Lorna Meaden - New Mentor, 2027

Durango, Co. USA. Lorna Meaden is a highly celebrated American studio potter and ceramic educator widely recognized for her intricate, functional soda-fired porcelain ware. Based out of her home studio in Durango, Colorado, Meaden balances practical usability with a lavish, highly ornamented aesthetic. Her work bridges the gap between everyday ritual and historical luxury.

Rhonda Willers - Mentor since 2026

Elk Mound, WI. USA. Rhonda Willers is an American multidisciplinary studio artist, author, researcher, and educator celebrated for her expertise in ancient surface techniques and quiet, meditative installations. Based in rural Elk Mound, Wisconsin, her practice blends functional ceramic vessels, handbuilt earthenware, facial tissues, soundscapes, and social practice to explore human memory, fragility, and communal connection

Lisa Orr - Mentor Since 2022

Northborough, MA, USA. Lisa Orr is a professional potter and has been a student of ceramics for more than 40 years. After completing her MFA in 1992 at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, she received a Fulbright and an MAAA/NEA grant to continue her studies. Her work is shown in numerous public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the permanent collection of WOCEF in Korea. A full-time studio potter, she also teaches, lectures, and shows nationally and internationally.

Barbara Minor - Mentor since 2026

Baton Rouge, LA. USA. Barbara Minor is an internationally recognized enamel jewelry artist, her workshops, lectures and demonstrations include a variety of subjects related to jewelry and enameling on metal, metal forming, and design/pattern development using enamel color.  Barbara teaches frequently at well-known crafts schools, universities, and regional guilds.  Her work is exhibited widely across the U.S. and abroad and has been pictured in 500 EnameledObjects, The Art of Enameling, and Art Jewelry Today.

Barbara Minor has been making and selling her enameled jewelry at national juried craft shows and galleries for 30+ years.  She is well recognized for her innovative enameled beads and her distinctive jewelry.  Her expressive brooches and enamel beads are have been widely collected for over 25 years.

Liz Lurie - Mentor since 2022. Contiunuum Coordindator.

Cazenovia, New York, USA.. Liz Lurie is an accomplished American studio potter and educator known for her wheel-thrown, wood-fired stoneware and porcelain functional ceramics. With over two decades of full-time studio practice, her work emphasizes subtle variations in form, tactile textures, and the unique irregularities produced by wood-firing kilns. Liz is currently in an artistic process shift to soda firing.

Simon Levin - Mentor and Program Founder 2021

Pawne, IL. USA. Simon Levin is an internationally acclaimed American studio potter, kiln builder, and non-traditional educator widely recognized as a master of atmospheric wood firing. Formerly based in Wisconsin for nearly two decades, he operates his permanent studio and teaching facility, Mill Creek Pottery, out of Pawnee, Illinois. His practice explores the primal human connection with earth and fire, trading traditional commercial glazes for the natural, flame-painted finishes of wood ash.

Justin LaRose - New Mentor for 2027

Long Beach, CA. USA. Justin is an American artisan woodworker and woodturner based out of Long Beach, California, widely recognized for his innovative craftwork utilizing recycled and laminated skateboard decks. While your previous searches focused on ceramicists, LaRose's medium is strictly maple skateboard wood, which he repurposes into high-end, colorful, functional design pieces

Sam Harvey - Mentor Since 2025

Aspen, CO. USA. Sam Harvey is a highly acclaimed American ceramic artist, curator, and gallery director based in Aspen, Colorado, widely recognized for his textured, hand-built vessels and his leadership in the contemporary craft community. He received the prestigious United States Artists (USA) Fellowship Award in 2019.

Kenyon Hansen -Mentor Since 2025

Dollar Bay, MI. USA. Kenyon Hansen is a highly regarded American studio potter and educator based in Dollar Bay, Michigan, known for his soda-fired porcelain and stoneware functional vessels. His work, which relies heavily on textured surfaces and organic patterns, earned him recognition as an Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly in 2013.

Martha Grover - Mentor since 2026

Bethel, Maine, USA. Martha is a functional potter creating thrown and altered porcelain pieces. She attended Bennington College in Vermont, where she received her undergraduate degree in Architecture. After going to Syracuse University in New York as a fifth year student in Ceramics, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in clay. In 2007, Martha received her MFA in ceramics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Since then she was awarded the Fogelberg Fellowship for a residency at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Sage Scholarship for a summer residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. Martha completed a year long residency at Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana in August 2009. She received the Taunt Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation in 2010. Her work can be found at the Red Lodge Clay Center, the Archie Bray Foundation, the Clay Studio of Missoula, Schaller Gallery, 18 Hands Gallery, Crimson Laurel Gallery, Charlie Cummings Gallery, and Cedar Creek Gallery. Her work has been published in Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Clay Times, 500 Pitchers, 500 Platters and Chargers, and 500 Vases. Martha's work was featured on the cover of Ceramic Monthly’s May 2010 issue.

Adam Field - Mentor since 2026

Helena, MT. USA. Born and raised in Colorado, Adam earned his BA in art from Fort Lewis College. For two years, he immersed himself in the culturally rich art scene  of the San Francisco Bay Area, where he began his full time studio practice. From there, he relocated to Maui, where he established a thriving studio business.  Following new inspirations, Adam studied traditional Korean pottery techniques in 2008 at Ohbuja Onggi in Ipo-ri, Gyeong-Gi Do, operated by the Korean National Cultural Treasure Kim Il-Maan and his family. For seven generations, the Kim family has been following the Onggi tradition with little to no assistance from modern machinery.  During his 10 month apprenticeship he learned all steps of the tradition, from hand-processing raw clay to final delivery of wares. Once he moved back to the states, he created and premiered HIDE-N-SEEKAH at the 2013 NCECA conference in Houston, TX. After maintaining his studio in Durango, CO for 5 years, Adam moved to Helena, MT in 2013 where he was a long-term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts. Adam is now a full time studio potter in Helena. His Works are included in private collections and kitchen cabinets internationally.

Judah Birkeland - New Mentor 2027

Linwood, MN. USA. Judah Birkeland is a highly skilled American ceramic artist, studio potter, and professional kiln builder based in Minnesota. He is widely recognized across the ceramics community for his expertise in designing and constructing highly efficient atmospheric, gas, soda, and wood-fired kilns for prominent art institutions and studio potters