About Michelle Fairholm

The first time I sat down at a wheel was as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame. I had been practicing mostly 2D art before that but with clay I had found a medium that energized and inspired me. Clay is ultimately just mud and I love sitting down at the wheel and getting my hands dirty while making something beautiful.

After graduating, I taught elementary school and then K - 12 art while continuing to take classes and workshops in wheel-throwing, hand-building, and a variety of different firing techniques at several different community art centers. I had some incredible instructors over the years. I taught high school ceramics and adult wheel-throwing classes until finally settling into making pottery full time.

My first at home "studio" was a wheel in the small breezeway of our house in Durham, North Carolina. In 2017 I moved to Chapel Hill and set up my own 600 square foot studio where I can throw, decorate, and fire all of my pieces in the same space, surrounded by woods.

I'm a Cincinnati native and retired mathlete. When I'm not making pottery I'm usually spending time with my husband, our two young kiddos, and our two old hounds, Oliver and Paige.