Cortland was born and raised in the St. Cloud area and currently resides in St. Joseph. He started his career in the creative fields after studying 3D Modeling and Graphic Design at Minneapolis Media Institute. He served as a Studio Photographer, a Graphic Designer, and a Studio Specialist during his career and now currently teaches as a Visual Arts Coordinator at the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Cortland was introduced to Maine Prairie Studio through his Studio Specialist position at  Cherrico Pottery during a Wood-Firing opportunity. This opportunity not only lit the fire of the kiln, named Rocinante, but lit a proverbial fire in his heart for the awe inspiring community and practice of pottery. He quickly found himself taking classes with JD and Megan and in April of 2023 he became a Studio Assistant at Maine Prairie Studio.

JD is originally from Bismarck, ND. He now resides in Kimball, MN, where he and his wife Megan Jorgenson operate Maine Prairie Studio, a ceramics studio, teaching space and gallery. He received an BA from the University of Iowa in 1997. He apprenticed with Richard Bresnahan, at the Saint John’s Pottery from 2002 -2003. JD has taught ceramics classes and workshops at Northern Clay Center, Paramount Center for the Arts, White Bear Center for the Arts and the Grand Marais Art Colony. Currently, he teaches at Maine Prairie Studio.

JD’s functional work has exhibited in galleries nationwide. He has taught workshops focused on techniques he learned during his apprenticeship that incorporate Japanese and Korean influences at: Grand Marais Art Colony, Northern Clay Center, White Bear Center for the Arts and Marlboro College in Vermont. He received the Jerome Foundation Visiting Artist Award at the Saint John’s Pottery in 2002, Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation Award in 2011 and Individual Artist Awards through the Central Minnesota Arts Board. He was also a recipient of a 2024 Arts Education grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Emma Le Konrad is a Minneapolis based ceramicist. She has been working with clay for over a decade and has developed her current body of work over the last three years. Emma’s work focuses on the cross section of functionality and retro and mid-century design. 

Artist, Brady McLearen (1988), 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 an admixture 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.

Webster Pottery is Katie and Andrew Webster.  Together, the Webster's make finely-crafted utilitarian pottery decorated with archetypal imagery inspired by the natural world.    

Andrew — From an early age, Andrew found himself attracted to creative processes of all kinds, which continued into his teens and early twenties at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.  Andrew's creative and intellectual interests were broad, however, leading him to pursue Art History rather than studio crafts.  In 2010, he earned his BA in Art History with a Minor in Ceramics.  He continued at the University of Oregon, where he earned a Master's in Art History in 2013.

After teaching for several years and increasing his presence in the studio, Andrew rededicated himself to pottery in 2017 full-time.  For Andrew, making pottery is a way for him to achieve connection to things he values—artistic tradition, aesthetics, nature, and people, to name a few.  He loves the grind and humble nature of pottery; the manual labor of wedging, rolling, throwing, and pinching clay.  Today, his work combines influences from ancient art and a love of nature, texture, and utility. 

Katie — Katie's passion for pottery began in childhood when she befriended Robyn Hegland, whose father, Peder Hegland, was an accomplished functional potter.  Inspired by the materials and process, Katie began working at public ceramic studios in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, such as the Paramount Visual Arts Center, which continued through adolescence. 

Katie continued to pursue pottery in 2006 at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she later earned her BFA in ceramics in 2010.  The psychological and philosophical undertones in her work stems from a background in therapy.  In 2013, Katie earned a Master's degree in Marriage & Family Therapy.  Currently, she works part-time as a therapist and part-time as a potter.