Obamaware was a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign for the presidency held in October of 2008 that included the work of 27 nationally known ceramic artists. The artists made Obama-themed work specifically for this event. Put together in just five weeks, the three day auction held just before the election, raised $10,843.54 for the Obama/Biden campaign and redefined how powerful a grassroots art campaign could be. Thank you all for your amazing support in making it a huge success!
Dan Anderson received his BS degree in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls in 1968 and his MFA degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills Michigan in 1970. A noted artist/educator, he headed the ceramic program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1976 until August 2002, when he retired after 32 years of teaching. A frequent workshop presenter, Anderson has lectured and demonstrated at over 150 venues over the past four decades, including the Archie Bray Foundation, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Anderson Ranch, Peters Valley Craft Center, Watershed and Arrowmont School. A multiple grant/award recipient, he has received a NEA Artist Fellowship, twelve Illinois Arts Council grants (including six Artist Fellowships) and a Ford Foundation Grant. Major galleries represent Dan across the United States and his work is in numerous private and permanent collections. His “mounds’ anagama wood kiln is fired at his rural Edwardsville studio, Old Poag Road Clay & Glass, twice a year. He has been wood firing for over thirty years. Dan currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Archie Bray Foundation (ABF) in Helena, Montana and is President of the Board of Directors of the Edwardsville Arts Center (EAC) in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Andy Brayman holds a BA in sociology and a BFA in ceramics from the University of Kansas (1996) and an MFA in ceramics from Alfred University (1998). His work is a combination of traditional craft, industrial processes, and contemporary art strategies. At their best, his pots demonstrate an object’s potential to be both beautiful and cerebral. In 2005, Andy founded The Matter Factory in Kansas City. It is part artist studio, part laboratory, and part factory. In addition to producing objects of his design, the company contains a collaborative element. Guest designers and artists are invited to develop objects for production, which might otherwise have trouble finding an eager manufacturer.
John Byrd is a sculptor and Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. His work is interested in the nature of the object and the perception of finely crafted skill specifically as it is used to exhibit a persistent commitment to an idea or exploration. Contextually speaking, his work tends to be derivative of specific aesthetic qualities, most often, those that he associates with a personal autobiography that had little exposure to art outside of what could be consumed in a rural North Carolina childhood.
John earned his BFA from Louisiana State University in 1997 and his MFA from the University of Washington in 2000. In 2001, he was awarded the Myhre fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation and in 2004 a Virginia A. Groot Foundation award. He was awarded the juror’s prize at the World Ceramic Biennale last year and is in the collection of the Icheon World Ceramic Center in South Korea, in addition to being in many private collections.
Victoria Christen is a studio potter living in Portland Oregon. She has taught ceramics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She has presented workshops at art centers and universities across the US, including the Archie Bray and Anderson Ranch, as well as in Japan and Denmark. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
Michael Corney is a studio artist and has taught at the University of New Mexico. He is currently living in Albuquerque, NM. He received his BFA from California State University, Fullerton and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He has been an Artist in Residence at Cleveland Institute of Art, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and the California College of Arts and Crafts. Michael received an individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the Idaho State Commission on the Arts and his work is included in numerous public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Racine Art Museum and the Boise Art Museum.
Diana Fayt was born in Los Angeles, California in 1964 and has lived in Northern California for most of her life. In 1983/84 she spent a year living with family in Budapest, Hungary and when returning began her journey towards her career as an Artist. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics and Printmaking from the College of Arts (and Crafts) in 1992. In 1994 she developed a process with ceramics in which she combines all of her loves; drawing, painting, printmaking and clay and refers to it as “as etchings in clay.” She has also dabbled in ceramic design and created a line of tabletop ceramic ware in 1999 and most recently has ventured into graphics and illustration. Diana is both a traveler and a lover of home. She gleans inspiration from nature, the mundane and life’s stories. Her ceramic pieces are often narrative with marks of time, events and images seen and experienced and then drawn into the surface of her clay platters bowls and vases. By doing this she hopes to leave a permanent mark that expresses her vision of what she experiences in the world around her. Diana currently exhibits her work in galleries and fine boutiques throughout the United States, Japan, Austrailia and Europe.
Donna Flanery is the 2008 Lillian Fellow at The Archie Bray Foundation. She received her BFA in 2005 at The University of Montana in Missoula, MT. Flanery was a 2006 Folgelberg Fellow at The Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, MN, where she also received a 2007 Jerome Emerging Artist Project Grant. Flanery’s earthenware pots feature narrative and painterly surfaces.
“I enjoy when my pots appeal to children, I want to share an appreciation of cartoons and mark making with them. Ideologically, this silly approach to the serious business of my own artwork is of great value to me. I hope to infect others with a similar playful irreverence.”
Julia Galloway
At Bill Clintons inauguration, Maya Angelou read a poem of hope and future. It was a brand new day and her words echoed out across America: “Here on the pulse of this new day, You may have the grace to look up and out, And into your sister’s eyes, into your brother’s face, your country, And say simply, Very simply, With hope, Good morning.” When I first heard Barak Obama speak, it reminded me of this time of such optimism. I do have the audacity to hope. For me, the morning is a time of hope, and birds, especially doves are symbols of hope. On these cups I have drawn doves singing, and a window to look out to better days, and the golden yellow of the morning first sunlight.
Julia Galloway is a Studio Potter, Professor of Ceramics and Chair of the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has shown extensively across the United States and Canada, and is in the collections of the Renwick Gallery – Smithsonian Museum, the Huntington Museum of Art, the College of William and Mary, the Clay Art Center, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and the Long Beach Art Museum. She is an executive board member at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and was an Artist in Resident at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center and the Archie Bray Foundation of Ceramic Arts. www.juliagalloway.com
Janice Jakielski A native of Pennsylvania, Janice Jakielski is a mixed media installation artist. Working in a wide range of materials she always (especially during election years) returns to clay. She is interested in the power of combining political propaganda with a humble pot, exploiting and exploring the intimate relationship between user and vessel. Janice received her BFA from Alfred University in 2000 and her MFA in 2008 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is currently a visiting professor at Colorado State University, Fort Collins and an adjunct professor at Metropolitan State College in Denver.
Garth Johnson
Garth Johnson is a studio artist, writer and educator who lives in Eureka, California. In addition to maintaining the website “Extreme Craft” (www.extremecraft.com) Garth writes for CRAFT (www.craftzine.com) magazine and his writing has been featured in museum catalogs, magazines and books worldwide, including a contribution to the upcoming book Handmade Nation from Princeton Architectural Press. His first DVD, ReVision: Recycled Crafts for Earth-Friendly Living will be released by Eyekiss Films later this year. Additionally, he is writing a book called “1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse” (www.creativereusebook.com) for Quarry publishing and will have a solo show at the Clay Studio’s in Philadelphia’s Niche Gallery in February, 2009.
Garth received a BFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an MFA from Alfred University. He has taught at Georgia State University, Columbus State University and is currently an Assistant Professor at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, CA. In addition to teaching, he is a sought-after lecturer and visiting artist, with recent lectures at Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, Illinois State University and the Kansas City Art Institute.
Kathy King is currently a studio artist in Atlanta, GA. She received her B.A. in Studio Art with a major in Ceramics from Connecticut College, New London, CT in 1990. She received her M.F.A. from University of Florida in Gainesville, FL in 1998. She has taught and given lectures at over fifty colleges, schools and art centers throughout the US.
Her exhibition record includes solo shows at Erie Museum of Art, Erie, PA, University of South Carolina, Columbus, SC, University of West Georgia, Carrolton, GA and Spacelab in Cleveland, OH. Group exhibitions include SOFA, Chicago, IL, World Ceramic Exposition, Yoju, Korea, Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC, Santa Fe Clay Gallery, Santa Fe, NM and Signature Shop and Gallery, Atlanta, GA. She was featured as both an Emerging Artist in 1999 and a Demonstrator in 2002 at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conferences.
Her work has been featured in Controversial Ceramics by Dr. Judith Schwartz, Sexpots by Paul Mathieu, The Art of Contemporary American Pottery by Kevin A. Hulch and Teapots Transformed by Leslie Ferrin as well as numerous periodicals including Ceramics: Art and Perception, Studio Potter, Clay Times, Art Papers and Ceramics Monthly.
Michael Kline has been a studio potter since 1993. He studied pottery, painting, and printmaking at the University of Tennessee from 1983-1986 and holds a BFA. He also studied under Michael Simon at the Penland School of Crafts in 1989. After teaching pottery at the Westside YMCA in New York City from 1986-1989 he joined Mark Shapiro in Worthington , MA and built a studio and kiln at Stonepool Pottery. In 1993 Michael began his Okra Pottery Studio. He designed and created wood fired-salt glazed tableware with a botanical theme in Massachusetts until 1998 when he was awarded a Resident Artist position at the Penland School of Crafts.
While at Penland Michael developed a body of work in translucent porcelain. In addition to the porcelain work Michael developed a body of larger scale stoneware pottery inspired by the traditional stoneware of the Catawba Valley and Seagrove areas of North Carolina. At the end of his tenure as Resident Artist Michael designed a kiln to fire his new body of stoneware. The kiln is designed to fire exclusively with edgings and remainder wood from local sawmills and is large enough to fire his large scale pottery as well his tableware. The kiln is fired five times a year. The pottery features botanical themes, glass runs, and alkaline ash glaze.. Michael lives in Bakersville, North Carolina with his wife, goldsmith Stacey Lane. They have two daughters Evelyn and Lillian.
Beth Lo was born on October 11, 1949 in Lafayette, Indiana, to parents who had recently immigrated from China. She received a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan in 1971, and then studied Ceramics with Rudy Autio at the University of Montana receiving her MFA in 1974. She assumed his job as Professor of Ceramics there when he retired in 1985, and was honored as the University of Montana Provost’s Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2006. Much of Beth’s ceramic and mixed media artwork revolves around issues of family and ethnicity. She has exhibited her work internationally, and has received numerous awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship Grant in 1994, a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in 1989 and an American Craft Museum Design Award in 1986. Since 2005, she has been on the board of directors at the Archie Bray Foundation. Her recently published children’s book, co-written by her sister Ginnie Lo, entitled Mahjong All Day Long won the 2005 Marion Vannett Ridgeway Award. Beth is also active as a bass player and vocalist for several musical ensembles including The Big Sky Mudflaps and Salsa Loca.
Kirk Mangus
I was born and raised in Sharon, PA. My father encouraged me to make things with him and decorate his pots. I have a memory of him bringing in the buds of flowers and pussy willows. He would put them in a vase. In the warmth of the house, they would bloom. They would attract bugs and become a nature colony. I spent a good amount of time outdoors so I am still intrigued by animals, insects, fish, reptiles and amphibians. I was accepted at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1971, where I studied ceramics and drawing. I visited the Archie Bray Foundation often and worked there for three months in 1980. I have taught at Spokane Falls Community College, Cleveland Institute of Art, Alfred University Summer School, Penland, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Kent State University and University of Georgia, Athens, Cortona Summer School, among others. I continue to teach at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
I like to deal with human relationships, wars, life and death situations, nature scenes, and humorous situations in my work. My intent is to reduce such complex issues into understandable and universal communication through art and imagery. I want to make pots like the Mimbres, Silla and the Jomon. I deal with one of the oldest technologies and art forms. My competition is thousands of years old. Much of human civilization, it’s beauty, misery, and cultural directions are directly related to someone making a pot, pipe, or a brick around a wood fire. I am not a performer nor am I working for the public like an architect or engineer. I make what I want and hope my work will be found and appreciated.
“For nearly two decades, Jeffry Mitchell has kept the art world perplexed. His work defies categorization, bouncing freely between craft and fine art, high and low, kitsch and the refined. Raised Catholic and increasingly drawn to Eastern philosophies, the artist has assembled an oeuvre that is redolent with allusions to redemption and transcendence as realized through sex, death, and religion. Most well known for his humorous yet sophisticated ceramics and pattern-filled works on paper,Mitchell seamlessly melds Eastern and Western precedents with references to pop culture, repeated floral motifs, and subtle sexual innuendos codified by the history of ceramics.” –excerpted from the 2008 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards Catalog, Essay by Jennifer A. Gately
Peter Morgan received a BA in Fine Art from Roanoke College, in Salem Virginia, a BFA in Ceramics from the California College of Arts and Crafts and a MFA in Ceramics from the New York State College or Ceramics at Alfred University, which he attended with a full tuition waiver. He served as Jim Melchert’s studio assistant in 2002-03, and has taught courses in both ceramics and drawing. Peter is currently the ceramics instructor at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA.
Jill Oberman is currently a studio artist in Evanston, IL. and teaching classes for adults and children at the Evanston Art Center. From 2005 until the end of 2007, she worked as the Programs and Administration Director at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana. Prior to working at the Bray, Jill was the studio manager of the ceramics program at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, from 1999 until 2005. Jill earned her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Crafts in Rochester, New York and her BA from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She has been a resident artist at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Archie Bray Foundation, and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. While in her studio Jill focuses on creating minimal, architectural ceramic sculptures that have been widely exhibited throughout the United States.
Jess Parker is a part-time studio potter and full-time mom living in Berkeley, California. After receiving her BA from Pomona College and a BFA from Alfred University she completed a two year residency at the Archie Bray Foundation. In 1999 Jess moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area to establish her own studio. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, has taught nationally at art centers and universities, and has been on the board of directors at the Archie Bray Foundation since 2001. As expected, living in Berkeley demands globally-left thinking. It is also an early food mecca of the last forty years. Combining these two currents makes a potter see their work in a certain light. All Jess’ pots are fired in an electric kiln. With an interest in decreasing her carbon footprint Jess installed solar panels on her home and studio. In the spirit of the Slow Food movement – that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture – Jess hopes her pots emphasize the importance of the locally, hand-made of the plate. Hope and Change… one pot at a time.
Ron Philbeck is a studio potter living in Shelby, North Carolina. After studying mathematics and horticulture at North Carolina State University, he returned to his hometown in 1992 to begin work on becoming a full-time potter. He focuses on utilitarian pots that he hopes will be used in the daily rituals of eating, drinking, and food preparation. His work has been exhibited nationally and his pots are used in homes around the globe. Ron maintains the Potter’s Journal, a blog of his work and life. Entries are made daily and include images from the studio as well as his thoughts, ideas, joys and frustrations.
Elizabeth Robinson is a Studio Artist and adjunct faculty at Colorado Northwestern Community College, in Rangely, an isolated town in the high desert mesa country of Northwestern Colorado. Elizabeth’s work is represented in galleries and exhibitions nationwide, including Trax Gallery (Berkley, CA), Harvey / Meadows Gallery (Aspen, CO) and Northern Clay Center (Minneapolis, MN.) Bringing together influences as diverse as 18th century English transferware, Japanese Oribe pottery, contemporary painting and industrial ceramics, Elizabeth’s pottery embodies a broad interest in the history of art and craft, ancient to industrial. Having discovered a passion for clay on the way to a degree in botany, Elizabeth decided her interest in beauty, process and morphology was better served as a potter. After receiving her BS from James Madison University (VA) in 1994, Elizabeth traveled widely seeking to expand her knowledge and skills. She worked in studios across the country, from non-profit art centers, to academia to production studios, including the Mendocino Art Center (CA), Hoyman-Browe Studio (CA), CU Boulder (CO), Carbondale Clay Center (CO) and the Archie Bray Foundation (MT). Upon completing her Masters of Fine Arts degree at Ohio University in 2002, she returned to Colorado to work as Program Director for the Carbondale Clay Center. In 2004 Elizabeth made the transition into full time work as a self supporting studio potter, which included marriage, a move to the boondocks, and buying and renovating an old building into her studio.
…Thus, I find that something as straightforward as a cup can be a profound thing. Something simple and useful functions also as a record it its maker, an object of contemplation, of consumption, and an accessory to the rituals of both serving and dining.
Justin Rothshank is a studio potter and arts administrator working in Pittsburgh, PA. He is founder, associate director, and manager of ceramics at Union Project(www.unionproject.org), a non-profit organization that provides gathering and working space for artists, community builders, and people of faith. Justin’s work at the Union Project has been recognized with numerous historic preservation awards from city, state, and national organizations. Justin holds a BA in art from Goshen College (www.goshen.edu). He has been a presenter and visiting artist at numerous workshops throughout the Midwest. He was recognized in 2007 by Ceramics Monthly as an Emerging Artist. He was also awarded a 2007 Alcoa Foundation Leadership Grant for Arts Managers, the 2005 Decade of Servant Leadership Award from Goshen College, and was named to Pittsburgh Magazine’s 40 under 40 in 2005.
Shoko Teruyama grew up in Mishima, Japan. She earned a BA in education and taught elementary school two years before coming to the United States to study art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1997. Shoko received her MFA in ceramics in the fall of 2005 from Wichita State University. She is about to finish a three-year residency at the Penland School of Crafts.
Dan Anderson received his BS degree in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls in 1968 and his MFA degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills Michigan in 1970. A noted artist/educator, he headed the ceramic program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1976 until August 2002, when he retired after 32 years of teaching. A frequent workshop presenter, Anderson has lectured and demonstrated at over 150 venues over the past four decades, including the 
Andy Brayman holds a BA in sociology and a BFA in ceramics from the 
Michael Corney is a studio artist and has taught at the
Josh DeWeese is a ceramic artist and educator. He is an Assistant Professor of ceramics at 
Diana Fayt was born in Los Angeles, California in 1964 and has lived in Northern California for most of her life. In 1983/84 she spent a year living with family in Budapest, Hungary and when returning began her journey towards her career as an Artist. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics and Printmaking from the College of Arts (and Crafts) in 1992. In 1994 she developed a process with ceramics in which she combines all of her loves; drawing, painting, printmaking and clay and refers to it as “as etchings in clay.” She has also dabbled in ceramic design and created a line of tabletop ceramic ware in 1999 and most recently has ventured into graphics and illustration. Diana is both a traveler and a lover of home. She gleans inspiration from nature, the mundane and life’s stories. Her ceramic pieces are often narrative with marks of time, events and images seen and experienced and then drawn into the surface of her clay platters bowls and vases. By doing this she hopes to leave a permanent mark that expresses her vision of what she experiences in the world around her. Diana currently exhibits her work in galleries and fine boutiques throughout the United States, Japan, Austrailia and Europe.
Donna Flanery is the 2008 Lillian Fellow at The 
At Bill Clintons inauguration, 
Ayumi Horie is a full-time studio potter working in the Hudson Valley of New York. She has exhibited and taught nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, and craft organizations, including the 
Janice Jakielski A native of Pennsylvania, Janice Jakielski is a mixed media installation artist. Working in a wide range of materials she always (especially during election years) returns to clay. She is interested in the power of combining political propaganda with a humble pot, exploiting and exploring the intimate relationship between user and vessel.
Garth Johnson is a studio artist, writer and educator who lives in Eureka, California. In addition to maintaining the website “Extreme Craft” (
Kathy King is currently a studio artist in Atlanta, GA. She received her B.A. in Studio Art with a major in Ceramics from Connecticut College, New London, CT in 1990. She received her M.F.A. from University of Florida in Gainesville, FL in 1998. She has taught and given lectures at over fifty colleges, schools and art centers throughout the US.
Michael Kline has been a studio potter since 1993. He studied pottery, painting, and printmaking at the University of Tennessee from 1983-1986 and holds a BFA. He also studied under Michael Simon at the Penland School of Crafts in 1989. After teaching pottery at the Westside YMCA in New York City from 1986-1989 he joined Mark Shapiro in Worthington , MA and built a studio and kiln at Stonepool Pottery. In 1993 Michael began his Okra Pottery Studio. He designed and created wood fired-salt glazed tableware with a botanical theme in Massachusetts until 1998 when he was awarded a Resident Artist position at the Penland School of Crafts.
Beth Lo was born on October 11, 1949 in Lafayette, Indiana, to parents who had recently immigrated from China. She received a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan in 1971, and then studied Ceramics with Rudy Autio at the 
I was born and raised in Sharon, PA. My father encouraged me to make things with him and decorate his pots. I have a memory of him bringing in the buds of flowers and pussy willows. He would put them in a vase. In the warmth of the house, they would bloom. They would attract bugs and become a nature colony. I spent a good amount of time outdoors so I am still intrigued by animals, insects, fish, reptiles and amphibians. I was accepted at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1971, where I studied ceramics and drawing. I visited the Archie Bray Foundation often and worked there for three months in 1980. I have taught at Spokane Falls Community College, Cleveland Institute of Art, Alfred University Summer School, Penland, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Kent State University and University of Georgia, Athens, Cortona Summer School, among others. I continue to teach at
Alleghany Meadows is a studio potter in Carbondale, Colorado. He received his M.F.A. from 
Jeffry Mitchell exhibitions, both solo and group, have drawn critical praise and include the Contemporary NW Art Awards at the 
Jill Oberman is currently a studio artist in Evanston, IL. and teaching classes for adults and children at the 
Jess Parker is a part-time studio potter and full-time mom living in Berkeley, California. After receiving her BA from Pomona College and a BFA from 
Ron Philbeck is a studio potter living in Shelby, North Carolina. After studying mathematics and horticulture at North Carolina State University, he returned to his hometown in 1992 to begin work on becoming a full-time potter. He focuses on utilitarian pots that he hopes will be used in the daily rituals of eating, drinking, and food preparation. His work has been exhibited nationally and his pots are used in homes around the globe.
Elizabeth Robinson is a Studio Artist and adjunct faculty at Colorado Northwestern Community College, in Rangely, an isolated town in the high desert mesa country of Northwestern Colorado. Elizabeth’s work is represented in galleries and exhibitions nationwide, including 
Justin Rothshank is a studio potter and arts administrator working in Pittsburgh, PA. He is founder, associate director, and manager of ceramics at Union Project(
Shoko Teruyama grew up in Mishima, Japan. She earned a BA in education and taught elementary school two years before coming to the United States to study art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1997. Shoko received her MFA in ceramics in the fall of 2005 from Wichita State University. She is about to finish a three-year residency at the 
Jason Walker grew up in Pocatello, Idaho, received a BFA from Utah State University and a MFA from 