dish"
Local Earthenware Cone 04 Oxidation
9 x 9.5 x 2"
100% donation by artist

Josh DeWeese is a ceramic artist and educator. He is currently a Professor of Art teaching ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman, where he and his wife Rosalie Wynkoop have a home and studio. DeWeese served as Resident Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana from 1992-2006. He holds an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred, and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. DeWeese has exhibited and taught workshops internationally and his work is included in numerous public and private collections.

Perry Haas
"Vase"
Wood Fired Porcelain
17 x 8 x 17"
100 % donation by artist

Perry Haas has been working with clay since 2003. He studied at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois and Utah State University where he received his BFA. Perry has been a resident artist in Denmark at Guldagergaard , The Archie Bray Foundation, Clay Studio of Missoula and the Red Lodge Clay Center. Haas's work continues to evolve and has been seen in numerous collections. He is inspired by the mountains and streams of the landscape that surrounds him in Montana. Currently Perry lives and works out of his home studio in Clancy, Montana.

Crista Ann Ames
"Boots"
Slip cast Porcelain
6 x 5.5 x 5.5"
100% donation by artist

Crista Ann Ames is a studio artist and teaching artist living in Ellensburg, Washington. Raised on a small hobby farm, she often draws on her own experiences to explore pastoral life, animal husbandry, women's craft and fertility.

Crista received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics with a minor in Art History and Disability Studies from Washington State University. She went on to attend Utah State University for Post Baccalaureate studies in Ceramics. While receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana she began studying dance and movement to help inform the way she sculpts the figure.

Robert Harrison
"Montana Wild Double Arch House"
Multifired Extruded whiteware clay, china paint, ceramics decals + glaze
9x9x9"

100% donation by artist

Robert Harrison is a practicing artist who lives and works in Helena, Montana, USA. He has built his 30+ year career in the large-scale site-specific architectural sculpture realm along with smaller-scale studio activity out of his Granitewood Studio just west of Helena.

He holds BFA and MFA degrees in Ceramics and is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (Geneva), founding member of the World Association of Brick Artists (WABA) and Fellow of NCECA (the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts). His exhibition and installation record is global and extensive.

Yve Holtzclaw
"Ten Sticks"
Clay, Glaze, Slip
24x11x22"
100% donation by artist

Yve is a genderqueer artist and educator originally from Atlanta, GA. Since graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with their BFA in ceramics and art history in 2020, they have been awarded the Donis. A. Dondis travel grant, completed a residency in ceramics at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and organized shows both locally and nationally. Their work focuses on the intersection of the metaphysical and the tender through immersive and nostalgic installations of anthropomorphized climate, animals, and architecture. Yve is currently a long term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula.

Kensuke Yamada
"Head"
Ceramic and Graphite
4 x 4 x 4"
75% donation by artist

Originally from Japan, Kensuke earned his MFA from the University of Montana in 2009 and a BA from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He has participated in many artist residency programs and visiting artist opportunities, including The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is included in various museum and institutional collections. He is currently an assistant professor at Chico State University in Chico, CA.

Heather Lepp
"Angular Vase"
Soda fired earthenware
13.5x3x10.75"

Heather is an artist and educator originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She received her BFA from the University of Manitoba, and her MFA from West Virginia University, and has apprenticed with four professional potters. She has been an artist in residence at Medalta (2019) and Red Lodge Clay Center (Summer 2023) and was awarded the Marilyn Levitt Prize in Functional Ceramics from the Manitoba Arts Council. She is inspired to create pottery that fits a need in her daily life with an emphasis equally placed on beauty and practicality. Heather is currently a long term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula

Jon Bonnicksen
Rosemary
Ceramic, flashing slip, and crackle clear, soda then raku fired
13x9.5x7"
100% donation by artist

Jon Bonnicksen was raised in Los Angeles by artistic parents who worked in the animation business. He grew up around art but did not follow that path initially. He received his bachelor's degree in Resource Conservation and a Master's degree in Counseling. He then practiced as a psychotherapist for 15 years. Jon has dabbled in ceramics since middle school. In 2011 he started taking classes at the Clay Studio of Missoula. He became serious about his work eight years ago when he began sculpting animals. He enjoys playing with metaphor, persona, and duality.