Meet Ella : Owner and Instructor
I’m a woman who dares to live her big dreams. Believing there was a need for a creative village, A mother of two left Corporate due to childcare issues in the pandemic and opened her own pottery studio. She is the first African American owned studio in Charlotte. I’m overly excited and have always had a can-do attitude. My passions include helping others and pottery.
Meet Joanna : Instructor
Joanna is an ArtPOP Street Gallery Alum and has had her work featured in multiple exhibitions. Currently she continues her practice as a studio artist in SC. Additionally, she shares her love for pottery through teaching it to others at the local ceramics studio, Village Studio and Gallery.
Meet Laryssa : Handbuilding Instructor
My name is Laryssa Paige and I am SO excited to be joining The Village as the newest hand-building instructor! My pottery journey began back in 2018 when I signed up for a ‘Ceramis 100’ course at my alma mater, Meredith College. While at that time I was expecting a more wheel-focused class a majority of our projects were hand built and since then I have fallen in love with the technique. I have had the opportunity to learn and grow as an artist over the years and I now have the pleasure to continue to learn and grow with each of you!”
Meet Charles : Instructor
My name is Charles Alexander Waddell, of Waddell’s Vessels. I have spent most of my life in Rock Hill, Sc, as well as the coastal region of South Carolina and Georgia. I currently live in the West side of Charlotte and have been teaching pottery classes since graduating from Winthrop in 2018. My family has strong heritage of outreach and serving others, which I carry on teaching in the community. I am a Ceramic teaching artist specializing in Sculpture and functional pottery. My curious nature oftentimes leads to mixed media experimentation including paintings, steel and wood sculpture, and collage art. My functional art focuses on ergonomically sound items highly focused on form, while my sculpture practice is abstract expressionistic representing the parallels between nature and architecture. I am especially interested in the power of nature and it’s effects on man’s creation through the passing of time.