Meet the Artists and Instructors

Owner, Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Chris graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art as a ceramics major.  She returned to her love of clay after raising her three girls.  Chris has owned New Phoenix for 15 years and is now a proud grandmother.  Chris enjoys making functional pottery and focuses on the calming and healing benefits she has discovered when working with clay.  In addition, Chris loves sharing the joys of exploring clay with others.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Lynne has been an artist and teacher for over 30 years, and has a diverse range of influences that inform her personal and creative work. She earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Johns Hopkins University and a Master’s of Science, majoring in Clinical Psychology, from Loyola University. She started exploring her love for clay and expanding her skill-set through various workshops with master potters. She then transitioned to teaching pottery at Baltimore Clayworks and has now been a prominent teacher in the ceramic community for many years.

Lynne’s current work infuses functional pots with playful, painterly images that are joyful in expression and comforting in their familiarity. Her classes offer a developed curriculum that includes clear objectives and learning outcomes. Her instruction focuses on craftmanship and knowledge of fundamentals. She encourages her students to explore and be open to the possibilities of their creativity.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Charlene has a Master’s Degree in Ceramics from Hood College. She has been a ceramic artist and teacher for over 27 years. She has shown and sold her work across the United States, has won several awards, and has had her work featured in prominent trade magazines. She has vast amounts of technical knowledge and experience with potter’s wheels and kilns and isn’t afraid to dive in and get her hands dirty to solve big problems.

She encourages her students to be free and explore their own creativity and guides them through learning proper form and technique. But most importantly… she is addicted to all things clay!

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Volker is one of the founders of Baltimore Clayworks. He currently teaches at Baltimore School for the Arts as well as Baltimore Clayworks. He holds a bachelor’s degree in art education from Towson University. He participates in numerous craft fairs and competitions every year. His artwork can be found in various collections throughout the country including the Sonny and Gloria Kamm Teapot Foundation as well as the Port Discovery Children’s Museum.

Volker teaches our only hand-building class. There is no end to the interesting and amazing things that can be made with clay without the aid of a potter’s wheel, imagination is truly the only limit. Volker’s passion is to teach students all of the freedom and potential that can be found in free-forming clay.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Tez runs at a steady 97.6 degrees. She has been playing in the mud for over 30 years and is an accomplished sailor and a scuba diver. She has sailed around the Bahamas and scuba-dived on the Great Barrier Reef. She discovered her interest in clay after collecting pottery as souvenirs during her travels. She is self-taught and believes that the constant practice she has done throughout the years has broadened her as an artist, as well as YouTube, which has been her most consistent teacher. She isn’t afraid to try new things – in pottery or life.

Tez brings her life experiences, decades of practice, and sense of adventure into the classroom to offer a unique and fun experience for students who want to try out the potter’s wheel. She can help anyone curious about the potter’s wheel to tap into their potential.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Stephanie recently received a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from Salisbury University with a concentration in ceramics. While at university she excelled at her craft, placing first in her senior exhibition. She enjoys creating expressive sculptural work that explores the sub conscious mind, using androgynous characters that unravel their stories to the viewer through unique, relatable personal narrative.

Stephanie strives to create a fun and safe classroom environment for students of all ages to feel comfortable expressing themselves and their innermost creativity through the highly-versatile medium of clay.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Shelby Willis has been working in clay since the beginning of her college career at Towson University. She earned a B.S. in Art & Design with a concentration in Ceramics in 2019. Since then, she has primarily been creating work out of her small home studio in Baltimore. Shelby has also worked at Clayworks Supplies since 2016, helping guide many people through the clay making process by answering technical questions and finding solutions for problems dealing with clay, glaze or materials. She has experience with different firing methods such as wood-firing and Raku. Shelby has participated in numerous markets and shows throughout Maryland and Virginia. She believes in slowing down, taking time with the details, and admiring the little things. Her work demonstrates this by allowing people to admire small works of art alongside the functionality within their everyday lives.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist

Ben Freund is an artist who creates objects that follow his lifelong love of learning coupled with the thrill of discovery. Much of his current work is an investigation of humanities relationship with empirical knowledge through his fascination with the archeological and anthropological. By creating artifacts that enshrine math, science and engineering he tries to explore the idea that the scientist is the true driving force of civilization and culture.

Instructor & Ceramic Artist