ARTIST STATEMENTS

Collective(ly)

MAC Pottery Studio Artists

Over 20 local potters and ceramic artists who work in the MAC Pottery Studio are included in this exhibition, with a special feature by resident potter Bruce Bartos. Wheel-thrown, hand built, and sculptural forms are on display with a range of glazing and firing techniques.

The MAC Pottery Studio is a community space that is home to classes for youth and adults, a weekly Open Pottery drop-in session, and a rental program for local potters.

About the Artists

Donna Anderson

Donna Anderson began working with clay in 2008, studying pottery as a hobby for four years at a private studio. After a 12-year break, she returned to the wheel in 2024 following her move to Grand Rapids. Donna creates functional stoneware pottery inspired by the colors, textures, and movement found in nature. She wants her pieces to be used, touched, shared and enjoyed in everyday life rather than being displayed. Rediscovering pottery has renewed her appreciation for the quiet, tactile process of creating with her hands.

Carol Baker (Pipa)

Bruce Bartos

Bruce Bartos grew up in Berwyn, a few miles from downtown Chicago. His mother was always encouraging her four sons to participate in the arts with trips to the Art Institute where he was a member for some years. In 1992 he moved to Arizona and has retained some influence from that area in his color choices and design. Bruce currently lives in Grand Rapids, creating and teaching pottery to young, emerging artists. He chooses to work in ceramics because it is useable art, one-of-a-kind, an infinite outlet for creative ideas, and the pieces last forever. There are bits of ceramics as old as humankind. Bruce has practiced different ceramic styles, including raku. He enjoys this method because the results when firing are wonderfully diverse and exciting.

Lily Benge Briggs

Natasha Bellefeuille

Natasha Bellefeuille began her journey in clay in the winter of 2025 through Bruce Bartos’ Introduction to Pottery course at the MacRostie Art Center. From formal education in Studio Art from Augsburg College, her artistic foundation was built in illustration and painting before she paused her studio practice for eight years to work in higher education. Living and creating from northern Minnesota, Natasha crafts functional and sculptural forms that celebrate Earth's creatures, inviting a quiet appreciation for nature's fragile beauty into daily life. Her pottery is deeply inspired by the memory of her father, who shared his lifelong love of art and the natural world with her. Through her work and involvement with the MacRostie Art Center, she is dedicated to uplifting the local artist community and supporting regional arts education.

James Bujold

James Bujold likes shapes but has a hard time with colors. He throws only so he'll have something to trim. He makes the same mug repeatedly, along with the occasional bowl. His work is functional, meaning it holds liquid.

Emily Carlson

Emily first learned pottery in high school with her art teacher Jonathan Hartman and was immediately captured by the craft. Years later when she started working at the MAC, she took the beginner’s pottery class with Bruce Bartos and has loved working with clay ever since. The MAC pottery studio has become a source of comfort, creativity, and community for her. Emily enjoys making wheel-thrown pottery and focuses on having fun, trying new techniques and glazes, and learning to accept imperfections. 

Gabriella D’Aquila

Gabriella got her start at MAC while being home from college for the summers. She enjoys the community and freedom to play with her favorite medium, clay. Gabriella now permanently resides in Chicago where she teaches drawing classes to kids, ceramics classes to adults, and is building up her own ceramic brand image.

Isaac Daigle

As a music major turned carpenter, Isaac’s artistic instincts permeate into his career and through his life. These plates represent two of his favorite things: classical music rockstars and working with his hands.

Liz Elton

Liz is from Deer River, Minnesota. She really enjoyed art class in high school, but did not have the opportunity to wheel throw until after she retired. Liz took the class Beginning Wheel Throwing at MacRostie in November/December 2023 with Bruce Bartos as the instructor. With the support of the community of potters who use the clay studio at MacRostie and instructors Heather Pederson and Bruce Bartos, Liz has honed her wheel throwing skills and glazing techniques until she is usually filled with joy and amazement when the kiln is unloaded.

Kelly Erickson

Jennifer Gorman

Jennifer Gorman crafts vibrant small-scale ceramics through JENNspired, creating joyful earrings, home accents, and bowls rooted in her motto: "little treasures, big smiles."

Jeff Jackson

Jeff has been involved in the MAC's pottery studio for about a year now.  A veteran wood turner, Jeff has been learning to combine his turning skills with his newly acquired pottery skills to create his latest masterpieces. 

Heather Krueger Barth

Pottery recently called Heather back into the studio after about 30 years, inspired initially by one of Mike Jasper’s classes and continued by all the welcoming artists and staff that call the “MAC” home. Heather particularly likes to experiment with combining a wheel thrown piece with sculpting or carving but has a lot of fun slab building too. Her list of ideas for glaze combinations will take approximately 900 years to complete.

Corrin Mann

Corrin Mann is a local who lives and teaches in Grand Rapids. In her "free time" she experiments with clay. Sometimes she throws things on the wheel and sometimes she works with slab clay. Her latest adventure includes wall hanging, slab art, related to nature. 

Krista Matison

Krista is currently an artist in the attic at Central School and enjoys working in a variety of mediums. 

Sonja Merrild

Sonja has always considered herself a creative person but never imagined she'd one day call herself an artist. Clay, with its cool, earthy versatility, is changing that.  She hand-builds vessels in a range of shapes and uses, and her forms lean toward the clean lines of the Danish design sensibility she grew up with. Her glazes echo natural colors: sky, stone, water, grasses, leaves. Sonja is drawn most of all to vases — she and her husband live surrounded by wildflower gardens, and there is always something that needs a home.

Heather Pederson

For Heather, pottery offers endless ways to create, experiment, and play with color, texture, size, and design. Each project offers an opportunity to learn and grow as an artist. She loves being part of the MAC pottery studio, surrounded by an amazing group of artists who constantly inspire, challenge, and encourage her. For her, pottery is as much about the people and the process as it is about the finished piece.

Tom Sippola

Sara Slaubaugh

Erin Whight 

Erin is an artist based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, bringing a background in painting to clay. This debut features two unique, wheel-thrown ceramic pie plates. Each handcrafted piece blends functional pottery with a fun fish painting, turning an everyday kitchen classic into a beautiful, artisan statement.