Vanessa Norris ( She/her )

I make colorful cloud pottery, marrying vibrant pastel colors with voluminous wheel-thrown forms that look like they dropped from a cartoon sky. Bold and bright rainbows cascade across almost all of my pieces. When I create, I want to delight you with details and make forms that are as fun to use as they are to look at. Often my pieces contain textured bumps, clouds suspended in wire, or protruding puffs that create a unique tactile experience. The name of my pottery game is whimsy, child-like wonder, and unabashed joy.

Vanessa grew up in Maine and spent much of her time drawing and experimenting with various crafts as a young person. Craving to get out of her small town, she enrolled at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston to pursue a life of working with her hands. It was there she discovered and cultivated her love for clay. Since then, she has moved across the country several times to work for different ceramic artists, including Bruce Larabee in Park City, UT and Deb Schwartzkopf in Seattle, WA. Vanessa currently resides in Allston, MA in live/work artist housing. She runs her own pottery business and is the studio manager at JP Clay.