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Indigo Fire

Faculty & Staff

Ned Levering Ned's work is influenced by 20th century English and Japanese pottery. He believes there is beauty in function and his pots are made to be used. He enjoys glaze chemistry and building out the studio space. Outside of pottery Ned enjoys chess, woodworking, bonsai, Starcraft and rock climbing. He lives in Arlington with his partner Alex, dog Lola, and son Quinn.	Ariane Curtin-Bowen Ariane joined Indigo Fire as a staff member in Jan, 2020. Her role here has quickly grown and we are now proud to have her as the Belmont Studio Manager. On top of being friendly, helpful and smart, Ariane has a strong background in ceramics. She has a BA from Bennington College where she concentrated in ceramics. Her practice focuses on undulation, line drawn surface design, and odd earrings. She is on the hunt for the perfect electric green.	Peter Bakhit Peter is the studio manager at our Watertown location. After Peter graduated from Gordon College majoring in Communication Arts, he took a beginner wheel throwing class and knew right away that pottery was what he wanted to do for the long haul. Peter enjoys wheel throwing, and experimenting with hand building. When he's not at the studio Peter plays kick ball, walks on the beach and volunteers with Beverly Main Streets, the city he lived in for 4 years during and after college.
Jared Hostutler Jared is our glaze technician and primary Watertown weekend staff. They graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA in Ceramics. Their pottery is made with functionality and comfort at the forefront, while also being a vehicle to showcase queer imagery and thematics in everyday space. When not working at Indigo, he's pinching pots in his backyard shed studio or caring for his myriad of pets, all beloved.	Diana Salcedo Diana is a MassArt grad with a wide variety of creative interests. She joined us in 2023 and has quickly grown into a full time role at both the Belmont and Watertown locations.	Lola Levering Lola is a happy go lucky pup with a wonky smile - you'll find her wherever Ned is!

Teachers

Teachers

Janet O'Malley A potter for over three decades, Janet has been molding, shaping and weaving her unique narrative into the essence of her creations, stopping along the way when life got busy, but always returning with unwavering passion. In her home-based studio, she uses stoneware and porcelain to create pieces which she sells in local stores, online and at events. Janet studied both at the Harvard Ceramics Studio and Mudville in Somerville.	Julie Peck Julie Peck has had a home studio in Somerville since finishing her MFA at U Mass-Dartmouth's Program in Artisanry. Her work is all handbuilt with thick slabs and coils and then carved. She balances her time between her studio, teaching and working as a MCC STARS artist-in-residence at several local schools. Learn more at JuliePeckCeramics.com	June Lee June Lee (she/her/hers) was born in Hong Kong and moved to the U.S. when she was 17. At age 18 she was introduced to ceramics at Wellesley High School. June is currently a studio artist and faculty member at Mudflat Pottery School. June is passionate about making her students (at any age!) fall in love with clay and she is skillful in teaching beginning wheel throwing while incorporating handbuilding and decorating tips. June's work has been known as "happy pottery" that makes people smile.
Taylor Byrne Taylor graduated from the University of Connecticut with a BFA in photography. While studying there, she was introduced to pottery and she hasn’t stopped throwing since. In addition to being a potter, Taylor has been teaching art at the high school level in public schools for the past 7 years. She is currently a Ceramics teacher at Somerville High School. Taylor is drawn to throwing on the pottery wheel because it brings moments of silence and creativity to an otherwise hectic life as a teacher	Donna Pioli Donna Pioli has been working with clay since she fell in love with ceramics over 15 years ago. She is known for imbuing her work with feminine, playful details. Donna delights in the control and malleability that clay affords and is eager to bring this passion to her teaching. Her studio is based in Dedham, MA at Mother Brook Arts & Community Center.	Kimberly Wutkiewicz Kim first fell in love with pottery 20 years ago when a friend taught her how to use a kick wheel at summer camp. Since then, she has seized every opportunity to get her hands into clay. She loves exploring simple, graceful forms and incorporating her love of nature into sgraffito and other surface design techniques. Kim joined Indigo Fire in 2021 after teaching wheel-throwing at Mudville Pottery for four years.
Brandon VanWormer Brandon VanWormer is a ceramic artist who completed his MFA at Indiana University in the Spring of 2022, concluding with his thesis exhibition titled Emergent Forms. He uses thrown and altered pottery as a means of exploring abstract form. Using creases and curved planes, he composes foreshortened protrusions and hidden recesses that live in the walls of his pots. This slowly-evolving vocabulary often quotes the landscape, the human body, and his favorite makers.	Sarah Carroll Sarah has worked with clay since studying full time at the School for Professional Crafts at the Worcester Center for Crafts 20 years ago. There she learned everything from wheel throwing and hand building to glaze preparation and firing all different types of kilns. She is drawn to the moments and materials on display when nature meets the human-constructed environment such as rust, weathered paint, and discarded bricks. Sarah has been throwing at Indigo Fire since 2019.	Brendan Kelly Brendan is based in Somerville and has been working with clay for about 8 years. Since taking his first class, he's been pulled by the iterative, peaceful process and is consistently surprised by similarities found between ceramics, yoga, and nature. His work centers around wheel throwing with an emphasis on simple shapes with small alterations and textures.
Marc Mancuso Marc is a maker, teacher, and thinker who likes minutae, processes, and materials. He has taught ceramics to learners of all ages in the Boston area since 1998. He has worked professionally, exhibited, and lectured, locally and internationally. He draws hundreds of patterns, and occasionally finds time to work with enamels, glass, fabric, and paper. He is totally engaged with the way humor and curiosity influence fine art, design, and even engineering.	Sara Jacobson As a child, Sara loved to draw. By her teens, that love had evolved into linoleum carving and print-making. Some 40 years later Sara is delighted to find that the sgraffito process of scratching through a layer of colored slip or underglaze to expose the clay surface beneath beautifully brings together her two childhood artistic pleasures; and the 3-dimensional clay forms add to the fun challenge of working in-the-round.	Robert Boyer Robert Boyer has been working in clay for over fifteen years, making on the wheel and exploring a variety of hand building techniques. He has previously taught both wheel throwing and hand building classes at MIT’s Student Art Association. His inspirations typically come from highly repetitive patterns in nature and leverage his background in the sciences looking to atomic structure and algorithmic thought processes as often as wood grain and feathers.

Weekend Staff

Weekend Staff

Gabe Springer Gabe first encountered throwing at the Denison University ceramics studio and became inspired by his grandfather who was a longtime potter. In college Gabe threw the shot put, discus, and hammer on the track team, in addition to studying biology and philosophy. Gabe is currently in the process of EMT certification. Besides ceramics Gabe enjoys going to the gym, fishing, and walking his dog in the woods. Find Gabe in Watertown on Saturdays.	Charlotte Hannum Charlotte graduated from Hampshire College with a Bachelors's in interdisciplinary arts, after which she moved to Seattle where she began working at a pottery studio and fell in love with ceramics. Charlotte enjoys wheel throwing, slip casting, and hand-building, and loves to incorporate other art forms into her ceramics pieces. When she's not in the studio Charlotte is hanging out with her cat or building furniture for her apartment. Charlotte works on Saturdays in Belmont	Rachel Quist Rachel grew up in a small town in Minnesota and graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in psychology and a burgeoning interest in pottery. Rachel works in psychological research at MGH and enjoys biking, podcasts, and all sorts of fiber crafts. Rachel works on Saturdays in Belmont!
Ivy Wang Ivy is a rising senior at Arlington High School. She's been throwing since 2019 & enjoys experimenting with underglaze designs. Outside of ceramics, Ivy is passionate about playing piano, badminton, archery, and STEM. Ivy works on Sundays in Belmont.

Work Exchange

Work Exchange

Kate Dunlevy Kate is our Tuesday evening work exchange in Belmont. While attending SMFA for art therapy with a concentration of ceramics in 2009, Kate found a love for creating and getting her hands dirty. After a 10 year hiatus, she joined Indigo Fire. Kate evolved into a work exchange role and teaches Sunday morning workshops. You can find Kate at the studio creating functional pieces intended to hold moments, alongside her friendly black lab, Ellie.	Hana Oji Hana is an architect with a love for working with her hands. Hana appreciates the necessarily slow creative process of pottery, and is fascinated with bright colors, patterns and designs. She loves experimenting with multiple clay bodies, and making an effort to not to be so timid and precious in her creativity. Hana is our Monday Watertown work exchange.	Jasmine Le Jasmine Le is a new addition to the Tuesday evening work exchange. Jasmine quickly fell in love with wheel throwing two years ago while taking classes with us during the stressful end to her Neuroscience PhD. She's always happy to field questions or chat, so feel free to say hello!
Rachel Nathan Rachel is a full-time mom and a part-time artist. Her first love is fiber art and all things involving yarn. She spins, weaves, knits, and crochets. She has been doing ceramics for about four years, and thinks art is more important than cleaning except when she is doing her work exchange in the studio.	Morgen Quintus Morgen is our Wednesday evening work exchange in Belmont. While Morgen spent a lot of time playing in the mud as a kid and dabbling in pottery when it was available to her in school, she didn’t start taking classes regularly at Indigo Fire until early 2018. These days, Morgen is most excited about decorating pots, usually by way of some (colorful) sgraffito. Outside of making pots, you can find Morgen gardening, eating snacks, or going for walks with her sweet dog Juno.	Alice Lee Alice is just about always in the studio. She covers Thursday evenings in our Belmont location, and has a deep and evergrowing passion for underglaze decals.
Fionnuala Hart-Gerrity Fionnuala Hart Gerrity is a Boston-based artist who works in a variety of media, including painting, printmaking, bookbinding, and ceramics. They have been working with clay since childhood, but trained in printmaking and hand bookbinding with an early focus on relief printing and artist’s books. Their current ceramic work explores the relationships between plants, fungi, and animals. Fionnuala works at the Belmont studio on Friday nights, and loves to chat about lichens (if that's your thing).	Joe Campo Joe is a long-time work exchange friend who dibbledabbles in glaze chemistry as much as he can! He works out of the Watertown studio on Wednesday evenings.	Caralyn Aufiero Caralyn is our Thursday evening work exchange. Her mean-muggin pots can be found in our Watertown location.

Email your resume and any other relevant information to indigofirestudio@gmail.com to be considered for a position.

Apply Today

Belmont Studio- 6174892730

Watertown Studio- 6173930051

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