Staff Spotlights
SPOTLIGHT ON: Saba Parsa
Q: Are there any artists that you find particularly inspiring? What about their work inspires you?
A: Joyce Fujiwara and Warren Mackenzie (and many of his students) for their thoughtful simplicity.
Q: What is something that your students or the Studio Arts Boulder community probably don’t know about you?
A: I am Iranian-American and have spend exactly half my life in Iran and half in US (mostly in San Francisco). I love both places equally and they are both home to me.
Q: What are your favorite forms or projects to make, in clay or other materials?
A: I love making pots that have a culinary purpose; many of the pieces I make are after some ancient vessel that is used for cooking a special stew or used as a mortar and pestle... I am fascinated by the history and culture around them (and also the delicious food made in them, of course!)
Q: How did you end up at the Pottery Lab? How long have you been here?
A: I moved to Boulder in September 2019 and Pottery Lab was my first stop after dropping off my luggage! I had googled it before coming here and knew that I need to find my clay community right away. It took a few months before a spot opened and I started working here in March 2019 and love the sense of community and passion for clay everyone shares.
Q: Besides pottery, what else are you really passionate about?
Fruits! I have a jam company called saba jam that I spend most of my time outside the studio on: sourcing the best seasonal fruit and processing them brings me so much joy with all the fascinating colors, aromas, and textures.
Find more of Saba’s work on instagram: @pannonicapottery
SPOTLIGHT ON: Greg Belfor
Q: What is something that your students or the Studio Arts Boulder community probably don’t know about you?
A: Though my background is in high tech engineering, I’ve also dabbled in improv comedy, community theater and was the vocalist for a studio-only band.
Q: What is your favorite way to decorate your pottery?
A: I like to add texture with carving or other manipulation that promotes interesting glaze effects. My textures are generally non-representational: rather than flowers or animals, I tend towards expressive marks that imply motion of some sort. I love when other artists use their pottery as a canvas for painting…but I’ll have to learn to “paint” before I can dive into that.
Q: What are some “ceramics failures” that you’ve had over the years?
A: Other than dropping full ware-boards of cups? I made a beautiful lidded jar that will never open…I underestimated how much the glaze would move so it’s glazed shut. Whoops!
Q: How did you first get involved in ceramics? What interested you in this art form?
A: My father tried pottery after retiring…then stopped…then started up again, and I thought it looked like fun. When I saw a pottery lab class available, I had to give it a try. I wasn’t a “natural” at it, but I was hooked right away by the combination of technique and artistry. I find that I really enjoy functional pieces that are both beautiful and useful. I firmly believe that my coffee tastes better when it’s in a handmade cup! And ice cream from a handmade bowl---extra yummy!
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring artists or new pottery students?
A: Use your open studio time! There is no better advice than to come in to the lab to practice between classes.
Q: What do you listen to while you’re making art?
A: In my home studio, I am usually listening to podcasts. When I’m at the lab, I like to just listen to what’s going on around me: sometimes its just the silence of people creating art, sometimes it’s discussion of process, and sometimes it’s just day to day life chatter.