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Nan is a full-time functional stoneware potter from Virginia. She started making pots in England, working in private studios and attending the Studio Pottery Course at Harrow College. Since returning to the US in 1973, she has been been potting and teaching in Virginia. Nan makes straightforward, functional pots, always paying attention to both form and function. As she describes them, “My pots are made to be used — to enhance the rituals of preparing and eating food, to hold flowers, to light a corner for reading. Making functional work connects me to the age-old tradition of artist craftsmen who make beautiful objects for daily use.”
Nan currently works in a home studio in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having had exceptional and generous teachers when she was learning to pot, Nan loves to pass their tradition on, helping students discover what they want to make, and then figure out how to achieve it. Nan teaches classes and workshops at City Clay, a cooperative studio in Charlottesville. In the past, she taught at her local community college, and offered private lessons and workshops in her studio. |
In addition to those regular classes, she has been a presenter at three Potters Council Conferences, and done demonstrations and led hands-on workshops at a number of regional colleges and craft schools. She teaches annually at John Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. Nan has a Studio Pottery Diploma from the Harrow College of Art in England, a BA from Mary Baldwin College’s Adult Degree Program in Virginia, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Vermont.
Nan has served as a Board member and as President of the Potters Council Advisory Board. Ceramic Arts Daily has published two of her teaching videos — Wheel Throwing with Nan Rothwell and Glazing and Decorating with Nan Rothwell. You can see Nan’s pots plus an expanded description of her show and teaching resume on NanRothwellPottery.com
In this course, Nan takes students through a series of projects, all based on wheel-thrown cylinders. Students at multiple levels of experience can benefit from the projects as they expand the size and scope of their thrown pots, and explore a variety of ways to alter and texture their pots. The fifth project, making a lamp, will include details on how to wire the finished product. Throughout the course, Nan emphasizes both function and aesthetics.
Nan has served as a Board member and as President of the Potters Council Advisory Board. Ceramic Arts Daily has published two of her teaching videos — Wheel Throwing with Nan Rothwell and Glazing and Decorating with Nan Rothwell. You can see Nan’s pots plus an expanded description of her show and teaching resume on NanRothwellPottery.com
In this course, Nan takes students through a series of projects, all based on wheel-thrown cylinders. Students at multiple levels of experience can benefit from the projects as they expand the size and scope of their thrown pots, and explore a variety of ways to alter and texture their pots. The fifth project, making a lamp, will include details on how to wire the finished product. Throughout the course, Nan emphasizes both function and aesthetics.
Examples of Nan's work
