Pottery Workshop Details

About Karla Thomas

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Karla was raised in the wild, mossy magic of New York’s Catskill Mountains, where clay was a constant companion. Her earliest masterpieces included sun-baked pinch pots and backyard rain puddle slip experiments. As a teenager, she briefly wandered from her clay roots, switching her college focus from ceramics to painting and art history — mostly inspired by Barbie insisting that she could be anything she wanted to be and the looming pressure to “get her money’s worth.” Spoiler: she could not and she did not.

Eventually, Karla found her way back to clay, and the moment her hands sank into the mud again, it was clear — she was home. These days, she doesn’t just touch grass. She touches mud.

Now living in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three homeschooled kids, Karla works from her private studio and teaches pottery at a local community center. She’s also a member of the local art association and somehow finds time to serve as board president for a nonprofit community choir — possibly fueled by clay dust and coffee.