Cohorts.Art

Howdy! Pooja from ‘s cohort clocking in for day 3 of my cohorts takeover (noooooo i’ll miss you all)

Today i’m sharing a little bit about my current studio practice. For the last 5 years i’ve been lucky enough to build my practice , but for the past 8 months i’ve had the privilege of building an at home practice with my studio partner in crime 🥹

We’ve done alternative firings, markets, shows, and are soon hoping to open up our home for low/no cost workshops specializing in all different types of mediums for our local community with our friend !

Jade and I are currently prepping for a soda firing this sunday to get ready for their annual ceramics showcase, Dirt Dauber Festival! Over 70 clay artists in the central texas area come together to present their work (and have a good time of course), and if you’ve enjoyed any part of this takeover definitely follow me for more updates :)

(also tagged are incredible ceramic artists in the area that helped us and/or fired our work in awesome baller atmospheric firings: thank you all!)

Thanks for tuning in, will catch yall later 😌

hellooooo! here with ‘s cohort chiming in for day two of my takeover 🫣

A lot of the forms and surface designs i make are very inspired by movement. Movement in form, design and overall firing creates unpredictable results and i’m always excited to gamble on what the outcome will be! ignore the fact that i’m excited to gamble!

When i was younger, seeing mehndi artists produce such detailed freehand work was always inspiring to me. I find when im feeling disconnected from my own culture to try and emulate the same flow in my work, whether that be in design or form.

Pictured are some current (& some not so current i won’t lie) works in progress!

ps. i’ve currently started sliptrailing some designs (see slide 5) and would love any advice on how to not have a perpetual cramped hand!

Hey y’all! Pooja here with ‘s cohort and i’ll be hijacking the cohorts page this weekend & sharing some of my work with everyone! (i’ll give it back after i swear)

I’ve grown up in Texas most my life and have had the privilege of being in community here in Austin for the past 5 years. I started my clay journey back in 2021 while i was pursuing my bachelors in Psychology at UT.

After graduating, I’ve been a studio tech and wheel teacher here since 2024 & firing my work in various different atmospheric kilns ever since.

I decided to join cohorts to expand past my comfort zone and start pursuing projects and techniques that intimidate me (handbuilding specifically), maintain discipline while pursuing a creative career, and learn from others in the field on creating a sustainable practice with longevity.

I’m excited to be with yall this weekend and share a little sliver of my life! stay tuned for more updates (you know only if you want to) :)

Hi everyone with cohort, today’s my last day hosting the cohorts page, thank you all for tuning in!

I wanted to talk a little about my process and my inspirations. For a few years now I’ve been drawn to these pitcher forms. I originally saw one (slide 8) at a thrift store and was so intrigued by the form, I just had to make one. Over the years they’ve taken on their own shapes and personalities, each one I’ve made has been a different iteration, but I still haven’t found the one to settle on quite yet.

I used to throw all the parts on the wheel and put them together but recently I’ve been handbuilding them using slabs (slides 3-6) it makes for a different form (slide 1 and 7) but it still relates to pieces I’ve seen in antiquity, especially Ancient Greece (slide 9-11).

A lot of my inspiration comes from nature but also from history. I love the connection I feel to the past and to all the potters that came before me when I’m working. We’re still making similar things even thousands of years later and I find that very comforting. I’m very drawn to the challenge of taking these forms and breathing new life and dimension into them, or trying to bring back pieces that have been lost to time, and/or the rituals that come with them.

This is all from me, thank you all for reading and getting to know a little bit about me and my work!

Hi again! It’s with cohort!

Today at we loaded our community soda kiln, ‘Corona’ aptly named for the year in which it was built. This will be the 30th firing in this soda kiln. Part of my job is getting to load/unload and eventually learn how to fire this kiln. I’m hoping someday to have my own studio where I can fire atmospheric kilns as well.

I really love atmospheric firing, partially for the randomness, unpredictability, and the effects that happen from atmosphere to pot, but also because firings like these, both in modern and historical eras were always about community. There’s also a kind of primordial magic that happens where earth, fire, air (and water! since we spray soda via a w**d sprayer) meet and create beauty. What I want people to get out of my work is that same essence; intention, ritual and the bringing together of ancient things to create the new.

In this firing I made some faceted and rope-bound cups in preparation for a show that’s coming up soon in May! This is some newer work that I’ve had sitting in my journal for years and finally started exploring in my 1:1 meetings with .

Thanks for tuning in! Tomorrow I’ll talk more about my process and things that inspire me ✨

Hi everyone! I’m Dax , I’m in cohort, and I will be guest hosting for cohorts this week!

I’m originally from France, my family immigrated to Wyoming in the US in 2009. I’ve lived in the mountains for the majority of my life before moving to Washington State where I now reside in Seattle. For a long time I was in science, my educational background is in STEM but 5 years ago now, I started growing learning and growing passion for ceramics through local community studios.

I’m currently a member and a studio tech where I fire my work in the community soda kiln!

I came to cohorts because I wanted help further developing my work, having someone to hold me accountable for when I get stuck and to help push me out of my comfort zones in order to continue to grow in my art. Being part of the cohorts program so far has been an exciting experience and one I am very grateful for!

I’ll be sharing more this week about my work, my inspirations, soda firing, and more! Stay tuned 😁

Another NCECA in the books! We had so much fun visiting with our past, present, and [hopefully] future Cohorts. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our table in the resource hall and to those who attended our meetups! We love our personalized education program and are delighted by the positive impact it’s having on our community.

Hello again! This is back for my third enstallment hosting the .art Instagram account from the group. Today I want to chat a bit about the four other members of my cohort.

Barbara Minor is our fearless leader. Barbara is a fixture in the enamelling firmament, known for elaborate, vibrant sculptural pieces. In the last several years Barbara has taught countless enamellers the techniques she’s developed for working with glass seed beads and mesh (which is how I met her). I am particularly inspired by her combination of luscious enamel work with intricate metalwork.

Janet Schill is a printmaker who started applying her printmaking knowledge to enamelling several years ago and is ramping it up, moving into 3-dimensional work. She’s already created some very clever and poignant sculptures incorporating sprayed and screenprinted enameled metal and other materials.

David Belser is a woodworker who creates amazingly precise and complicated wooden boxes and objects, some with mechanical features. He want to do the same in metal and enamel, harnessing his CAD knowledge and automated tools, including one for cutting which he used to make a wonderful centipede thing from copper tubing.

Patricia Jane Reilly has been enamelling and making jewelry for years. She’s looking to (re)discover her artistic voice and joy in making. Patricia Jane just moved into a new home and is setting up a fantastic studio space with envy-inducing views and storage.

We’re already actively sharing ideas and feedback, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year with the group, particularly our in-person time together at Barbara’s studio in Louisiana in September. It’ll be a long trek from North Yorkshire, but totally worth it!

Fans of woodfired ceramics, there’s a celebratory exhibtion in Georgia you should check out! Did you know that Cohorts.Art mentors, Simon Levin and Liz Lurie, got their start woodfiring in Georgia?

“Contemporary Woodfire Potters of Georgia Launch Touring Exhibition Celebrating the State’s Rich Woodfiring Legacy
Georgia, USA 
— A new statewide touring exhibition is bringing long-overdue attention to Georgia’s vibrant woodfiring tradition. The Contemporary Woodfire Potters of Georgia exhibition showcases a multigenerational collective of artists whose practices span folk pottery lineages, Japanese kiln traditions, and contemporary ceramic artistry—united by a shared devotion to the centuries-old craft of woodfiring. 
The group includes some of the most influential names in Southern pottery, among them legacy potters with more than 30 years of firing experience such as Roger Jamison, Geoff Pickett, Jon Brinley, and Allen Gee, as well as studio innovators including Stephen Hawks, Rick Berman, and Ron Meyers. Equally central to the movement are the next generation of fire chiefs and apprentices—Rebecca Wood, Kyle Jones, and Liz Bloodgood—and a rising cohort of nationally exhibited ceramic artists including Zuzka Vaclavik, Linda Suskin, Mark Johnson, and Joel Huff.”