Madalynn Massey

Potress

My Name is Madalynn and I am the one woman show behind Mad Ceramics. I grew up in the high deserts of Utah, but moved to Northern California when I was 15 and have since lived in Washington state and now reside in Southern Oregon. I fell head over heels for the pacific northwest, and a lot of the inspiration for my work is derived from the magical landscapes and plants of the PNW. I was raised by artists and musicians, and have always felt most like myself when working with my hands so pursuing an art career has always been my dream. I enrolled in college with the intent to pursue oil painting, and that's where I took my first wheel throwing class and fell completely in love with clay. I soon dropped out of college to travel for a couple years, but I always knew I would come back to working with clay. Once I settled down here in Oregon I joined the local community pottery studio and spent hours practicing throwing, trimming, and glazing. Eager to dive deeper into the art of ceramics I decided to invest in a wheel and kiln to create my own home studio. After a lot of trial and error I started to find my personal style, and started to sell my work online. Over the last 6 years my style and techniques have evolved but my main inspiration is still derived from the plant kingdom. Along this journey I became involved and certified in the healing art of herbalism, so a lot of my designs incorporate medicinal and wild/native plants and flowers. I put my original passion of painting to use in my designs as I hand paint each piece and then apply a technique called scriffito to the painting to add more depth and detail. After primarily selling my work online due to the pandemic, this last year I have started to venture out to local artisans markets and festivals. I am now a member of the Lithia Artisans Market and you can find me selling my work most weekends in downtown Ashland, OR from April-Oct. I am looking forward to seeing where this journey takes me, to watch my work evolve, and to meet those who are inspired by my work.