Education Staff
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
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
Chris Grandinetti
Chris has been a part-time potter and ceramicist for 25 years in the Boulder/Denver area. He has worked with the Pottery 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 SAB 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 Studio Arts Boulder 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/
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.
Katelyn Long
Katelyn started working with clay in high school and continued taking pottery classes at her undergraduate school in Kentucky, Transylvania University. After moving to Colorado to continue her studies, she joined Studio Arts Boulder as a teaching assistant in 2018. She enjoys hand-building whimsical characters on wheel-thrown mugs, creating pieces that are both functional and sculptural. In addition to this, she enjoys working with a variety of slips and underglazes for distinctive colorful pieces.
Jenee Lucas
Jenee has been making pottery since age ten. She studied at Lillstreet Art Center for many years in Chicago before moving to Boulder in 2019. She loves that clay can provide a type of therapy and direction in the everyday. In her work, she focuses on surface decoration and creating “a canvas” on the clay. Jenee enjoys helping students with their personal goals while providing a relaxed environment to create and explore.
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
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.
Rachael Reuter
Hailing from the midwest, Rachael earned her BA in ceramics at College of the Ozarks. She specializes in functional hand-crafted pottery and has worked both independently, and as a production potter for other artists in Boulder. Her simple yet refined forms explore the harmony of abstract geometry and texture, with special attention paid to functionality, shape, and playful movement of design.
website: raereuceramics.com
instagram: @raereuceramics
Al Segal
My first experience with clay was a beginner class here 12 years ago. I was immediately hooked. I mostly do wheel-thrown functional ware, and my focus is on surfaces, using sgraffito and other texturing techniques.
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 Studio Arts Boulder ever since volunteering, assisting and teaching.
Dan Tate
Dan began his journey in pottery while teaching in the Boulder Valley School District. After his retirement, he decided to finally learn how to center clay and throw pots. Now, he delights in teaching beginning students and making fish mugs and tumblers for his friends and fly-fishing buddies.
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.