Florida ceramist Debra Steidel makes elegant, multi-piece wall installations, inspired by organic shapes, textures and colors of the natural world. Artist: Grew up in Alexandria, VA, near her uncles, Al and Billy Steidel, major art and antique collectors. When she visited, they would show her their collections of antique bottes and crocks. Her Uncle Al…
Adrina Richard has been a longtime collector of pottery. She still is. But now the Atlanta ceramic artist hand builds her own, incorporating textures that reflect her Armenian heritage. Artist: Born in New York to parents who were immigrants and survivors of the Armenian genocide in Turkey. As a first-generation American, Richard grew up in…
Santi Saucedo, an Atlanta ceramic artist, creates contemporary spiritual figurines that draw inspiration from diverse cultural influences. Artist: Born in Mexico City, Saucedo moved to and around the United States at a young age. He spent most of his youth in northern Virginia, and later, in Pasadena, CA. Growing up in an artistic family influenced Saucedo,…
The artist known as Beatrice believes there is a lot of beauty in imperfection. So the South Carolina ceramic artist purposely highlights it in her sculptural work. Artist: Born in France, Beatrice grew up in Grenoble in the Alps but migrated to the United States in 1987 for graduate studies in environmental and urban design at…
Virginia’s Allan Rosenbaum uses a number of traditional craft processes in his textured mixed-media sculptures. But in unconventional ways. Artist: Rosenbaum was born and grew up in St. Louis, MO. He graduated with a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned an MFA in ceramics from Virginia Commonwealth University. From 1986 to 2012, he…
At a young age, Stephanie Firestone enjoyed flipping through her father’s college textbook on human anatomy. Today, the Virginia-based artist creates intriguing, semi-abstract sculptures of human figures. Artist: Born in Detroit, MI, Firestone grew up in Chevy Chase, MD, where her father worked in advertising in the DC metro area and had a small painting…
North Carolina’s Casey Engel works in ceramics, textiles and printmaking. She is proof an artist doesn’t have to choose one medium to express herself. Artist: Born and raised in Pensacola, FL, Engel earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015. After college, she worked in a commercial frame shop in…
North Carolina ceramic sculptor Karli Pendergraft makes soft organic forms and vessels with abstracted elements from the natural world. Artist: The North Carolina native was born and grew up in Raleigh. In 2018, she received her BFA in studio art from Appalachian State University in Boone. Soon after graduation, she moved to Asheville. Studio: Since…
After starting a career in industrial design, Keavy Murphree migrated back to her first love: ceramics. The Nashville artist now makes decorative and functional clay works that are equal parts minimal and modern. Artist: Born in Chicago and raised north of the city, Murphree moved to Cape Coral, FL, halfway through high school. She headed back…
In South Carolina, self-taught sculptor Nadia Stieglitz says her abstract ceramic forms explore the intersection of art and nature, using themes of femininity, topography, dance and spatial philosophy. Artist: Born in France and raised in the Alps, Stieglitz has degrees in economics, languages and marketing. She lived and worked in Paris, then London for five…