Introducing the crew
Founder
Angela Tilley
Upon returning to the United States in 2014, Angela continued her journey with ceramics and began teaching beginning wheel classes at the D’Art Center, and The Hermitage Museum and Gardens. By 2016 Angela started selling pottery she created at shows and in galleries. Her personal worked is marked "Angeltil Pottery." In 2018 Angela started a new venture, opening All Hands Pottery Studio in Norfolk, Va. It is important to her that her studio welcomes people of all skill levels, all backgrounds and all walks of life. She is a believer in the therapeutic and healing properties of clay and art in general, and wants to bring that experience to all who are open to it.
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You can find her studio on the social media platforms of Facebook and Instagram.
Angela is also a member of the Ceramic Designers Association of Virginia. She is passionate about art, community outreach, and volunteerism.
Angela lives in Norfolk, VA with her husband Mark and their three rescue dogs, Nancy, Brian and Gunner.
Instructors
Lois Sharpe has been a full-time studio potter since 1998, working from her home studio in Durham NC. She and her husband recently moved to Virginia Beach VA to be near grand-babies. She opened her new studio and continues to make pottery. Lois has attended multiple workshops over the past 30 years and has been fortunate to study with some of the masters of the art form. She was a presenter at the National Potters Council Conference,(now ICAN) in Beaufort, NC, June 2007, sharing her unique barnacle glaze. She loves sharing her passion for this medium through teaching. From Lois:
I started with clay over 30 years ago. My pottery has evolved from simple pieces to intricate one-of-a-kind sculpted originals. I consciously work to keep my pottery fresh and feel my passion for this medium is reflected in the finished piece.
All of my pottery is made with attention to detail, form, function, and beauty. It must look good, feel good, and be durable. Since all work is individually made sizes and shapes will vary. My glazes are unpredictable and will vary as well. Each piece is made and designed as "one of a kind,” and can beautifully stand by itself. I love sharing my enthusiasm for this art form and hope to inspire others through my teaching.
Amy Lee has over 25 years of experience with clay including wheel, hand building, extruder, and tile creation work both functional and decorative. Her tile work was featured on the TV Show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”. Her pottery has been viewed and sold in many juried exhibitions including The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY and Stone Quarry Art Park, Cazenovia, NY. She has extensive experience in glaze formulation and surface design techniques. She sells her own work through local and national outlets including her website: amyleepottery.com.
Amy had her start in the clay-world by taking a pottery course in college as a break from science lab work. Ironically, she traded knowledge of chemistry, glaze mixing, and brute-force studio labor, in order to apprentice with Jean Adams at Wilkes University for four years and opened her first studio in her parents’ basement.
In addition to degrees in Environmental Science, Geology, and Computer Science, Amy attended “The Crafting Business Institute” in 1996 and from there helped to open multiple creative entrepreneurial ventures including a 35 member/owner co-op in Skaneateles, NY. She was very active in the Syracuse Ceramics Guild prior to moving to Virginia.
Lately, Amy’s information technology background is used to transform clay into various ideas through the use of custom computer designed stamps and patterns that are then applied to clay in various ways. Amy has continued to gain clay knowledge and advice through the years from artists like Sandi Pierantozzi, Tim See, Frank Giorgini, Stephen Jepson, John Britt, David MacDonald, Ellen Shankin, Ann Ruel, Pam Gray, Mildred Tickle, among others.
Studio Assistants
Contact Us
Be in touch!
Your're not going to hit a ridiculously long phone menu when you call us. Your email isn't going into an inbox abyss, never to be seen or heard from again. We are a community at All Hands Pottery, and we are going to treat you as we would want to be treated!
Or email us at: info@allhandspottery.com
Angela is a 26-year veteran of the United States Navy, attaining the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. During her time in the service, she spent over 9 years overseas, including tours in Italy, Bahrain, Germany and Iraq. She retired in March 2017.
After a deployment to Iraq, Angela discovered pottery, and it changed the trajectory of her life. She started taking lessons in 2011, and continued while stationed in Germany where she worked with Monika Armbruster, learning to work with porcelain, and experimenting with Raku, a technique involving heating and handling pieces at 1800 degrees fahrenheit and then creating a reduction environment in order to achieve unexpected surface decoration on pottery.