Ceramic dinnerware that complements every meal.
They say you eat with your eyes. So if a recipe is best when it’s homemade and perfectly presented, then isn’t the serving dish itself best handmade, too? In the Reno-Tahoe area, there’s an ample supply of potters with this philosophy, creating beautiful dinnerware and teaching classes to those who want to craft their own as well.
One such potter is Sparks resident Karen Vetter, whose work can be found at North Tahoe Arts, a collective, artisan-run gallery in Tahoe City. Her plates, cups, bowls, and serving dishes are functional yet eye-catching, glazed in vibrant pinks, blues, and other pretty colors. In the six-wheel studio at her home, she teaches classes for all levels.
Vetter explains that the creativity behind pottery is endless, and lately she’s branched out into making items such as pie dishes and berry-washing bowls. People sometimes say, it looks too delicate and pretty to use, but Vetter explains that after being fired at more than 2,200 degrees F, these vessels are extremely sturdy and are at little risk of becoming damaged.
Pottery can be crafted with a variety of clay types made from different variations of sand, which affects the texture and durability. The form either is shaped by creating a slab, a long, thin piece of clay that’s hand or machine rolled, or it can be built on a pottery wheel. As an artistic medium, clay presents a challenge because it’s always moving.
“You have to go with it. If you’re wanting a bowl and you get a plate, you have to go with a plate. It’s very fluid,” Vetter says. “I think some of the best things I’ve ever done over the years have been the mistakes.”
For those wanting to try pottery, she recommends taking a class. She teaches everyone from beginners and children to experienced adults, and she even inspired one couple to buy their own wheel after they had taken lessons for a couple years.
Another location for instruction is The Wedge Ceramics Studio, a membership-based collective in Reno where students can either take classes or buy a pass to visit and create whenever they like at the facility, which provides 24-hour access and unlimited quantities of recycled clay.
Sutter Stremmel and his wife, Samantha, built the studio after falling in love with the art form and wishing there was more access to a public studio space, which didn’t exist in Reno at the time.
A functional potter himself, Sutter says that eating off a piece of art creates a bond between two people.
“If I make a set of dishes for somebody, that person goes in with the understanding that although every plate is the same, every plate is kind of different,” he explains. “I like to eat off other potters’ plates. It’s a way of eating food with someone without having a conversation. In a society where we’re more and more disconnected, it’s nice to bring it back in and make everyone feel connected.”
Finished work by Vetter, whose work is on display at Lake Tahoe
For first-timers interested in playing with clay, he urges them to take a class and try it out.
“Nobody is good on the wheel at first,” he says. “Pottery is wonderful because, unlike so many other things in life, you don’t have to be good at it to have fun.”
Le‘a Gleason is a North Lake Tahoe-based writer with ceramics experience in her distant past. She’s been collecting handmade dinnerware for her own kitchen for several years.
For details, visit The Wedge Studio at Thewedgeceramics.com and Karen Vetter at Dtrpottery.com.
