Artist Updates
Over the past twenty years, hundreds of people have learned how to throw vessels on the pottery wheel, hand build and glaze at Lincoln Square Pottery Studio - Learning Center. Many ended up staying a decade or more, using the studio to hone their skills to then transition to their own work space. Dozens have gone on to set up their own business, mixing their own glazes, loading the kiln and trouble shooting a variety of standard studio problems (pesky kiln elements!). Quite a few of them became production potters, taking commissions from restaurants and individual collectors. Others have taken the time to create one-offs that ended up in gallery exhibitions and museums. Here is an update on just a few of the artists that shone at LSPS-LC, and continue to do so.
Sangeet Gupta
Sangeet Gupta is a ceramic artist and educator who has been making both functional and sculptural work for 20 years. He began working with clay at Lincoln Square Pottery Studio - Learning Center while living in Chicago in the early 2000’s. In 2009, he took his first wood fire workshop in Western Illinois and was immediately drawn to the process of firing a wood burning kiln, and the unique aesthetic it creates. Upon returning to his hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2019, he began the task of building a studio and wood kiln in Winslow. Gupta was honored to have a solo installation of 17 large vessels during the summer of 2023 at the Walton Arts Center. This was in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Arkansas Pottery Festival. He has since been awarded an Artist 360 Community Activator Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance. This helped fund the construction of his first wood kiln.
Sangeet Gupta
Rosie Gale
Rosie Gale is now a full-time potter and small-business owner of “Ceramics Made by Rosie”! Her pottery journey began in 2015 when she immigrated from London to Chicago and signed up for the beginners wheel throwing at LSPS-LC. It was one of the best decisions she’d ever made. The studio, instructors and fellow artists instilled a passion for pottery in Gale. A sense of belonging in the clay community also helped her practice.
Gale carried this passion with her through the COVID madness, as well as an unexpected move to Springfield, Illinois in 2020. She joined the local art center, purchased a second hand pottery wheel, and gave endless hours to throwing. Gale started to sell at weekend farmers markets. In life’s whirlwind, support from the locals enabled her to launch her business in 2022; creating functional wheelthrown pieces for events, art fairs, storefronts and custom orders. Over the past year her business has expanded to reach more people as well as meeting larger-scale orders across the Midwest. Her personal growth encouraged her to share the craft with others. Gale now teach beginner’s wheelthrowing classes at the local Springfield Art Association, which feels to her as though things have come somewhat full circle. She found herself inspired by the wonderful classes with Meg Biddle at LSPS-LC as her teacher. She channeled that experience into her own lessons.
In 2024, her pottery whirlwind continues. She was recently awarded a business grant towards her dream plans for a pottery studio and storefront. Set to open later this year, her downtown store will sell handmade ceramics, pottery supplies as well as host one-night workshops. She’s beyond excited to see what the year ahead entails and is forever grateful for the people and places that have made this possible - all beginning with LSPS-LC. They sparked a love of the craft and sense of community combined- something that will stay with her always.
Rosie Gale
Emilie Bouvet-Boisclair
After leaving LSPS-LC, Emilie Bouvet-Boisclair founded a small artist studio to work out of. She was able to focus on creating collections of pieces- namely developing a marbled line of pottery and also spending time on expanding a ‘Birds and Botanicals of North America’ body of work. She applied for the Ceramics Monthly magazine emerging artist feature and was one of the ceramists selected in the year 2020! This led to greater exposure, and working more closely with a gallery. Bouvet-Boisclair was able to take on larger commissions when working in a private studio, and completed a series of large scale vases for the Hoxton Hotel in Chicago. She now works in a private space which she built in her garage upon moving to Saint Charles, Illinois. This is the best set up for her currently, as she became a mom to two young children. She’s been able to step out and work when they are napping or a sitter is there. This has been key to continuing her artist practice. LSPS-LC was an amazing place to bolster her confidence and grew her skillset to take next steps in her studio practice. She thinks that one of the most important things she learned at LSPS-LC, with the encouragement of fellow members, was to put herself out there - opportunities tend to snowball!
Emilie Bouvet-Boisclair