2027
July 17 - 18 th
10 AM - 4 PM
The Tour
The Helena based Montana Clay Tour brings together ceramic artists from across Montana, who share a passion for contemporary ceramics. Our mission is to showcase the talent and diversity of Montana's ceramics community through an annual open studio tour. We deeply value beauty, craftsmanship, and community, and this tour allows us to share, educate about, and celebrate handmade ceramic arts. By inviting the public into our studios, we aim to create meaningful connections and enrich our communities.
Our History
The inaugural Montana Clay Tour dates back to 2016, born from the collective efforts of ceramic artists rooted in Helena. This collaborative initiative culminated in a captivating studio tour spanning two days each July. At the heart of this event are five esteemed host studios, each opening its doors to welcome the public and showcase not only local talent but also artisans hailing from across the state. This amalgamation of artistic expression ensures a diverse and enriching display of ceramic work at every tour stop.
Diversity Statement
In 2016, a collective of artists from the Helena area united to establish the Montana Clay Tour. While we celebrate our tour’s inception, we acknowledge the imperative to expand its representation to better reflect the rich diversity of ceramic artists across the broader landscape. Currently, our focus is primarily on showcasing the talents of artists residing within Montana. We actively encourage applications from all corners of our state, striving to foster inclusivity within our organization. Our foremost aim is to orchestrate a tour that not only introduces the public to the remarkable artists within our borders but also serves as a platform to spotlight the creative endeavors of every individual who calls Montana home.
Tara’s
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Tara Wilson was captivated by clay as a high school student in Clyde, Ohio. During her undergraduate studies in Tennessee, she became fascinated with the wood firing process. After receiving an MFA from the University of Florida, Tara moved west for a residency at The Archie Bray Foundation and her love for the rugged beauty of Montana’s diverse landscape was awakened – from the sweeping planes to the rugged mountains. These passions continue to drive her artistic endeavors today as she produces woodfired pottery in her studio near Helena, Montana. The soft forms of her woodfired vessels often relate to the figure while the surfaces are inspired by her natural surroundings.
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Ayla Murray
Josh DeWeese
Renee Brown
Bill Wilkey
Donna Flanery
Shalene Valenzuela
Amanda’s
515 5th Ave, Helena, 59601
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Amanda Jaffe
I was born in southern California and spent the first two years of my life near the ocean, then moved to Boston, Philadelphia and Indiana. I received a BFA in ceramics from Indiana University and an MFA from the University of Montana. Hired in 1985 to teach ceramics at New Mexico State University I left Montana for Las Cruces, New Mexico. At the time of my retirement in 2011, after 30 years of teaching, the NMSU Art Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of my work: Looking Back, Looking Forward. Since then I have worked full time as an artist.
Following graduate school I was an Artist-in-Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana and years later at AIR Vallauris in southern France. Now I live in Helena from July till October and spend the rest of the year in Las Cruces, New Mexico as well as taking a yearly trip to the ocean to swim with my sister. I am asked how I can make work with ocean imagery while living in the desert, I explain that my life has taken me to many environments that have influenced what I make.
I started making clay objects as a child and have been working in ceramics for the last 62 years. While my work is relatively flat and mostly viewed on the wall, I want to make objects and in many ways see my art as three dimensional.
My work ranges from small to large murals. Public art projects include two murals for The Staten Island Zoo, and in 2025 five murals for the Aquatic Center in Los Alamos, NM.
My passions in life, in addition to making art, are swimming, gardening and cooking what grows in my garden.
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Sunshine’s
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Sunshine Cobb, (pronouns she/they) As a studio artist living in Helena , MT she specializes in handmade functional pottery. She frequently travels (online these days) the country as an invited lecturing and demonstrating artist. They are considered an important contemporary functional potter, hailed in both academic and commercial circles, and is consistently featured in art exhibitions throughout the country. With a strong social media following and online media presence, she represents an innovator in online business models in the ever-changing ceramics field and a leading advocate for functional art in modern living. She has also authored two books “Mastering Hand Building” and “A Beginners Guide to Hand Building” by Voyager Press.
Middle aged white woman, hair is in short faux hawk style, wears glasses, heavy set build.
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Chris Alveshere
Cooper Jeppesen
Garber Ceramics
Lindsey Pankratz
Stephanie Seguin
Joe’s
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Bio:
Born in Colorado with a love of the outdoors that later brought me to Montana. I became
immersed in clay in college and have been lucky enough to keep my hands muddy ever since.
Artist Statement:
My work revolves around functionality and simple natural design. I am drawn to the permanency
of ceramics as well as the everyday interaction with art that pottery provides. A simple bowl or
mug can cause a momentary calm, a reflection, or just a necessary deep breath in a world that
goes faster every day.
Instagram: @joseph.crowley
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Adi Rex
Gary and Joan Anderson
Chere Jiusto
Lisa Ernst
Betsey Hurd
Scott Walter
Bill’s
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Bill Wilkey is a studio artist living in Helena, Montana. He received his MFA from the
University of Missouri-Columbia, and BFA from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City,
Tennessee. Wilkey has also had the opportunity to learn from the craft school experience, which
has taken him to places like Penland School of Crafts in Western North Carolina and Haystack
Mountain School of Crafts, on the coast of Maine where he was able to assist other makers.
Wilkey has actively exhibited nationally. He has been featured in Ceramics Monthly as an
Emerging Artist, as well as a Pottery Making Illustrated. He was also the recipient of the Lincoln
and Lillstreet Fellowships as a long-term resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic
Arts. He enjoys adventures through the Montana countryside with family.
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Iva&Perry’s
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Iva Haas is a sculptural ceramic artist born in 1993 and raised in Belgrade Serbia. She
graduated from School for Design Belgrade in 2012, majoring in graphic design. Afterward,
she attended Faculty of Applied Arts Belgrade before transferring to Maine College of Art in
Portland Maine, graduating in 2016 and focusing in ceramics. Iva got her MFA in 2018 from
the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2016 she was a summer artist and resident at the
Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. The summer of the same year she was an
artist and resident at the Studio 740, run and owned by Beth Cavener and Alessandro
Gallo. In 2018 she was a part of the National Student Juried Exhibition at NCECA and
received a Graduate Award for Excellence. Starting in 2018 and through 2020 she was a
long-term artist and resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts.
Perry HaasLike most ceramic artists, I find joy in the deep tradition of ceramics. I love listening to the voices of the past, of creating vessels that carry history, but I also feel art should always be restless, Live on the edge of tradition, shepherd tradition into the current moment and conversation.
Bio:
Perry Haas has committed to honing his skills, repeating a process and investing in an aesthetic that began to achieve serious recognition around 2015 when he became the JMD Fellow at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. His speckled wood-fired porcelain vessels are now iconic. From his time as a student at Waubonsee Community College in 2003 and Utah State University in 2004, he has been widely exposed to various styles of wood kilns and firing techniques. He’s also hd many first-hand opportunities to study and reflect on traditional Asian vessel forms that have infiltrated the American ceramics lexicon. His training has included a residency at Jingezhen Ceramic Institute in China, studying ceramics in South Korea, Clay Studio of Missoula, Red Lodge Clay Center and time in Denmark. Currently he lives and works in Clancy, Montana.
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Breana Ferreira
Joanna Powell
Kelly Stevenson
Sam Momeyer
Shelsea Dodd