Clayfolk announces 2025 scholarship recipient

The Clayfolk Scholarship Committee has awarded the 2025 Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship for the Ceramic Arts to:

Lucia Rodriguez

Clayfolk congratulates Lucia Rodriguez the 2025 recipient of the Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship. Lucia Rodriguez is currently working as an apprentice for The California Pot Company, a locally owned ceramics company based in Eureka, CA. She is learning slip casting, kiln operation, and wood fire kiln building from her former ceramics professor, David Zdrazil. They are primarily focusing on small batch production of irrigation pots and garden pots, as well as atmospheric firings. She is itching to get back on the pottery wheels at the studio at Cal Poly Humboldt this fall, where she will be continuing her portfolio development thru extended education classes thanks to the Ellis T. Johnson Scholarship from Clayfolk!

QUOTE —Lucia Rodriguez

I am so grateful for this award and the opportunity to continue making new work while I puzzle the pieces together to establish my own home studio space.

Gallery of Lucia Rodriguez’s submission photos:

Click on images to enlarge.

Clayfolk announces 2023 scholarship recipient

The Clayfolk Scholarship Committee has awarded the 2023 Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship for the Ceramic Arts to:

Anya Upson

Clayfolk congratulates Anya Upson the 2023 recipient of the Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship. Anya Upson is a 22-year-old recent graduate of Lewis and Clark College in Portland OR, with a degree in studio art focusing in ceramics, and a minor in Japanese language and literature. While she grew up around art as both her parents are artists, it wasn’t until college that she started pursuing ceramics as her main medium. She makes wheel-thrown functional or decorative pottery, and recently has been working with plaster molds and multiples.

QUOTE —Anya Upson

.Creating ceramic objects is a responsibility, as what we make will be around for at least 10,000 years; I keep this in mind when making objects, and give them the care and attention they deserve for their journey into the future. Looking forward, I hope to continue my ceramic education by apprenticing under a potter. My dream is to apprentice in Japan, where I can further my ceramic skill set alongside deepening my proficiency in Japanese. If chosen for this award, I plan to use the funds to finance future residency and internship opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, like a residency at the anagama I fire at, East Creek Art.

Gallery of Anya Upson’s submission photos:

Click on images to enlarge.

Clayfolk announces two 2020 scholarship recipients

In 2020 the Clayfolk Scholarship Committee has awarded TWO Ellice T. Johnston Scholarships for the Ceramic Arts!

Tenaya DeWitt

Tenaya is an art major at the University of Oregon. She will be utilizing her scholarship to assist with her goals in earning a master’s degree in teaching. Her goal is to support new students on their own creative paths. In her ceramic work Tenaya examines ways to combine functionality with creativity. She is fascinated by glaze chemistry, and developing glazes that are not only interesting but also textural and tactile.

See the gallery of Tenaya DeWitt’s submission photos below.

Amanda Thomas

Amanda has worked for 4 years as an Instructional Support Specialist for the art department at the College of the Siskiyous, in Yreka California. She applied for the Clayfolk scholarship to help further her career as an art educator. Amanda has been accepted into the University of California, at Davis, Bachelors of Arts department. Her goal is to earn her Master of Fine Arts degree and teach ceramics at the university level. Amanda submitted pieces from her “Motherhood” project in which she examined the disparities between idealized images of mother and the often gritty realities of motherhood. (Cover photo is also Amanda’s sculpture.)

Gallery of Amanda Thomas’ submission photos:

Gallery of Tanaya DeWitt’s submission photos:

More about the Clayfolk Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship program >>>

Clayfolk announces 2019 scholarship recipient

The Clayfolk Scholarship Committee has awarded the 2019 Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship for the Ceramic Arts to:

Nick DeMarco

Clayfolk congratulates Nick DeMarco as the 2019 recipient of the Ellice T. Johnston Scholarship. Currently a student at Southern Oregon University, Nick impressed the scholarship committee with his impassioned enthusiasm for all aspects of ceramics and his desire for deeper learning. Nick’s application portfolio presented beautiful, abstract sculptures and a compelling narrative of his process and vision. “Much like me, I found that clay can be stubborn at times and unwilling to change too much or too quickly…when I listen to the clay and let the object inform its own evolution, magic can happen. This magic is why I fell in love with clay.” Congratulations to Nick; you had us at “magic!”