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.