The studio apprenticeship position is an opportunity for someone interested in becoming a professional potter or studio artist.
It is a two-year position, sometimes overlapping with another assistant.
I have been working in my studio with potters for many years and believe I can offer a kind of mentorship that will help you embark on a career in clay. Except for the cost of fuel and studio materials, there is no exchange of money. Instead, you would be expected to work twelve hours a week for me in exchange for:
- Access to my working knowledge as a professional potter
- Use of studio space and equipment
- An opportunity to find out what this kind of life is like first hand
This apprenticeship is a place for you to start to make cycles of work and market them, to exchange ideas, and to experiment with ways of presenting your work and yourself professionally.
Floyd County, Virginia is a rural farm community. It is situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Blacksburg, the home of Virginia Tech University, is half an hour away. Roanoke is one hour away. Floyd is a community of craftspeople, wineries, musicians and organic farms. There are opportunities for jobs and housing in the county.
Current & Past Apprentices
Greta is a potter from New England. She received her B.F.A from the Maine College of Art with a major in Ceramics and a minor in Art History. The convergence of a long time interest in the value of domesticity, cooking, and craft process began a love for exploring the subtleties of clay as a functional medium.
Visit Greta’s website
Visit Greta’s website
Lucas is a sculptural artist from northwest Georgia. He received his B.F.A in 2013 from Kennesaw State University. Lucas has worked for several professional artists in a wide range of processes. Including clay modeling, stainless steel/ bronze fabrication, public art installation, woodworking, and mold-making for public bronzes.
“I like to think of my pottery as a bond to the earth in its purest form. It continues to mimic the earth even after it has been extracted and manipulated. Respect for the earth is something that I strive to embrace throughout the entire process of making pots and which I honor through the designs that are carved into the forms.”
Visit Abby’s website
Visit Abby’s website
“Through my pots I aspire to add pomp to daily living. I combine the necessary with the unnecessary – utility and ornament. In doing so, I work to make unique and engaging objects. My hope is that the pots I create spur curiosity in others by requiring them to look closely with both their hands and their eyes, as a visual examination alone is not enough.”
Visit Andrea’s website
Visit Andrea’s website
“Throwing uniform vessels with voluptuous curves and clean lines comforts me. Fun for me is filling tables and shelves with consistent curves and functional forms. Altering these vessels immediately after the wheel stops, allows me to stretch the bellies and reshape the lips of my pots.”
Visit Seth’s website
Visit Seth’s website
“My family’s tradition of eating meals together has taught me the importance that pots facilitate in bringing people together. Pots offer a unique tactile relationship and I elevate them to the ideal that a culture is rich when it can (visually and emotionally) coalesce engaging art with an everyday purpose and function.”
Visit Jessica’s website
Visit Jessica’s website
“My work is moving towards a more organic appearance, often altered away from the perfect circle of the wheel. Through these forms and patterns emerge lines of communication. I am learning that the communication of pottery happens most often in the absence of language.”
Visit Wendy’s website
Visit Wendy’s website
“The materiality of clay is indispensable to the construction of my work. Through ruptures in the surface of the clay, I convey the interiority of the object, and suggest things beneath the surface that are neither visible nor understood.”
Visit Sarah’s website
Visit Sarah’s website
Dandee makes functional pieces that display abundance and benevolence. Functional pottery has a rich history. She plays with that history and makes her pieces appear as if they are overflowing with plenty.
Dandee’s Facebook page
Dandee’s Facebook page
“The acts of conveying sustenance and of personal intimacy are characteristics of functional pottery that interest me, and I convey those ideas into my current work to heighten a sense of intimacy and accessibility.”
Visit Elisa’s website
Visit Elisa’s website
Brian shows work nationally and has been a resident artist at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA. Jones lives in Portland.
Visit Brian’s website
Visit Brian’s website
Interested in the junction of public art and craft, she makes work inspired by water, agriculture, food and community. As a teaching artist, Metcalfe loves to promote collaboration and interdisciplinary learning environments between the sciences and art-making.
Visit Anna’s website
Visit Anna’s website
Ian has exhibited work nationally, and received the Mentor Program Award from the American Craft Council in 2005. He has taught Ceramics at Rowan University, The Clay Studio, The Ceramic Shop, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Penland School of Arts and Crafts.
Using the vernacular of the vessel, I use earthenware clay to create intimate spaces. Each form employs a language that reveals its intentions. My interest lies in the slight shifts within the arc of a bowl that determines the nature of the containment. Looking to primitive objects that have a contemporary relevance, I pare down forms and exaggerate isolated elements accentuating their sense of generosity and strength.
Visit Jerilyn’s website
Visit Jerilyn’s website