Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2012, wood fire AIA 2026
Bobby Free is a ceramic artist whose work explores atmospheric firing and ceramic surface development. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Utah State University in 2010, he worked as a production potter before completing artist residencies at the Clay Studio of Missoula, Red Lodge Clay Center, and the Sonoma Community Center. He currently serves as Senior Laboratory Technician for Ceramics at Saddleback College in Southern California, where he oversees the ceramics facilities while maintaining an active studio practice.
Functional pottery offers a place where intention and discovery meet. Each piece evolves through a conversation between form, drawing, glaze, and fire, allowing the material to guide the process as much as the maker.
My work is an ongoing search for balance—between utility and expression, simplicity and complexity, control and chance. Through the making and use of these objects, I hope to create moments of attention and connection within the everyday experience of handmade things.