Naomi Clement professional ceramic Artist and educator

My Clay Journey

Fun fact: I never thought of myself as an artist growing up—I couldn't draw to save my life. But when I took my first pottery class in high school, something clicked. Clay rewarded my hard work in a way other art forms never had. I caught the clay bug, and it's been a (mostly) beautiful relationship for over 25 years now.

Like many relationships, clay and I have had our rough patches. After finishing my BFA from NSCAD in Halifax, I actually broke up with pottery for about 8 years. I convinced myself I didn't love it enough to "be poor doing it"—buying into that whole starving artist myth I now actively fight against.

But the truth eventually surfaced: the only thing harder than being an artist is not being an artist.

When I returned to clay, I threw myself in completely. I landed at Medalta in Canada for an artist residency in 2013, which led me to grad school at Louisiana State University from 2014-2017 (where I picked up the occasional "y'all" that now mixes with my Canadian "eh?"). After earning my MFA, I continued my pottery nomad life—teaching at university and attending more residencies. 

Along the way, I've been named a 2017 Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly magazine, was an elected NCECA board member, and spent a summer as Artist-in-Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana. 

What I'm truly proud of, though, is finding my unique voice in clay—and now helping others do the same.

These days, I create from my home studio in Stratford, Ontario, exploring ideas of home and belonging through the powerful lens of functional ceramics.

When the pandemic hit, virtual teaching became not just a necessity but a revelation—I could build a global community of potters who were just as excited about geeking out on clay as I was.

My teaching philosophy is simple: I focus on both the "how" and the "why" behind techniques, empowering you with skills that you can adapt to your own unique vision. No cookie-cutter projects or gatekeeping—just honest instruction delivered with kindness.

My mission remains the same: to help you find your unique voice in clay and build a creative practice that sustains you—both artistically and financially. Because I firmly believe we make better work when we're fed well. 

The world is more beautiful and less lonely when we share our voices and creativity. I'm so glad you're here to share yours.

 

My "Formal" Bio

Naomi Clement is a Canadian artist and educator who explores ideas of home and belonging through the powerful lens of functional ceramics. She received her MFA from Louisiana State University in 2017, and her B.F.A from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University in 2003. Naomi has participated in residencies, given lectures and workshops, and exhibited her work across Canada and the United States. She served as a board member for the National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), and was named a 2017 Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly magazine. In 2019, Naomi was a Summer Artist-in-Residence at the renowned Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, in Helena, Montana. After spending many years as a pottery nomad, working and travelling across North America, Naomi has recently established a home studio in Stratford, Ontario.


 

Artist Statement

 

My work is a constant discussion on how things fit together and how they do not. In particular, I am interested in points of transition: the space where orange becomes red, the place where glaze meets bare clay, the edge of a handle and the end of the pot. In my process, I continually seek out and create opportunities for these moments to occur: leaving a seam visible in a hand-built cup, cutting a soft line in the rim of a bowl, or negotiating the space between white slip and raw clay. As a maker, I am interested in how these moments record my decisions and become physical signposts left for a future user. These traces of intent and action say: I was here, please bear witness.

In my current body of work, I use text elements taken from old family correspondence and ephemera to explore my family history and connect past and present. Letters are digitally scanned, enlarged, and then laser cut into newsprint. These newsprint text elements are then used in my decorative process, acting both as a stamp and resist for colour and texture. 

Handwriting is such a personal way of connecting, leaving your mark, and telling your story—through this intimate process we connect our thoughts to the physical world. Using the labour of my hands, I unite these traces of my past with functional objects that celebrate the tangible joy of the every day. 

The resulting pots ask to be noticed and examined. I want them to convey a sense of a life lived, and a life still to be lived; they are about making connections and wanting to make connections. A snapshot of the journey, each pot is a tether that connects me to me, and me to you: a memory bound in mud-made-stone for years to come.