Cassie, a white woman with brown hair and glasses wearing a black shirt, sits at a table smiling. She is holding a handmade mug and has several of her ceramic pieces on the table in front of her, including a green planter with a monstera plant.

The artist

Hi! My name is Cassie, and I make things. I’ve always made things. From the ornaments I knotted together out of literal trash that still hang on my parents’ Christmas tree to the quilts I sewed in quarantine, my hands are always moving.

I’d always been fascinated by clay and pottery, but picking it up stayed on the “someday” list until the summer of 2021 when I began taking classes at Cream City Clay in West Allis, WI. I took to it immediately, even if it didn’t really take to me for a few more months. (No, you cannot see my first pots. No one can.) They haven’t been able to get me out of the studio since.

I love pottery because it brings art into even the most mundane facets of daily life, like your morning coffee. It is a reminder that artistry is all around us. I want my work to be used and loved and even, eventually, broken. Originally trained in theatre, I feel that some of the most impactful art is impermanent.

In addition to ceramics, I am also a freelance costume designer and technician. Some of my favorite projects are within the realm of costume crafts when I get to apply my sculpting skills to create unconventional pieces to complete a character.

The art

My current focus is on small-batch functional stoneware ceramics made on a pottery wheel. Items like mugs, cups, bowls, vases, spoon rests and planters make up the body of my work, but I also love to dabble in ceramic jewelry and sculptural/non-functional forms. My work features lots of modern and clean shapes and glazes that often highlight the qualities of the clay itself. I aim to remind people that art can be functional by allowing them to incorporate it into their daily life.

Cassie, a white woman with brown hair and glasses wearing yellow pants and black boots, is working with red clay on a pottery wheel. We can see her face in a mirror that is resting on the table behind the wheel.

The person

My toxic trait is that I will look at anything and think “I could make/do/learn that.” I consider myself to be a multidisciplinary artist and a jack of all trades (master of, like, a couple). In my free time I enjoy textile arts including needlework, knitting, crochet, quilting, and garment sewing. You can also often find my fingers covered in glue from papercraft and miniature projects, my nose in a book, or my eyes on a video game.

Originally from the Chicago suburbs, I now live in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee with my partner and our two cats.