Get to know the artists
Beth-Ellen Berry
Beth-Ellen Berry fell in love with clay during a high school Introduction to Ceramics class, but it wasn’t until she took a hand-building class at Montgomery College 30 years later that she restarted her pottery journey. Her path led through a variety of courses at different studios. In 2019, she bought a wheel and set up her home studio where she now works. After retirement from her accounting career, she jumped into making pottery her “full-time job.”
At first, Beth-Ellen focused her clay practice on overcoming challenges and experimenting with glazes and techniques. Now, while she still focuses on wheel-thrown work, she likes to alter her wheel-thrown forms with sculptural elements as well as surface designs. To create her surface designs, she draws silk screen images like the ones seen here. She waxes the designs and glazes around them which gives the piece texture and depth. The finished pieces are fired to Cone 6 in an electric kiln. Beth-Ellen is always looking for the perfect glaze combinations, and loves tackling more challenging thrown and altered forms.
One of her favorite memories is a commission she took to create an urn for a horse’s ashes. The size of the piece was daunting, and she struggled for about a month to create a piece large enough. “There was a point when I thought I would have to apologize and say I couldn’t do it,” she said. In the end, she succeeded and the family loved the urn she created for their cherished horse.
Beth-Ellen joined the Potters’ Guild of Frederick about six years ago, and almost immediately stepped up to volunteer. She’s been on the Board of Directors for five years and served as treasurer for four of those years. Now, she is the Guild’s gallery coordinator. In this role she organizes coverage for the gallery and training for new Guild members who join the gallery.
Her advice to new potters will sound familiar: be patient, it takes time. She urges new potters to not fire every piece they make. “Once fired, ceramics will last thousands of years. Slow down and take the time to trim thick bottoms and fine-tune your skills. There’s no rush to create finished pieces.”
Beth-Ellen sells her work in the Guild’s gallery, and at the Blossom & Basket Boutiques in Mt. Airy and through the Montgomery Potters Spring and Holiday sales.
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