Meet Ariella Peskin-owens

We were lucky to catch up with Ariella Peskin-owens recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ariella, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Growing up I was a part of a pretty standard middle class family. I had both of my parents and two siblings, with me being in the middle. In May 2012 my world got flipped upside down finals week of my sophomore year of high school. My father unexpectedly passed away while I was in class. He suffered from a sudden cardiac arrest at home with no warning or preexisting health issues. Just like that my rock, my best friend, my inspiration, my dad was gone.
I would say the school system let me down miserably. My English teacher at the time failed me because I wasn’t there to take my final meanwhile I had a “B” in the class. Sorry not sorry Ms. Hennessey, I was at my fathers funeral which greatly superseded your damn test.
It felt like I was left to my own devices struggling to stay afloat all while trying to process intense trauma, loss and grief. All anyone seemed to care about is which college I was applying for, your gpa, your SAT scores and so on. There is so much emphasis on your junior and senior year being pivotal under the guise of setting yourself up for the rest of your life. I find this absurd because you have your whole life to figure yourself out!
Experiencing this traumatic loss at such a young age radicalized me. How dare this stranger of a teacher give me a letter grade that’s going to affect the rest of my life! What power do you hold? Where is my power? Why did I have to experience this? On top of endless amounts of “what ifs”…
While grieving and growing over the last thirteen years I have found resilience and solace in sharing my experiences in death. My first experience with death being so tragic and raw it made me capable of holding space and supporting others going through similar experiences.
After giving the school system the middle finger for two years I scraped by by the seat of my pants and graduated in 2014 with zero desire to pursue college. I needed time to heal. In 2015 I started taking classes at the Tucson Clay Co-op where my life took a beautiful turn and I haven’t looked back since.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Born and raised in Tucson I’ve always been attracted to working with my hands and creating or tinkering. I took my first clay class with my family when I was about 8 years old and I still remember sitting at the table at Reid park listening to Pancho Gonzales instruct us on how to make a lighthouse. The fact that I get to work alongside the people that introduced me to the medium is an incredible feeling.

A few years after that I was around 11-12 and I found myself in Maxine Krasnow’s house for a “summer camp”. She had filled the room with wheels and tables for students not long after moving here from New York where she started Supermud pottery studios. My mom still has some of those pieces on her hutch and I love her for that.

In 2015 I found Maxine again and came back to the Tucson Clay Co-op for two years of Work Study in exchange for my class fees. Shortly after I found myself using all of the available open studio hours and still not finding enough time so I took the leap to become a member at the studio. No longer a student but let’s be real we never stop learning! I continue to have the honor of glazing Maxine’s works and have been for the past few years.

I’ve spent the last 10 years of my ceramic career practicing intentional and non intentional escapism through the clay while also honoring my ideals and surroundings that have raised and shaped me. I love being able to express myself through form and color because sometimes words just aren’t enough. Oftentimes I find myself sitting at the wheel with zero intent other than to play and that’s when you get some pretty amazing results.

In January 2022 Maxine asked me if I would like to try out teaching and I did not believe her in the slightest that I could do it. If you knew me growing up you know how quiet and shy I was and let me tell you I was nervous! After the first two hours of my eight week class I was hooked. Three years later and I’ve got six classes a week that I get to teach. How lucky am I that my job is to get people excited about something that I love!! Finding healing through clay and learning life lessons along the way I wouldn’t have asked for my like to have gone any other way.

April 2024 I quit my job in the service industry after 10 years to pursue ceramics full time. It’s been scary taking the leap but I am grateful that I pushed myself because look where I landed!

This next year I am looking forward to making larger works and getting involved with more gallery spaces, local or otherwise. More cone 10 gas firings because shino and celadon glazes really excite me. I’d also like to run more one off workshops alongside my eight week courses- Thinking ollas, swamp coolers, tile projects etc…

In February 2025 I will be showing nine large works at Steinfeld Gallery here in Tucson, Arizona. There will be other members from our studio space showing as well for the whole month. The works I am creating are playing off the idea of angel numbers and our desire to seek out patterns and familiarity in our day to day.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Ceramic work in itself is a practice. What I mean by that is if you’re not centered in your life or in yourself good luck getting that clay centered on the wheel!! I’ve had instances sitting at the wheel failure after failure until I shift my perspective inward and ask myself what am I avoiding? Is there something I can address in my life that is upsetting me? I’ve learned to accept that my creativity ebbs and flows and understand that when I try to push that line wether it be a commission or personal work it often comes back to bite me. You can’t force a good thing.

Early on in my ceramic career I remember trying to save every pot, fix every crack or discrepancy, aiming for perfection. Perfect is boring and honestly unattainable. I’m a human being not a machine! Now when I create something I don’t love I’ll ball that baby up in a heartbeat and throw it back into my clay bag. Think about it, would you rather spend 3 hours repairing one crack or 20 minutes throwing a brand new piece? The ceramic practice is not about production it’s about the physical process successful or otherwise.
My advice for anyone starting out their ceramic journey is relax and loosen up. If you come in to a class with your only intent being to learn so you can produce and sell you are massively shorting yourself. You will struggle to find your personal style if you’re only considering producing the final product.
Enjoy the journey, find inspiration in yourself, your surroundings and willingly accept failure with open arms. CREATIVITY IS POWER!

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I say try everything once, maybe even twice! You never know unless you give it a go. I feel society likes to pigeon hole you into a path and I refuse to fall victim to that. I’ve spent over a year working outdoors maintaining hiking trails, am chainsaw certified as well as a WFR (wilderness first responder). I can make a mean cocktail, brew you a smooth espresso and poach a perfect egg. I’ve even spent four summers running a wilderness camp for teens up in Ontario, Canada. I wish to live as many lives I can and try to be as multi-faceted as life will allow. I accept failure with open arms and hold space for personal growth always.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @apo_pottery
• Other: Take an 8 week course or book a private lesson:

  https://tucsonclaycoop.as.me/Ariella