Greg Belfor

After leaving the high-tech world, Greg found his new passion in clay. He has taken classes and workshops from 8 excellent instructors. He is totally intrigued and enthralled by the mix of what he can (mostly) control in form and what he cannot control in the firing and glazing process. Currently, he is an adult instructor and teaching assistant.

website: Greg Belfor Ceramics
instagram: @gregbelfor.ceramics

Becky Bragg

Becky began her adventure with clay in her early teens on a kick wheel at the Pittsburgh Arts Center. Since then, her creative adventures have taken her to explore ceramics, fiber arts, painting, paper, and dance, but playing with clay remains one of her favorites. A teacher by trade, Becky has taught a variety of subjects (English, Spanish, science, dance, ceramics) to people of all ages – (preschool to senior citizen) focusing on a hands-on, experiential approach to help students explore a subject with creativity and joy. “I love helping students find their own rhythm and approach in imagining the possibilities of their own creativity.”

Meredith Clinkinbeard

Meredith’s first experience in clay was in 2010 when she took her first class at the Pottery Lab. Her main focus is functional pottery. She loves making pieces that people can use every day. She became a teaching assistant and then an instructor. Her favorite part of teaching is the opportunity to witness students’ “aha” moments.

instagram: @meremudpottery

Thomas Cumming

Tom has a lifelong passion for making beautiful objects.  For 40 years he built and owned a studio furniture business, creating with exotic and domestic hardwoods, metals and found objects in his 1890’s Carriage House outside of Boston. He has combined a love of learning new techniques with traveling - having been influenced by carvers he met in Ubud and Kathmandu, as well as the five years spent on St. John.  Tom now finds himself inspired by the mountains living in Boulder as the Manager of the woodworking shop at Groundsworks Art Lab.

Chad Corbin

Chad jokes that he is a recovering engineer who came for the clay, and stayed for the community.  As an instructor, he is motivated by those moments when students "get it", and enjoys sharing the endless possibilities clay affords. As a potter, he is constantly humbled and inspired by the lessons clay has to teach us about imperfection, impermanence and non-attachment. You'll often find Chad tucked in the corner on the kickwheel exploring eastern forms and methods.

website: www.mudmeditations.com
instagram: @mudmeditations

Grace Flaherty

Grace started at Groundworks Art Lab in the handbuilding room on the Hill at 6 years old. She couldn't get enough. Before long she was on the wheel and had been taking classes for years. Grace is enamored by the process of mud turning to something you can use every day. She is now a studio assistant and instructor. Seeing students really advance in one class is one of Grace’s favorite things about teaching.

Chris Grandinetti

Chris has been a part-time potter and ceramicist for 25 years in the Boulder/Denver area. He has worked with Groundworks Art Lab and the Potters’ Guild as a clay maker, glaze tech, and pottery instructor. As a functional potter, he emphasizes how to be efficient and focuses on the relationship between the studio and the kitchen in all his classes.

Sara Hailey

Sara is a Boulder native who started taking classes at the Pottery Lab when she was 5 years old! She has been drawn to teaching for as long as she can remember - swim lessons and horseback riding in high school turned into a career at BVSD and SVVVSD working with students with special needs. She took classes at the Lab on and off over the years and was delighted to be asked to become a teaching assistant. Now, Sara teaches adults, kids, family, and virtual programs at Groundworks Art Lab and especially enjoys teaching our Partner Program classes. Sara prides herself on making learning fun and stress-free and loves sharing skills that enrich the lives of her students.

Margaret Josey-Parker

Since graduating with an MFA from the University of Oregon, I have taught ceramics at many places in Colorado and other western states. I believe art is a visual language of personal symbols and my work is a rough sketch or diary of my life. The collection of individual events and the emotional ebb and flow of everyday life eventually stream into a coherent current through my work.

website: margaretjoseyparkerart.com
instagram: @margaret_joseyparker

Teagan King

Teagan grew up spending time in her family friend's pottery studio which emphasized warmth, creativity, and playfulness. She continued to experiment with clay through undergraduate classes at Whitman College and then at the Potters Guild of Baltimore. She is thankful to have joined Groundworks Art Lab immediately upon moving to Colorado, loves the community that the pottery studio offers, and hopes to warmly welcome students into the world of pottery as they explore the multitude of possibilities that clay offers. As an instructor, Teagan is thrilled to be able to share with students her passion for creatively experimenting as well as her interest in the technical aspects of pottery!

website: https://teking35.wixsite.com/art-portfolio/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teagan.ceramics/

Akane Kleinkopf

Akane started printmaking in 2017 at Whitman College with a focus on screenprinting and block printing, although she enjoyed experimenting with monotypes, lithographs, and intaglio etchings as well. She likes to use bold colors and incorporate themes of identity, belonging, and comfort in prints and print-based books and installations. 

Jinna Lincoln

Jinna trained as a visual artist, earning an MFA from CU Boulder. She took her first class at the Pottery Lab in 2008, when her youngest child started all-day kindergarten. Since discovering hand-building, she has continued to enjoy making functional constructions with clay.

James Makely

James is an exceedingly skilled and energetic metalsmith with thirty years of experience. He is an Instructor and serves on the Board of Directors for Rocky Mountain Smiths. He too has been a member of the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America for twenty two years. James specializes in the design and construction of complex curvature structures and organic forms, both realistic and abstract. He has a considerable amount of knowledge in unique metal surfaces and finishes. He brings the highest level of detail into his artisanship.

Kathryn Martinez

Kathryn has been teaching beginning pottery classes since 2014 and, prior to that, she was a teaching assistant for 9 years. She loves the enthusiasm and eagerness of beginning students and finds it very rewarding to see their skills and knowledge about the clay process grow. Her own work is primarily functional yet she is always searching for a way to embellish the ordinary and bring beauty into everyday life.

Ella Mernyk

With a background in studio art and environmental science, Ella (she/they) picked up pottery after graduating in 2019. Specializing in hand building, Mernyk likes to create complicated, design-forward, functional pieces. With students, they love to emphasize the beauty behind working with imperfections, and how limitless the art of hand building can be. 

John Minkler

John began making pottery at age 17. After graduating from the University of Colorado with a B.F.A. in Ceramics and a B.A. in Art History, John worked part time as a production potter to hone his throwing skills. Tweny years later, he continues producing for the same potters and has his built his own body of work, including a unique line of stoneware pottery. All of his work begins on the potter’s wheel, but many shapes are cut and altered to create a variety of forms.

website: minklerpottery.com
instagram: @minklerpottery

Sunny Monaco

Sunny Monaco is a studio artist working and living in Boulder, Colorado. She graduated with a BFA in ceramics from University of Colorado in Boulder and completed her MA in Early Childhood psychology and Education at CU in Denver, Colorado. She has been teaching since 2005 and 11 years ago she began teaching children and adult art classes at the Center for the Arts in Evergreen. She also teaches art classes in schools in Evergreen, Longmont, Clear Creek, Golden and Boulder. She first was exposed to the pottery lab in college and began teaching classes there in January 2023. She shows and sells her work throughout Colorado. She manipulates the clay via hand building and throwing to capture outdoor images turning them into garden totems, birdbaths, birdhouses, floral platters and wall décor. Utilizing her inspirations to create an outdoor and indoor beauty. Sunny has a passion for spending time outdoors, traveling, cooking, snowshoeing, paddling, biking, hiking, gardening and the arts.

Instagram: @stella.riga.58

Melissa Pickering

Melissa Pickering studied fine art in high school and college, and began printmaking in 2008. She has her undergrad in Literature from CU Boulder and an MA in Business Leadership from Naropa University. She was an artist-in-residence at The Boulder Creative Collective with the 2019-2020 cohort, and has studied with teachers in Colorado, NYC, and Santa Fe. Melissa focuses primarily in abstract nature, inner exploration, and social justice messages using various printmaking techniques, such as monotype, collagraph, drypoint, and chine collé. 

website: www.talismanplace.com/ 
Instagram: @talismanplace

Jessica Price

Jessica took her first class at the Boulder Pottery Lab in 1994 and has continued throughout the years as a student, teaching assistant, and now an instructor. Her work is a fusion of form and function and she particularly likes creating wheel thrown tableware while exploring different surface decoration techniques such as texture and sgraffito. She loves teaching and watching her students evolve with their technical skills and creativity. Pottery feeds her "right brain” and provides balance and harmony in her life.

Al Segal

During a career in Software Engineering, Al started doing pottery at Studio Arts Boulder in a beginner’s wheel class in 2003. Since that first class, he has learned from the talented and supportive instructors and staff here, and became a teaching assistant in 2011 and then an instructor in 2016.  He loves helping newcomers learn pottery skills and techniques.  His own work focusses on decorating the surfaces of wheel-thrown forms.

Samantha Shaw

Samantha grew up in the mountains of WV and from a young age loved using her hands for making things. She received her BFA in ceramics and New Genres from Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe, NV and has been making pottery since 2002. While at Sierra Nevada college she became involved in woodfired ceramics at Great Basin Pottery near Doyle Ca and fell in love with the process. Once moving to CO in 2011 she was seeking the community and process that woodfiring provides and became involved in the Anagama firings at the Pottery Lab. She has been involved with Groundworks Art Lab ever since volunteering, assisting and teaching.

Tina Tan

Tina started taking classes at the pottery lab back in the 1990s and have consistently been involved with clay since then. I love throwing on the wheel and exploring different forms, glazes, and different types of firing. Mostly, Tina focus on functional ware for everyday use.

Dan Tate

Dan began his clay journey while teaching with Boulder Valley School creating hand built forms, tiles and fish plaques.  After retirement, he committed himself to learning how to throw on the wheel and now produces a variety of forms: bowls, cups and tumblers with fish.  He enjoys teaching beginning students and is rewarded when they center and create pots and vessels.

Sam Watkins

Sam is a generational potter who grew up in a household using bottles, bowls, and pots created by his mom and collected from various artists. This gave him his initial inspiration and vision to start throwing on his own. Traveling and living all over the country for different farming opportunities, Sam has always prioritized practicing pottery. In 2018, Sam moved to Colorado and began studying at the Pottery Lab. He started working as a lab assistant and a teacher in 2021, as well as putting an increased focus on his personal work. Sam’s favorite part of pottery is making pieces that have an equal focus on aesthetic and functionality. Mostly, he wants to make pieces that people will use and love — until it breaks, and then he will make another!

instagram: @desert.fox.ceramics

Aaron Winston

Aaron earned a master's degree in printmaking from the University of New Mexico where he also began to practice a Japanese tradition of throwing porcelain. At the end of his studies, Aaron was invited for a short but life changing stay with Living National Treasure, Inoue Manji in Japan. Aaron then moved to San Diego, where he worked both with Martin Kastner of Crucial Detail Design creating unique service pieces in porcelain and also with Kouta Shimazaki at the San Diego Ceramic Connection learning about operating a community studio and the art of ceramics in general. In 2006, he came to Boulder, and started working at the City of Boulder Pottery Lab. In 2015, Aaron became the Director of the Pottery Lab where he continues to teach and practice.