Anna Campbell

Co-Owner of Uptown Clay & Studio Director

Anna has been working with clay for many years, and loves the balance of challenge, creativity, and community it offers. She finds inspiration in nature and draws on that when creating forms. Anna’s hooked on wood-firing and is currently restoring a small noborigama kiln in the Western Catskills.

Fun fact: Anna is obsessed with Monster Trucks and hot sauces.

@pixelsbyanna

Camilla Sturm

Co-owner of Uptown Clay & Gallery director

As an archaeologist as well as a potter, Camilla thinks about ceramics 200% of the time. Her studio practice is inspired by her research on ancient pottery and craft traditions from around the world. She enjoys both hand-building and throwing on the wheel, generally dislikes glazing, and gets a kick out of experimental firings - for science, of course.

Fun fact: Camilla has a motorcycle license (for a scooter that was stolen one month after moving to NYC).

@eventual_artifact

Carmen Andrea

Children’s class instructor

Carmen finds joy in balancing her love for math and art. Both disciplines come across in her art. Carmen’s experience teaching math gives her the skills to differentiate and cater to a wide range of young creatives in her hand-building class. Her goal for her pottery classes is that that all students have fun making art while growing their skillset as young artists.

Fun fact: For the past year and a half, Carmen has been practicing Kungfu at Lohan Kung Fu at OSA.

@carmenandreastudio

Sarah Bortel

Wheel Instructor

Sarah is from Washington state and started doing ceramics when she was in high school. She continued working with clay throughout college and now continues through grad school. She likes to make altered forms on the wheel - things that start out round and are manipulated or combined to make something more interesting.

Fun fact: Sarah swam with a bear on accident.

@sarahbortel

Peter Bulow

Handbuilding instructor

Peter was born in India and lived in Berlin until he was 8. There he took clay to the zoo and made sculptures of the animals he saw there. He took a break from making from age 12 to 14, and has been sculpting ever since. In his classes, Peter shares his techniques for figurative sculpture and guides participants in the exploration of form.

Fun fact: Peter’s sculptural work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Vanesa Cabezas

Handbuilding Instructor

Vanesa was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She is dedicated to sculpture, mainly with ceramics. She loves to create sculptures or masks that interact with the public, with the body, and with everyday life. In her work, you can see a self-reflection on the migratory experience, her love for birds, and freedom. She loves creating in the community, teaching, and sharing everything she has learned. Vanesa will always tell you that the most important thing is to explore the multiple paths that exist to reach a result, that all are valid, you just need to discover which one is yours. 

Vanesa nació en Bogotá, Colombia. Se dedica a la escultura, principalmente con cerámica. Le encanta crear esculturas o máscaras que interactúen con el público, con el cuerpo y la cotidianidad. En su trabajo se ve una auto reflexión sobre la experiencia migratoria, su amor por las aves y la libertad. Ama crear en comunidad, enseñar y compartir todo lo que ha aprendido en su camino. Vanesa siempre te dira que lo más importante es explorar los múltiples maneras que existen para llegar a un resultado, que todos son válidos, solo necesitas descubrir cuál es el tuyo.

Fun fact: Vanesa is a twin. The question always comes up, do they have special powers to communicate? Vanesa says yes, but her brother says he doesn't feel anything.

Dato curioso: Vanesa es Melliza. Simpre sale la pregunta, de ellos si tienen poderes especiales para comunicarsen. Vanesa dice que sí, pero su hermano dice que no siente nada.

@mutandoterra

Joanna DiBiase

Wheel instructor

Joanna stumbled into pottery after thinking “that looks fun” and loved it. She enjoys making simple and functional pots but is pushing herself to experiment. Joanna hopes that her students will find joy in making things with their hands and learn that mistakes are part of the process. 

@joanna_augusta

Camille Knop

Wheel instructor

Camille is a graphic designer, content manager, and lifelong Washington Heights resident. Seven years ago, while on the hunt for a new creative outlet, she stumbled upon classes at Cornerstone Pottery (now Uptown Clay) and hasn’t looked back. What Camille loves most about working with clay—both in her own work and with students—is the creativity sparked by the constraints of the process. She has learned to embrace the unexpected and delight in problem-solving along the way.

Fun fact: Camille is trilingual (English, French, German), an avid photographer, and a YNABer (if you know, you know!).

@camilleknop

Tyler Lea

Wheel instructor

Tyler’s interest in pottery started with his dad, who collected pottery from places around North Carolina. Years later, Tyler taught himself how to throw on the wheel and has been making simple, clean shapes and folk art pieces ever since.

Fun fact: Tyler grew up on a farm where he raised goats and sheep as part of his hometown 4H club. 

@T.L.Originals

Adaley Muñoz

Handbuilding Instructor

Adaley is a Dominican-American multidisciplinary visual artist, cultural researcher, and Washington Heights native. She comes from a family legacy of potters, began working with clay as a young teen, and has maintained a loving relationship with the medium all throughout her life.

Adaley es una artista visual multidisciplinaria, investigadora cultural y nativa de Washington Heights, de ascendencia Dominicana-Americana. Viene de una familia con una larga tradición de alfareros. Ella comenzó a trabajar con arcilla desde joven y ha mantenido una conexión especial con este material durante toda su vida.

Fun fact: Adaley plays dungeons & dragons, and is always at diners, shoveling fries and playing table games with loved ones.

Dato curioso: Adaley le encanta la música típica, y siempre está en los comedores compartiendo papas fritas y jugando juegos de mesa con sus seres queridos.

@adaleymunoz

Nick Park

Wheel Instructor

Nick spent a majority of his life in NYC as a performing artist, and found his path to clay as a new way to express himself and heal through craft. When you take a class with Nick, you can expect a very hands on and collaborative experience. He come to class to be inspired by his students just as much as he hopes to offer them inspiration. Nick’s classes are safe spaces filled with a very “Yes! and…” energy, where no questions are silly and all exploration is encouraged. He loves teaching and can’t wait to clay with you!

Fun fact: Nick’s favorite things in this world are dogs and desserts - if you have a dog and a great recipe for snickerdoodles then you are best friends already!

@nickparkpottery

Rosemerry Pérez

Wheel + Handbuilding Instructor

Rosemerry is a native New Yorker who loves to experiment with form and texture in her work. She likes to tell her students it's important to be patient with clay: a slow speed after opening a pot is the fastest way to the finish line. In her teaching, she approaches the basics assuming everyone is a beginner and stresses that the key to clay is to have fun while creating!

Fun fact: Rosemerry loves to sing and to spend time in nature.

@ro.pe.ceramics

Alex Rodriguez

Wheel instructor

Alex was one of the original members and directors of Cornerstone Pottery Studio, Uptown Clay’s previous incarnation. He’s been teaching and working with clay for decades. In his classes, Alex wants his students to understand throwing as a pleasurable form of meditation in motion, which calms the self through focus on the practice. It may be an easy step to that first bowl, but it’s a lifetime of fine-tuning that simple shape. 

Fun fact: I also play the fool, sometimes I play guitar.

Carolyn Tacey

Handbuilding Instructor

Carolyn recently retired from a 32-year NYC teaching career and has been working with clay over 25 years. She moved from wheel work to hand-building 15 years ago. Students in her class will work primarily with slab technique, but will also explore other hand-building methods like as hump-mold work. Carolyn will also be sharing information on texturing and glazing.

Fun fact: Carolyn writes poetry and loves taking close up photos of flowers especially in Fort Tryon Park’s heather gardens.

@claybyca