Staff
Tamsyn Bodwell, Founder & Owner
Tamsyn Leigh Bodwell (formerly Ackerman) earned her B.A. in Fine Art with a focus in ceramics from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Before founding Mill Pond Ceramics Studio in 2023, she spent much of her career as a graphic designer, and still currently runs Mill Pond Creative. In addition, she cofounded and ran the arts nonprofit ENGINE from 2009 to 2020. In her own ceramics practice, Bodwell has a strong passion for the atmospheric results of wood and raku firings. See her work on Instagram and on her website.
Contact
Email
207-229-3560 (voice and text)
Kylie Smithline, Studio Tech
Kylie has been a Studio Tech with Mill Pond Ceramics since 2023. She began working with clay in 2014 in high school. She took a ceramics class which soon turned into a hobby, then became a passion that led into her career. She furthered her education at Jacksonville University. In 2022, she graduated and received a BFA with a concentration in ceramics. Since graduating, Kylie has had the opportunity to teach at multiple studios across southern Maine. See her work on Instagram and on her website.
Instructors
Mill Pond Ceramics Studio is lucky to work with many talented instructors. Some of our regular freelance instructors include:
Andrew Durham studied Ceramics at Scripps college with Paul Soldner where he learned to relate to ceramics as a fine art and not just a craft. He has since been inspired through his love of Japanese Ceramics, and tea culture specifically, to refine and develop cups, bowls and serving dishes. As a homeowner, Andrew likes to create natural plaster wall finishes (earth and lime based) and straw bale structures. Andrew is also currently working as a Geologist with a degree from UC Berkeley. See his work on Instagram.
Daisy Hutt is from rural Vermont and moved to Portland in 2018 to attend Maine College of Art. Since graduating with a BFA in Ceramics, she has been teaching pottery to all age groups and hosting community outreach clay and painting classes at memory care homes, senior living centers and most recently created a ceramics program within the women's center at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Daisy’s goal for her classes is to be accessible and welcoming space for building community around clay. See her work on Instagram.
Isabella Rotman is a cartoonist and illustrator living and drawing in Maine. Isabella has been making ceramics for two and a half years, and has been at Mill Pond since the beginning. Her ceramics work combines nature illustration with functional forms, and she particularly enjoys underglaze painting under a crystal clear glaze. See her work on Instagram and on her website.
Johnna Scott is a graduate of University of New England with an arts education degree. She has taught adult pottery at Mill Pond, in addition to Portland Pottery, youth ceramics at Mill Studio Arts, and art at Oak Street Studios.
Anna Smith is a student and soon to be graduate of USM with a BFA concentration in ceramics. She grew up in the lakes region of New Hampshire and has since moved to the seacoast of Maine. She loves to explore the surface textures of different clay bodies when creating her functional clay vessels. She believes in everyone’s ability to be creative no matter what skills they start with.
Kylie Smithline began working with clay in 2014 in high school. She took a ceramics class which soon turned into a hobby, then became a passion that led into her career. She furthered her education at Jacksonville University. In 2022, she graduated and received a BFA with a concentration in ceramics. Since graduating, Kylie has had the opportunity to teach at multiple studios across southern Maine. See her work on Instagram and on her website.
Piper Smith is a multidisciplinary artist from Kittery, Maine, where she owns and operate Bracken & Briar. She studied ceramics at Maine College of Art and graduated with a BFA in Ceramics in May of 2020. Originally attending Maine College of Art for illustration and printmaking, these techniques and graphic qualities heavily influence her work. Nature, flowers and fruit are also a large influence. Plants frequent the surface of Piper’s ceramics. An appreciator of the ritual aspect of using functional ceramics, she mainly makes functional forms, often using a technique called sgraffito to carve through slip and colorful underglaze to reveal the red earthenware clay body underneath. See her work on Instagram and on her website.