Mary creates wheel-thrown and hand built pottery that feels good in the hand and brings joy to everyday life. The current expression of her pots are experiments in colored terra sigillata brushwork and mono printing on a dark stoneware, often dipped in a terra sigillata to finish. The color palette and designs are inspired by the natural beauty of Lake Superior and time spent on the north and south shores.

Jacob Jensen was born and raised in Owatonna, Minnesota. He graduated from Owatonna High School in 2013, and pursued a degree in science education through Bemidji State University. It was during his senior year at BSU that he discovered ceramics through a hand building class. After graduating with a degree in science education in 2017, he sought out experiences to continue pottery and specifically develop his skills on the wheel. The Paramount Center for the Arts in St. Cloud offered that opportunity, through classes and various firing opportunities, Jacob developed his throwing chops. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, he was able to purchase an electric wheel and throw pots in his apartment garage. After moving back to Owatonna, and purchasing a home, he had room to buy a second wheel, a Leach-style treadle wheel. 

Today, Jacob makes pots in his home studio and travels to Kimball, Minnesota, to wood fire at Maine Prairie Studio. Together, with his friends and mentors, they have a wonderful time firing, and creating new work. He even teaches classes at the Owatonna Art Center occasionally, when he is not teaching Owatonna’s middle schoolers.  

Megan Jorgenson resides in Kimball, MN, where she and her husband JD Jorgenson operate Maine Prairie Studio, a ceramics studio, teaching space and gallery. She received an MFA in Ceramics from Utah State University in 2012. She has been an Artist in Residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center, North Dakota State University, Northern Clay Center and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Marlboro College in Vermont. She has also taught at Saint Cloud Technical and Community College and Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Megan’s functional and sculptural work has exhibited in galleries nationwide and been featured in Ceramics Monthly.

Lauren lives in Sauk Rapids, MN where she works with children with Autism providing therapeutic services as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and minor in Art from University of Minnesota Duluth in 2016. She later pursued a Master’s degree at Ball State University in Special Education emphasizing in Applied Behavior Analysis in 2022. She first started working with ceramics during her time at UMD with a focus on hand building.

Lauren began taking classes at Maine Prairie Studio in the winter of 2022 to learn more about the wheel throwing process, and became a Studio Assistant at Maine Prairie Studio in April of 2023. 

Brady McLearen studied at the University of Minnesota and Alfred University focusing on traditional and contemporary ceramics. He creates utilitarian vessels and sculpture using clay, plaster, wood and a mixture of other media and found objects. His work is a lyrical expression made in collaboration through the physicality of material that presents questions touching on existentialism, paradox and absurdity. Born and raised in a working-class Minnesota suburb, his work meditates on human’s disassociation with nature, outward and inward expansion, and the present moment.

Nina Nabizadeh is a first generation Iranian-American in Southern Vermont. They are an art educator and ceramicist with an MA from Umass Amherst and BA from Marlboro College.
Their work seeks to integrate pattern, color, and memory. They enjoy sewing and growing flowers in their spare time.

Nina was a resident artist at Maine Prairie Studio in July 2024.

Shannon (Faber) Smieja joined the clay community at Maine Prairie in the fall of 2022 and never really left. What started as a chance to make some art with her dad, in a beginner wheel class, turned into a passion for ceramics and countless hours spent in the studio exploring the medium. With a background in graphic design, Smieja features typography, linear lines, and shapes throughout her work and glazes. She lives in Dassel, MN, with her husband, Matt, and two daughters Quinn and Reese. Smieja is a Kimball Area High School alumnus, has a BFA in graphic design from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and works for Dassel-Cokato Public Schools. She also manages Maine Prairie Studio's merchandise.

Claire Volden started her journey with clay when she was a sophomore in high school. She was quickly fascinated by the art. Claire continued to take ceramic classes throughout high school. She graduated from Buffalo- Hanover- Montrose school district in June 2024. Claire decided she wanted to do something with clay after graduating, so when she saw Maine Prairie Studio was looking for an apprentice she saw it as a perfect opportunity to learn more about ceramics. Claire started apprenticing with Megan and JD Jorgenson in September 2024. Since then she has started to learn more about firing kilns, mixing glazes, throwing techniques, and more.
Claire lives on a hobby farm in Buffalo MN with her family where they have miniature goats, chickens, ducks, bees, cats, dogs, and occasional pigs or cows. When she is not at the studio she enjoys being outside, hanging out with animals, going to the lake, and eating ice cream. Claire looks forward to learning more about ceramics throughout her apprenticeship at Maine Prairie Studio.

Timothy grew up in a cottage-industry household. His mother, Susan Beyer, supported four children with a slip cast ceramic business in her basement she started in the 80’s. Timothy would later major in ceramics at Oregon College of Art and Craft. In the years following the pursuit of higher education, he explored diverse mediums such as video/animation, kinetic wax sculpture, oil painting, collage, and printmaking. It took him 15 years of trial and error before finally taking the leap to founding his own pottery business, Maiden MN. In the wake of his mothers retirement, the artist is navigating new horizons in his career handcrafting works of art “Made in Minnesota”