I was in middle school when I first found ceramics. My mom wanted me to do something afterschool since I would come home with homework already done and had little to do with my free time. So she offered to sign me up in classes at Sawtooth and I had an option to do either photography or ceramics at Sawtooth. I decided on ceramics since I had already done photography before and I wanted to try a new 3-D medium. Since then, I’ve spent the last four years feeding my insatiable appetite for anything and everything pottery.
At Sawtooth, I learned from multiple instructors spanning over a course of 3 years. Some of the folks I’ve learned from in the past were Po Wen Liu, Sam McCall, Carey Nathanson, Grace Kooken, Eamon Rogers, Dodie Campbell, Marisa Henry, and many more, I could go on more but I’ll stop here. Sawtooth has a tight-knit community that I’ve been able to be a part of, it’s full of amazing folks who I’ve learned so much from and shared fond memories with. One of the notable classes I took was a glaze tech class with Po Wen Liu, who is highly skilled and knowledgeable with glaze chemistry, it has given me a basis of understanding and methodology when it comes to making my own glazes with local materials. I also interned here in the summer of 2024 and learned a lot about running a community ceramics studio. Some skills I learned while working there included loading/unloading kilns, mixing glazes, cleaning, studio maintenance, and preparing spaces for classes and for new Artists-in-Residences.
My teacher at my high school, Ms Beach, has seen me grow as a potter in her ceramic and visual arts classes all four years of my high school career. I’ve gone to her whenever I was lost and needed advice or to just share chats about anything art. Ms Beach has supported me in my growth by giving me a space to explore and experiment with just about anything. I spent most of my time in high school in the studio, I’m a bit of an introvert and clay is my language. To contradict the last thought, I was the President of the Art Society club during the last two years as a focus on ceramics, the goal was to create a space where students had extra time to work on their projects and I would help out students whenever they needed it. The time I spent in the studio for the three and a half years of high school would probably amount to thousands of hours. All of that time is what has allowed me to develop and advance my skills and voice with my folk art craft.
In November of 2023, I heard about a pottery town in NC called Seagrove and they had an annual ‘Celebration of Pottery’ event. I was able to convince my parents to take me there and it was magical to see a place with pottery everywhere. I was able to talk to potters like Matthew Kelly and Hitomi and Takuro Shibata at Studio Touya and it was inspiring. My love for woodfired surfaces had just begun.
I came back from Seagrove with a new desire to make wood fired pots and the closest community wood kiln was at Sawtooth. Sawtooth, however, has a rule that only adults can join the wood firings due to liability reasons. So I was stuck with no other option other than the electric kilns at my arts magnet high school and the gas kilns at Sawtooth.
The limited resources I had access to pushed me to experiment in paths not often travelled. I made my own wood ash and conducted my own research. I had to learn it all first-hand since I couldn’t find much in-depth resources of information at the time. I experimented with using different types of wood/plant ashes on pots in different atmospheres and applications. At this point of my journey, I heavily focused on what I could do with what I had to create atmospheric effects. I worked for a couple years making pots in both electric and gas kilns that look like they've been wood fired. I’ve learned a lot and pushed the boundaries of what I could do with a simple material.
This was the main driver for my AP 3D Design portfolio at my high school. As my first AP project, I made a saggar box for the electric kiln to create atmospheric effects. I created the box out of my usual clay and experimented with it until I was able to get something I was happy with. The work I did throughout my portfolio taught me that massive amounts of research and dedication will take me far and a bit of luck will push that further.
I started woodfiring in March of 2025 with Eamon Rogers at Sawtooth and Matthew Kelly in Seagrove, these were my first experiences with the method and both experiences were very different. The one with Eamon was fired to cone 6 and was a relatively easy experience with the train kiln. Matthew Kelly’s kiln was hot and intense compared to the train kiln. We fired it to cone 13 and salted it at peak tempurate. It was borderline unbearable to stoke it since you were blasted with extreme heat but it was exhilarating. These two firings gave me insight of the process and made me appreciate it even more. Since then, I’ve fired with Joseph Sand in NC, and Trevor Youngberg in CT, and will fire with more folks in the future.
Summer of 2025 was a busy time for me with it being full of amazing experiences and opportunities. I volunteered at the Woodfire NC and met many folks and made new connections. Right after that, I started working for Chad Brown as a short-term apprentice during my school break before Senior year at Reynolds. Through this, I learned a lot about the life of being a potter and it’s a lot of work. We did a bunch of kiln cleaning, fixed up the chimney on his kiln, fixed up an electric kiln, fixed up a wheel and a pug mill, and processing wild clay. We also collected and stacked a bunch of wood, a lot more goes into good wood stacking than I previously thought. He had me thrown hundreds of pots on an old Seagrove-style standing kick wheel, that especially helped me progress my skills on the wheel.
I attended the NEWFC Attended the conference with a scholarship ticket and fired with Trevor Youngberg in the Pyranha-Gama. I met Nozomu Shinohara and got one-on-one with him teaching me how to hikidashi safely and quickly. Pulled out two hikidashi pots and worked one night shift. Had a pot accepted and displayed in the Will of the Kiln show. This was my most favorite conference and memorable moment yet!
All of these past experiences have shaped me as a person into someone who is willing to work hard for my passions. The past experiences also impacted how my ceramics have developed over time. I feel that I am currently in the process of finding my voice in ceramics and knowing what I want to pursue in terms of the path I take. Fortunately, I have a lot of opportunities available to me from the work I’ve done in the past 2 years. The caveat is that I now have to pick one and its a hard feeling of indecisiveness when I know its impossible do everything at once but my heart wants that.
Whatever my path becomes, I know it’ll be full of challenges and joys… its the life of being an artist but I know it will fulfil my soul. Despite many things going on in the current world, I am hopeful things will turn out well and I will do my best to make my corner of the world a safe and supported place for everyone.
Thank you for reading this, it means a lot to me and I love sharing about what I’ve learned and experienced!
- Wyatt
