What’s your business name and what do you do?
Mill Pond Ceramics Studio. I also make ceramic work under my name. In January of 2020, I left the arts nonprofit I co-founded and ran for twelve years because my partner and I were preparing to move to Boston for his work. But then the pandemic changed our plans. I hadn’t worked with ceramics for years but I returned to them during that chaotic time and found that I had all this pent up creative energy. My search for a studio space closer to my home in Biddeford snowballed into founding a community clay studio in 2023 which is now 80 members strong and has between 60-100 students, depending on the time of the year.
How did you learn your craft?
I studied art in college years ago and focused on ceramics, but I was young and lacked the focus to dive into ceramics as a career path. For many years, I worked as a graphic designer, a nonprofit director, then more recently as a book designer, always with aspirations to return to ceramics some day.. Ironically, the silver lining of the pandemic for me was that it gave me time to pick up ceramics again. During the first year of the pandemic I was lucky to land an apprenticeship to learn slip casting. I also joined groups to learn more about atmospheric firings like raku and wood firings. Running a community studio Mill Pond Ceramics eats into my creative time now but I’m hiring help so I can focus on my own work.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
With my community studio, I’m inspired by the members and students who use the space I’ve made. We’ve got a really engaged, supportive community of makers. I love seeing the breakthroughs they make in their own practices. I enjoy building that community and making it possible for others to be able to create. In my own work, I enjoy the thrill of a piece just pulled from a glaze kiln, knowing I made it with my own hands. That feeling never gets old.
What do you enjoy least?
That’s hard. I like most everything I do. I guess I’d have to say developing content for social media. It’s much easier to consume than to create content!
What’s one thing you wish people knew about your work?
That I actually make my own work! I’m more known, I think, as someone who supports artists by making spaces for them, which I do love and get great satisfaction from. But I think the pandemic caused a lot of creative people to reflect and reprioritize things in their lives. Carving out time to focus on my own craft is enormously important to me
What’s one artist you look up to?
I am really a big fan of Dame Lucy Rie, an Austrian-born Jewish potter who escaped to England in 1938. She was a studio potter at a time when most studio potters were men, and her work was considered cosmopolitan and innovative. I love her forms and surfaces. I’m also a big fan of German ceramicist Maria Kristofferson. Every time I scroll past her work on Instagram it stops me in my tracks. That’s two, sorry!
What do you do when you’re not creating art?
I spend time with my husband. Ride my vintage Bianchi road bike. Walk in the woods. Explore small towns. Swim in ponds and lakes. Read. Take naps!
Night owl or early bird?
Most definitely an early bird. It’s difficult to get me out past 8:00 p.m anymore unless I’m already out! I do my best thinking early, when it’s quiet. I feel robbed if I miss a sunrise, but I don’t care that much about sunsets.
What’s your favorite place in Maine?
Oh, that one is impossible! Maine is so beautiful. I really love Vinalhaven and would like to spend more time there. My husband’s family has a deep history there. But I also love Rockland for its vibrant arts community and great historic downtown.