Instructors

Josh Allen

After graduating from Ohio University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics, Josh moved to Eugene, Oregon to continue his life in pottery. For the last four years Josh has been teaching classes in the Eugene area and working at Georgie's Ceramic Supply Co. Here he has found the family of ceramicists that he has grown to love. Josh continues to persue his development as a ceramic artist and shares the desire to create a center where the community can come together to work in clay and share ideas.

 

 

Tabitha Buzby


I am drawn to textures and use relief carving to bring these designs out of the clay. Ceramics is such a tactile medium through all its stages that it is important to me for a piece to feel good in the hand. Through texture, weight and proportion the piece must feel right as well as look complete. Much of my inspiration comes from nature and little frames, close-ups, or snapshots of plants in various stages of blooming. The texture I use most often comes from the way light falls through the leaves on a tree. It is the same dappled effect that you will see when a candle is placed in one of my translucent tea lights. With this addition of light into the ceramic medium I hope to project a mood, one that is both calming and beautiful yet thought provoking.

Ellen Davidson

Ellen Davidson graduated from Chouinard Art School with a BFA and Honors in Ceramics. Her ceramic sculpture and pottery originates in observations of the natural world. Strong form and varied decoration with slips or glazes highlights her work. Since she make only art pottery, her work is experimental in many directions, both utilitarian and sculptural, and each is one of a kind.

Teaching is as much a joy to her as creating.  Her teaching style is very relaxed and she encourages her students to listen to their own muse and reflect their own personal vision in their work.  In her classes there is a free exchange of ideas and the creative energy and supportive environment enriches her as much as her students. Most important, in work and in class, she likes having fun!
Shannon Hardin

Shannon Hardin is a self-taught artist and jewelry designer. Born into an artistic family, she started creating things at an early age. Costume design was her main passion until a short time of unemployment headed her creative process in a whole new direction. She was taught basic wire wrapping by a friend and then proceeded to immerse herself in books on wire wrapping and beaded jewelry design. Being a creative person, Shannon let her imagination run wild with the endless array of beads in thousands of colors. Having collected jewelry for many years, designing jewelry seemed the natural thing to do. She started teaching jewelry design at Lane Community College four years ago and has now happily taken up residence at Clay Space. Encouraging students to open their minds to the creative process has been one of the most positive experiences she has ever encountered. Shannon continues to design and sell her jewelry online through Etsy and at craft fairs in Eugene and Portland.
Rogene Mañas

With her unique, primitive art style and inventive techniques, Rogene makes what she calls “modern day folk art.” Combining plant, bird, and insect imagery with figurative elements in a slightly surrealistic fashion, Rogene explores and illuminates what she calls “the essence within.”  Drawing from her imagination, her organic and often haunting compositions reflect both her Mediterranean heritage and her passion for Mexican folk art. Using paper maché clay, collage materials and acrylic paint, she creates sculptural relief forms and textural paintings.

As co-owner of an international card company and a designer and illustrator for more than 35, Rogene Mañas retired from her successful business to pursue her love of art making in 2006. After majoring in art at the University of Oregon, she expanded her skills by studying with numerous professional artists in the Pacific Northwest, Italy, France, and Mexico. Known for her plein-air landscape paintings and impressionistic still life work, Mañas made a sudden departure in style after spending winters in Mexico. Her work is shown at Jacob's Gallery and Passionflower Designs in Eugene, Oregon. She also shows at Guardino Gallery in Portland and at Zeek Gallery in Salem, Oregon. She was featured on Oregon Art Beat, an OPB program showcasing Oregon Artists, in January 2011.

Rogene teaches her innovative techniques at mixed media workshops in Eugene and Portland. She has also been an instructor at Lane Community College and in the public schools as an artist in residence. “I have always lead informal workshops for friends and high school students. Inspiring others to make art is almost better than making art myself. Either way, I try to make art everyday."

Statement:  Rogene Mañas creates works with unique, primitive art styles and inventive mixed media techniques. Combining plant, bird, and insect imagery with figurative elements in a slightly surrealistic fashion, she explores and illuminates what she calls “the essence within.”  Drawing from her imagination, her organic and often haunting compositions reflect both her Mediterranean heritage and her passion for Mexican folk art. Using paper maché clay, collage materials and acrylic paint, she creates sculptural reliefs and textural paintings with lively color pallets.


Stacy Jo Scott


The ability of useful everyday objects to enter our homes and touch the most common events of our lives imbues these objects with a certain significance that only the intimacy of function can allow. These are the objects we hold in our hands, and touch to our lips.  In these acts of intimacy, art and careful design can reach us when we are least expecting it, when we have our guards down.  When these objects carry conceptual significance, it is in these unexpected moments that the ideas can penetrate our lives in the most subversive and subtle ways.


Through the lens of functional ceramics I examine the role of handcrafted objects within the current context of a disposable culture.  Specifically interesting to me is the role of everyday domesticity and the place of art and concept in this sphere. Especially prevalent in my current work is the subtle narrative of personal story.  I relate imagery through surface drawings from my own experience in the iconic and disjointed schema of memory or dream.  These images appear or recede to illicit reactions as through a clouded  memory.   My forms are lively and well-meaning and indicate the same sort of intentional whimsy that is evident in the drawings. 

 


Katie Swenson


Spellbound by Porcelain since first I touched it, I have explored this endearing material for 25 years. The image that takes form in front of me, from a lump of clay, is intriguing. I find expression through Porcelain. Sometimes it is whimsical and light, other times contemplative and calming. Continually, the Porcelain embodies hope or promise with its ability to hold light. It is fulfilling when pieces taken from the kiln have their own aura; a life energy that comes out of my hands and mind, but that truly is infused with magic. I continue with Porcelain delighted with the way it reveals the wonders of our beautiful world.





Josh Allen
Ellen Davidson
Shannon Hardin
Rogene Maņas
Rogene Maņas
Stacy Jo Scott
Katie Swenson


James Laub

Beverly Soasey