Sculpture Artists

Isabelle Coppinger is originally from the woods of Western Massachusetts. She now calls A sheville, North  Carolina home. Growing up in the country, Isabelle was inspired by the  natural world around her which has greatly influenced her creative  work. 

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Isabelle creates her  installations using a low-fire white earthenware clay or a mid-range  porcelain clay, and her favorite tool, an x-acto knife. Cutting out  shapes from thinly rolled slabs of clay, she designs intricate patterns.  While some of her installations are planned for the gallery, Isabelle  develops custom pieces for unique spaces as well. 

Isabelle earned  her Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Ceramics and  Sculpture from Warren Wilson College in 2017. Currently, Isabelle is a  resident artist at Odyssey Clayworks in the River Arts District of  A sheville, where she continues to develop her work. 

Raised and schooled in Florida, Ms. Green graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in English Literature and Art History.

After graduation, she lived in New York and Italy where she worked as a sculptor. During that phase in her career, Ms. Green was influenced by the work of Brancusi and Arp, which provided the incentive to concentrate on her interest in the development of form. Her early work was hard edge, abstract, highly polished stone and bronze and was sold in The Alwin Gallery, located in London, England.

In recent years, Ms. Green has been working in clay, concentrating on figurative subject matter. Using this new choice of media, she continues to strive to enhance form via the movement of light over her pieces.

"I have been making sculpture for thirty-five years working in bronze, stone and, in recent years, in clay. I strive for form and then for form and finally for form. My recent interest in the generous female form is a natural vehicle in this effort as is my animal series."

Willemite Ceramics is named after the mineral Willemite, one of a variety of minerals that can crystallise in molten ceramic glazes. This occurs while the kiln is cooling, at about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in the kiln.

The ceramic objects on this site are all hand-made through various techniques: pieces are thrown on a pottery wheel, sculpted by hand, or cast by pouring a liquid porcelain slurry into handmade molds.

Crystalline glazes and dendritic slip techniques are used to create decorative formations, imitating the naturally occurring chemical reactions happening within the earth.

The pieces on this site are created by Evan Cornish-Keefe. Evan has been working with clay since 2009, and has a BFA from Alfred University, where he studied ceramic art. Since graduating in 2013, Evan has moved from New York to Asheville, North Carolina, where he is currently pursuing pottery as a career and lifestyle among many talented artists and craftspeople.

I enjoy turning a lump of mud into a useful, interesting, or beautiful ceramic object.

I usually start my process by sketching the form, and trying to imagine the finished product in as much detail as possible. Imagining the exact shape, size, function, color and surface. The more clarity I have, the more pleased I tend to be with the finished piece.

 I like to think about clay on a microscopic level, to consider the geological activities occurring within the earth, and the chemical reactions that can be emulated in a kiln. I like to explore processes that help me gain a deeper understanding of the materials I use, their origins and properties.

Clay and glazes are composed primarily of rocks and minerals that have been crushed to a powder, either by millions of years within the earths crust, or by manmade mechanisms.

The mineral powders of specific types and ratios are mixed with water to form malleable clay, slip and glaze slurries. In the heat of the kiln these minerals will melt into a type of glass, in a process called vitrification. If the glaze is of a specific chemical composition, and is cooled slowly enough, minerals can begin to crystallise within the thin layer of glaze, in a process called devitrification. In this way I have produced a wide variety of unique glazes in an extensive array of colors, glazes that devitrify into a variety of crystal species.

I find the intricacy and organic nature of these glazes endlessly captivating. Although they only coat the surface, they allude to the action of magma and the transformation of the minerals which compose all ceramic objects.

Jim  Mc Dowell, who calls himself “the Black Potter,” believes himself to be  the only black potter who creates face jugs based on both his family  traditions and his sacred ancestral tradition of using face jugs as  grave markers.  He’s been a studio potter for over 30 years and has been  creating face jugs for nearly 25. 

Born  in Norfolk, Virginia, Jim is a great-great-great-great nephew of a  woman named Evangeline, a village slave potter in Jamaica; a  great-grandson of a tombstone maker from Gaffney, South Carolina; and a  son of a self-taught artist, James T. McDowell, Sr., Jim came of age in  Washington, D.C, during the struggles for Civil Rights. A severe hearing  loss gave him trouble in school so he left to join the Job Corps and  later began working in the coal mines of Kentucky.  A Viet Nam Era-vet  stationed in Ansbach, Germany. Jim began to pray during difficult times  and deepened his spiritual relationship with God. He changed his  thoughts about killing and when he told this to his commanding officers,  they assigned him to operate the craft shop on base. 

Jim  wanted to use the pottery wheel and kiln he found there and teach  others to do the same, but he had to learn it himself first.  He heard  about German potters in Nurenmberg and went there on leave to find them.   He didn’t speak German and they didn’t speak English but he indicated  he wanted to learn how to make potter. One potter bluntly handed him a  broom. JIm swallowed his pride and swept the floor. Over time, they let  him observe their work, clean up the shop, and load the wood fired kiln,  which he especially loved.  He visited a few times and took what he  learned back to Ansbach, practicing on the wheel until he was good  enough to give lessons. 

After  eight years in the military, Jim went back to the coal mines, but  continued to make pots. With his first big paycheck he bought a wheel,  an electric kiln, a thousand pounds of clay, and set up shop in his  basement, eventually moving to a small studio. After 20 more years in  the mines, this time in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the only location he  could find that hired black men, he left mining for good to produce  pottery full time.

While  yet a miner, Jim believed God called him to ministry and began studying  with the pastor of a small Black church near Johnstown. After study and  two years of theological mentoring under his pastor, the National  Baptist church ordained him. While he occasionally preaches as a guest  speaker, Jim believes his ministry is primarily demonstrated through  teaching and through his pottery.  

As  an older adult, Jim also earned an associate degree in art from Mt.  Aloysius College, but it did not include pottery studies. In this area  he is almost completely self-taught. For many yeas Jim was a juried  artist in Pennsylvania through Southern Alleghenies Museum of the Arts,  and through its residency programs taught pottery and the arts in public  and private schools. He also conducted arts-in-healing programs at  hospitals and health care facilities. 

In  addition to making pots, Jim has enjoyed sky diving, having nearly a  hundred jumps to his credit, singing, and playing the guitar and  trumpet. He is an avid reader and enjoys life to the fullest. He always  saw himself as ready for a new adventure. And then he met Jan Fisher, a  writer from New York City. The two of them lived and worked in  Pittsburgh for several years, but in 2012 relocated to the Asheville  area of Western North Carolina. Jan handles publicity and promotion of  Jim's functional pottery and face jugs, extensive now that his work has  been shown internationally and in museums, art galleries, shops, and  shows from coast to coast. 

Jim's  motto quotes Daniel Rhodes, also a potter: “Earth, water, fire…these  are the ingredients of pots and human beings alike, and each formula  contains an element of chance. Do not seek perfection in pots or people,  for your search will be unrewarded, and you will miss knowing many good  pots and good people.”

Michael J. Zukoski is a well known ceramic artist living and working in Asheville NC. His travels both for pleasure and in the Navy has inspired him to create art that brings joy. Mike draws upon his tenure as a Walt Disney imagineer to create truly special art pieces. Each piece of work is made from locally sourced clay and created with love. Mike and his partner work with elder dogs and a portion of every sale goes to their care and feeding.

As the son of an engineer, I grew up around mechanical objects and hand tools of all types. I was fortunate to have this experience amplified at a technical high school where I received a unique set of skills in: drafting, woodworking, and metal shop. With a successful  35 yr. career in academic medicine, specializing in cancer imaging and a personal diagnosis of cancer, I decided to revisit my love of working with my hands. Retiring to Asheville was the perfect prescription, providing time, a culture rich in the arts, and inspiration from local artists.  I began to take ceramics seriously developing my skills in hard- slab construction. Time was spent at Village Potters and Odyssey Clayworks as well as a master class at the Penland

School of Crafts under the direction of Kenneth Baskin. This enabled me to address the formation of vintage objects from my childhood in the form of hand tools. My next hurdle was to develop surfaces, the patina, that initially drew me to these vintage objects. I adapted glazes and refined processes of application and experimented with surface embellishment techniques such as sandblasting. The forms I produce include a wide range of hand tools encompassing many trades: woodworking, metal-works, glass- works, plumbing, and electrical, The sculptural pieces reflect a combination of exposure to “hand use” and “the elements of time” to mimic realistic wear patterns: rust, worn metal, and distressed paint surfaces.