Free Spirit Creations:  Pottery by Dorie Mickelson

I enjoy spending time working in both my home studio and at the Ann Arbor Potters Guild, an organization widely known for its high caliber work, creativity, and artistic excellence.  I have sold my work at numerous art fairs and galleries, and have taught pottery classes and workshops at various art centers and guilds.  My current focus is on creating functional wheel thrown forms with hand carved surface designs that are balanced by the smooth quiet spaces around them. 

I love the feeling of the clay moving through my hands as I work on the potters wheel, creating objects that can be used and enjoyed on a daily basis.   Working with clay continuously challenges and inspires me, letting me express my creative voice in an infinite variety of ways.

  Teaching / Clay Work Experience

• Instructor, Village Potters Guild (adult classes), Plymouth, MI (Jan-Dec 2009)

• Instructor /  Artist-In-Residency,  University Liggett School, (Oct 2008) Grosse Pointe, MI

• Instructor, Girl Scouts Ceramics Badge Workshops (2008)

• Instructor, Ann Arbor Art Center (2006-2007)

  • Basic/Continuing Ceramics:  Wheel throwing classes for adults.

  • Raku Workshops:  Horsehair/feather Raku & traditional Raku firing workshops for adults.

  • Parent/Child Clay on the Wheel: Class for adults & their 9-12 yr old children.

  • Summer Camp:  Wheel throwing summer camp classes for 9-12 year olds.

  • Teen ArtMakers: Hand building / wheel throwing classes for at-risk 13-17 yr olds.

  • Potential Potters:  Wheel throwing classes for 9-12 year olds.

• Co-Instructor, Daycroft Montessori School (2006-2007)

  • Co-instructor for the School's after-school art program.  Instructed children in clay techniques (hand building and wheel throwing) as well as in other media / art projects.

• Worked full time at the world renowned Greenfield Village Pottery Shop, where an average of 10,000 pottery items are produced each year, including over 250 different forms in early American redware, salt-fired stoneware, Arts & Crafts style pottery, and wood-fired pottery. 

• Responsibilities included forming functional stoneware and redware items on the wheel (bottles, pitchers, lidded jars, etc.) to sell in the Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum gift shops, demonstrating wheel forming techniques for visitors, forming and decorating drape molded plates/platters, loading/unloading the kilns (5 electric, 2 gas/salt, and 1 wood kiln), decorating forms (slip trailing, sgrafitto, mochaware), glazing vessels, operating pottery shop equipment (ball mill, filter press, pugmill, ram press), mixing up slips/glazes, glaze testing, presenting the shop to the public, and other tasks involved in running a full scale production pottery shop.

• This extraordinary one year ceramics apprenticeship program offered a truly unique experience that sharpened my technical skills and greatly expanded my knowledge.  It was a great honor to be a part of this highly skilled team of artists!

    Publications Featuring Me / My Artwork:

• The Chelsea Standard June 29, 2006

• Ann Arbor's Art Showcase Magazine Spring 2005

• The Detroit Jewish News July 9,  2004

    Formal Education:

• Master of Information and Library Studies degree (M.I.L.S) - University of Michigan, 1994

• B.A. in English Language / Literature  - University of Michigan, honors for academic excellence

    Ceramics Education / Coursework / Training:

• Suzanne Kane Workshop;  Ann Arbor Potter's Guild (Feb 2009)

• Jeri Hollister Workshop (horses); Ann Arbor Potter's Guild (Nov 2008)

• Ben Krupka Workshop (thrown & altered forms);  Ann Arbor Potter's Guild (March 2008)

• Michigan Mud Conference; Center for Creative Studies; Detroit, MI (10/26-10/27, 2007)

• Figurative Sculpture Workshop by Rachel Jensen;  Yourist Pottery Studio (7/28/07)

• Ellen Shankin Workshop (thrown & altered forms);  Ann Arbor Potter's Guild (3/24-3/25, 2007)

• Advanced Ceramics;  Ann Arbor Potter’s Guild:  Instructor – Ryan Forrey (9/06-1/07)

• John Glick Photography Workshop for Potters;  Plum Tree Pottery, Farmington Hills, MI (9/06)

• Advanced Ceramics;  Ann Arbor Potter’s Guild:  Instructor – Ryan Forrey (1/05-5/05)

• Tile Making;  Ann Arbor Art Center:  Instructor – Karim Motawi (1/05-4/05)

• National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference; Baltimore, MD (3/05)

• Lana Wilson Workshop (hand building/surface design);  Ann Arbor Potter’s Guild (1/22-1/23/05)

• Advanced Ceramics;  Ann Arbor Potter’s Guild:  Instructor – Ryan Forrey (9/04-1/05)

• Advanced Wheel Throwing;  Ann Arbor Art Center:  Instructor – IB Remsen (9/04-12/04)

• Robert Piepenburg workshop (hand building & raku);  Ann Arbor Potters Guild (9/26/2004)

• Advanced Wheel Throwing;  Ann Arbor Art Center:  Instructor – IB Remsen (1/04-6/04)

• Glaze Formulation;  Ann Arbor Art Center:  Instructor – Chris Palmer (9/03-12/03)

• Advanced Surface Design:  Ann Arbor Art Center;  Instructor – IB Remsen (9/03-12/03)

• Advanced Wheel Throwing;  Ann Arbor Art Center:  Instructor – IB Remsen (1/03-6/03)

• Raku Course;  Ann Arbor Art Center:  Visiting Instructor (3/03-4/03)

• Wheel Throwing:  Yourist Pottery Studio;  Instructor – Kay Yourist (9/2002-12/02)

• Steve Olszewski Workshop (raku);  Steve Olszewski Studio (9/02)

• Wheel Throwing; Yourist Pottery Studio: Instructor – Kay Yourist (7/02-8/02)

• Sunshine Artist magazine (May 2005, August 2005)

Life Before Clay

Before I decided to pursue my love for clay as a profession, I spent close to twenty years working in the information management/technology arena.  My work in this field included managing print publishing and editorial operations, developing electronic products, coordinating software implementations, directing teams of consultants, project managers, and programmers, performing product/project management responsibilities, conducting database design and user needs analysis tasks, consulting/training, budgeting, resource planning, process improvement, and more. 

I formed many great friendships over those years and loved the work that I did, however, after many years of climbing the corporate ladder, I felt that something very important was still missing in my life.  Re-evaluating my priorities after the 9/11 tragedy, I decided to leave the corporate environment in order to pursue my passion for the arts and to allow my spirit the freedom to explore more creative outlets.  And thus Free Spirit Creations was born!

Click here to read more about Dorie's Earlier Years