Big Girl Company

Hi, this is me, Gretchen… in my ceramic studio in Burlington Vermont and my hair is clean and almost tidy!

I grew up in Wickford, Rhode Island. Like many creative people I struggled through boredom in school, the only thing that kept me interested was art class. I moved to Vermont in 1988 to go to Goddard College, where I met my husband and was introduced to clay for the first time… I loved it all immediately. I continued my art studies at Goddard but decided to transfer to Alfred University to concentrate on ceramic sculpture and got my BFA there in 1993. I moved back to Vermont and shared studio space with a couple potters for a couple years but couldn’t make much headway in supporting myself through my art so, ya know, marriage, house, jobs, kids, dogs, chickens, and a million career paths took up the next 20 years.

In 2020 I made the decision to get back to ceramics in a very intentional and real way. I made myself sit in the studio and not care about selling things or making money or any of the real life worries… I just went in a played and had fun like I used to and eventually I had all the feels again… and the chapped hands to prove it.