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Debra Manfree has been sharing her love of
clay with students for the past 20 years. She has
introduced thousands of children to the world of ceramics with
spin-a-pot workshops, pottery kits and interactive mosaic
residencies. She has also instructed advanced students at the
Herron School of Art in downtown Indianapolis. Her work as an
independent professional artist includes fine ceramics created
using Japanese Raku, pit-fire, earthenware and salt-fire
techniques.
Attending school in the San Francisco Bay
Area she was influenced by the cultural and artistic climate of
the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her interest in pottery started
while attending high school ceramics classes and has led to a
lifetime of working with clay. She explains, “I was part of a
group of students that took on the challenge of learning to be
potters. I spent most of my spare time in the ceramics lab
throwing as much as I could. We each built our own kilns and
exhibited our work at shows. There were field trips to visit the
Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, where I saw works by
Arneson, Voulcus and Gilhooley and many others who changed the
form of ceramic art. Each spring local students would gather for
a weekend of firing pots on the beach. We would build wood fire
kilns and dig huge pits in the sand for pit-fires.”
After high school Debra continued working
in her studio and took ceramics classes at College of San Mateo,
University of San Francisco and Napa Valley College. The
curriculum at Napa Valley College included workshops with
potters from all around the world and hands on experience
building various types of kilns, including wood firing and salt
firing. She started working as a production potter at Pat’s Pots
a studio in Vallejo, California where she met Don Edwards. They
made plans to have a pottery business of their own one day.
Debra later worked as a production potter for Old City Pottery
on the quaint old Spanish plaza in downtown Sonoma, California.
The shop sold functional stoneware produced by in-house potters
that shoppers could observe from the sales floor. She enrolled
at Sonoma State University and completed her degree in fine art.
After graduating she worked for Norstad pottery in Richmond
throwing ceramic sinks and dinnerware. She continued her work as
a production potter at Curry Studios in Sonoma, a business that
shipped most of her work to Indianapolis. A short time later she
and Don also moved to Indianapolis.
Once in Indianapolis Debra sold her pottery
at art fairs and galleries and taught pottery classes for adults
at the Indianapolis Art League. In 1992 she was invited to teach
at Herron school of Art. She recalls, “The basement studio was
small, but it was a great experience because the Pennsylvania
Street location held so much history and so many famous artists
have studied there.” After Debra taught two semesters Debra and
Don decided it was time to open their own pottery school. They
started with a shop on North College Avenue and named their
business Clayworks Pottery. Clayworks offered classes for both
children and adults in addition to providing mobile pottery
workshops for children. After five years they decided to change
their business strategy by closing the shop and concentrating on
traveling programs. In 2001 Debra was once again invited to
teach for Herron School of Art which had recently opened new
studios on Stadium Drive. She says, “It was a joy to work in
these new large studios with such talented students.”
More recently Debra has served as a
resident artist for several elementary schools making ceramic
mosaics with the students. The mosaics are constructed with
tiles that the children form and paint themselves giving them a
unique memorable experience and creating a colorful work of art
that incoming students will admire for many more years. Speaking
of sharing the fun of ceramics with students and hand-crafting
her own fine pottery she says, “It is my way of giving back the
inspiration gained from all the great teachers I’ve learned from
through the years. I’m grateful for the collectors of my work
who have supported my way of life as a craftsperson.”
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 Old City
Potters |
Throwing sinks |
Napa College |
Clayworks Pottery School |
Trimming pottery at Clayworks |
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