Shop Artisan Wares at Our Tasting Room

Skip the mall and shop small! We have a unique array of gift ideas for that special someone on your list. What can be better than giving a gift with a story tell?

Get to know our artisans!

Katie Morris, Cramic Artist

Ceramic art has long been my primary means of self-expression. Clay draws me in and invites me to create in an intuitive way. I started playing around with clay in high school and the love of making and forming things from scratch got me hooked. From the beginning, there has always been something deeply primal about the way working in clay feeds my soul. My studies began at the Kansas City Art Institute, continued at Wichita State University, and culminated at Alfred University, where I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I have enjoyed artist-in-residence positions at both the Mendocino Art Center and Sonoma Community Center. My experience also includes assisting with a summer workshop at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and making work at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.  

Selling art has changed dramatically from when I started making work, when I sold mostly in galleries and shops. Now, however, I especially enjoy selling my work face to face at art fairs and markets all over northern California and via social media.I currently live in Placerville, California with my husband and our daughter.

Liz Crain, Ceramic Artist & Painter

I have always made stuff, and some of it is art. I voraciously explored media and styles until I found clay, the primal medium, where I stayed for decades.

A life-long learner, I have alternated my learning with teaching it to others. I am proud of my assortment of degrees and certificates, from Sociology to Personal Finance, but it will always be those in Studio Art and Art History that have fed my soul.  I have taught Art from Kindergarteners to adults, and I have illustrated two children’s books. Over the years I have shown my work in at least twenty galleries and two dozen art festivals.  The art community wherever I have lived in California is lively and inclusive, especially here in Santa Cruz County, my home studio for the past 30 years.

Recently, I have returned to my drawing, painting and collage roots, delighted to find that my touch and perception have intensified because of my literal hands-on years in ceramics. I am delighted to say there is always plenty more to know and practice.  And lots of new tools and methods. As a student of aesthetics, art history, the creative process, and plenty of nerdy technical info in each medium, I can say quite cheerfully that I am, myself, the work in progress.

John Landis, Wood Turner

John Landis creates his work from "urban wood", wood salvaged from tree removal operations in cities and suburbs.  This environmentally conscious process features natural beauty that would otherwise be destined for landfill.  Many specimens exhibit unique qualities from the gradual aging and degradation of the trees.  A fungus may eventually kill a tree.  But caught and harvested, disease becomes a new life and provides breathtaking, spalted patterns, naturally occurring stains, and other individual markings that help make John's turned wood bowls and sculptures into heirloom quality objects.

John is an active member of Nor-Cal Woodturners, Inc, and serves on their Board of Directors.

Margaret Norman, Potter

I discovered clay in high school and after graduating followed that passion to the Tuscarora Pottery School in northern Nevada before attending college. 

Many years elapsed during which I didn’t make pots: I worked in construction, studied architecture at UC Berkeley, and then worked in various associated fields. After practicing in the field of architecture for several years I was yearning to get my hands dirty again.  I took several semesters of ceramics classes Contra Costa College and Laney College.   In 2005, when my son started school, I set up a small studio in our back yard in Berkeley. In 2013, I moved from my tiny but bucolic space to my present studio in south Berkeley. My new studio is light-filled, spacious and still in flux.

I work predominantly with a red clay, mixed locally, and fire to cone 5-6 in oxidation. 

When I use a handmade object, whether of clay or wood or fabric, I relish the signs of the maker's touch.  I notice the texture and colors and the myriad small decisions made about form and function.   For me, handling, serving, eating from, and even washing hand-made dishes seems a good antidote to our virtual world.  I hope that my pots similarly provide this physical, tactile experience.

James Aarons, Ceramic Artist

I am a reformed modern dancer and ceramic artist who moonlights as a yoga teacher. Clay and yoga share the necessity of exploring space and heat. As if by a gentle stroke of magic, each discipline transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Whether it’s making a drawing of a line or articulating a direction in space through fluid material and body manipulation, the quality of the action that creates the mark or gesture is what attracts me and inspires my work.

My commissioned wall pieces are collected by private and corporate clients nationally including Kaiser Permanente, Sodexo USA, Northwest Mutual, and Ritz Carlton, among others.  I split my time between Mokelumne Hill and San Francisco, CA; one for studio and the other for restaurants and civilization.

Paul Almond, Ceramic Artist

As owners of Sage Architecture, Pam Whitehead and Paul Almond had the good fortune to work with Ann Kraemer on her private residence while she was developing the Shake Ridge property for her family’s Yorba Wines vineyard.

Now, as P2Potters, Pam and Paul are continuing their creative endeavors in ceramic form, transitioning from winery projects to wine tumblers.  These tumblers are made primarily from Frost Porcelain with inlaid, through-body accents formed organically through the throwing and trimming process.  This allows the interior to become as interesting as the exterior and will hopefully provide you with a vessel that is worthy of the wine within.

These vessels are made individually in very small batches; each one is numbered.  A portion of every sale goes to support the Triumph Cancer Foundation, founded and run by Pam to allow cancer survivors to recapture their lives through a guided 12-week fitness program (triumphfound.org).

Kate Kraemer, Jeweler

Lady K Jewelry is the creative love child of Kate Kraemer.  Her affection for shells and pearls stems from youthful days in San Diego where she scoured the beaches for captivating specimens.  They’ve found their way into her contemporary designs where they share focus with semi-precious stones in funky, mismatched earring pairs, dangling, darling necklaces, and sweet bracelets.  Wearing Lady K inspires one’s confidence to be an expressive individual while not taking the world too seriously.  When not making jewelry, Kate can sometimes be found working summers at Shake Ridge Ranch and participating in the great community of Sutter Creek.