Exhibition posted online: Monday, November 10, 2025 at 10 am MT

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, October 6, 2025 at 10 am MT

The exhibition Montana Made will feature artwork created by Montana based artists, in Montana studios, and will include utilitarian pottery, vessels, and small sculptural work. We all know that there is some amazing clay work coming out of Montana, and this exhibition is a way for an all-star team of artists to showcase some of Montana’s best.

Participating artists include Jake Brodsky, Lane Chapman, Adam Field, Rebecca Harvey, Ken Kohoutek, Courtney Murphy, Marcia Selsor, and Cheri Thornton.

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, October 6, 2025 at 10 am MT

As a fifth-generation Montanan, Kelly Stevenson has deep roots that greatly influence the artwork she creates. She finds inspiration in nature and collaborates with the earth to provide the means. Like Montana’s dynamic spring weather, her work can change drastically from one project to the next: at times the act of creating reflects harsh winds and snow; at other times, it’s animated by the scent of fresh spring flowers moving through the breeze.

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, September 8, 2025 at 10 am MT

Susan Filley has worked as a studio potter throughout her career.  She received her MFA in ceramics from LSU with Joe Bova and Linda Arbuckle.  Susan established a teaching / workshop studio and gallery in Charleston, SC, which was devoted to building a clay community.  Susan Filley was the President of NCECA, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (2000 – 2006), she is now recognized as a Fellow of the Council.  She has taught many workshops and her work has been exhibited internationally. Her porcelain pottery is recognized for its elegance of form and lovely glaze surfaces.

“Porcelain – it is as pure as jade and it rings like a bell.” (Jindezhen, China, 1000 years of Porcelain)
I work with porcelain. Once fired, it becomes such a luscious dense material that I find infinitely intriguing – dense, bright, and alluring when translucent.

I have been making pots for over 40 years.  The functionality of the craft first totally enchanted me. But now, for much of my work, and for many of us, we are making pots that are most often not used, save for their enticing ‘aesthetic’ function. My work is no longer just about utility, they are a wider range of ideas. But I always strive to make beautiful pots, however they may be used or be enjoyed. 

And this raises the bar quite high. I make many forms, using both the wheel and hand building. I love to make cups that perfectly fit both the hand and the lip. I think bowls can serve well or simply delight from where they sit. My traditional thrown vessels and vases are simple in form and wonderfully rich in glazing opportunities. The most complicated forms are the gestural and dancing teapots and highly altered and sculpted vase forms.
-Susan Filley

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, June 9, 2025 at 10 am MT

Suze Lindsay is a studio potter living and working in the western NC Mountains. Her ceramic studies include a two-year fellowship from 1987-89 at Penland School of Crafts as a “core student”, followed by earning an MFA from Louisiana State University. She also holds two educational degrees, one in special education and the other in Montessori teaching theory. In 1996, after completing three years as an artist in residence at Penland, Suze and her husband, potter Kent McLaughlin, set up and began potting in their studio in Bakersville, NC under the name Fork Mountain Pottery.

Suze’s stoneware pots subtly suggest figure and character that she manipulates into her forms by altering them after they are thrown. Hand-built elements, made from slabs, are integrated with thrown parts to create functional forms that have a personality of their own. An integral part of her work includes surface decoration that enhances her forms by patterning and painting slips and glazes then once-firing in her salt kiln. Her work is strongly influenced by studying historical ceramics, and she frequently references contemporary pottery ”heroes” who were her teachers, mentors and friends.

I focus on creating altered pottery forms that are good companions for daily use. An integral part of my work includes surface decoration to enhance pottery form by patterning and painting slips and glazes for salt firing. I make things to entice the user to take pleasure in everyday activities, inviting participation, promoting hospitality.

When I make pots, I subtly suggest figure and character by manipulating forms after they are thrown. I roll out clay slabs and use them to hand build elements that are then assembled with thrown parts to create pieces that have a personality of their own. I like to experiment and play with form and proportion on functional ware by altering and stacking parts. When I decorate the surfaces with slips and glazes, I am very interested in making the marks and designs enhance the volume of each pot. I am inspired when I see historical pots from many cultures, including Japan, Crete, Chile, China, and native North American. The pots I respond to may be a quirky Pre-Columbian animal ewer, or the sophisticated designs of a Mimbres bowl.
-Suze Lindsay

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, August 4, 2025 at 10 am MT

Almost all artists working with clay began by making pinch pots. Some artists have perfected this repetitive technique to create sophisticated pots and other ceramic forms. Modern technology has introduced us to the 3D digital printer, which mimics the repetition of the hand. Hi/Lo Pinch/Print will feature utilitarian pottery, vessels, and small sculptural work. Invited artists create their work either by heavy pinching and surface marking, or by using a 3-D printer. By putting this work together, we celebrate both the hand and the machine.

Participating artists include Shea Burke, Bryan Czibesz, Camila Friedman-Gerlicz, Sam Harvey, Jessi Maddocks, Claire Miller, Keith Simpson, and Emily Schroeder Willis

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, July 7, 2025 at 10 am MT

Casey Beck is a studio potter and long-term artist in residence at Cobb Mountain Art and Ecology Project in Loch Lomond, CA. He holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His current research focuses on the process of soda firing, which utilizes sodium carbonate, and its volatilization inside the kiln at peak temperature to glaze his wares. These wares recall historical Italian and British vessels, while also working to uphold the traditions of studio pottery in Minnesota and Wisconsin where he learned to make pottery. Beck has been a resident artist at the Cub Creek Foundation in Virginia and Faenza Art Ceramic Center in Italy and was a 2023 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist. He has also taught firing and making workshops internationally. Outside of the studio, Beck takes pleasure in using handmade pots and eating delicious home cooked meals off of them with his friends while listening to music fitted for each experience.

I make pottery not only out of a passion for my material, clay, and for the complex processes of wheel throwing and atmospheric firing, but also out of a passion for living with, using, and sharing handmade objects. For me, using pottery daily is an act of celebration….

…I am slow in my evolution as a maker yet make many pots. I find meaning in the numbers. Through the permutations, the pots become more nuanced and genuine and quantities of truthfully made pots suggest a sense of optimism and yearning for use. My pots are accessible for everyday use yet can also be used in and as an act of celebration. I strive to uphold the traditions of the studio pottery movement and follow those who came before me. Utilitarian pottery induces mindfulness and facilitates gathering and celebration and I hope that my pots are able to be recognized during these meaningful acts.
-Casey Beck

Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, July 7, 2025 at 10 am MT

Join us for a reception with the artists on July 12, 2025 from 5-7 pm MT (in conjunction with Red Lodge Second Saturday Artwalk)

The Red Lodge Clay Center is proud to present an exhibition of our 2023-2025 Long-Term Resident Artists newest work. The residency program at Red Lodge Clay Center is designed to encourage the creative, intellectual and personal growth of emerging and established visual artists. Each Resident brings a unique and vital voice that adds to the richness of the Clay Center. Their work is distinct but they all challenge their materials, and push their ideas forward as they develop their professional artistic careers through our immersive, two-year residency experience.

Participating artists include Maxwell Henderson, Marlaina Lutz, Tyler Quintin, and Shannon owo Webb.

Exhibition Posted Online:
Monday, October 14, 2024 at 10 am MT, with a selection of work available for sale in the gallery only beginning Tuesday, October 15th during gallery hours. (Tuesday-Saturday 10am – 6pm, Sunday noon-4pm)

(sorry, there will be no pre-sales of Sue’s work.)

Born and raised in Red Lodge, Montana, Sue Tirrell holds an AA from Cottey College in Nevada, MO and a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.  Her work draws inspiration from her experiences living in Montana and the West, her fascination with animals and interest in folk art, illustrated fairy tales and vintage kitsch.  Sue’s work has been exhibited widely in the US, Canada and Australia and she has taught ceramics and multi-media workshops across the country from college classrooms to one-room schoolhouses. Sue lives and works north of Yellowstone National Park, in Montana’s Paradise Valley.

I came to clay as a college freshman, intent on studying Graphic Design and was won over by the prospect of activating sculptural and functional objects with narrative surface design. My pots employ mythic animal imagery, crisp design and riotous color to bring playfulness, character and storytelling to daily kitchen rituals and special occasions.
-Sue Tirrell