About our Handmade Studio Stoneware Pottery

Hi! I’m Patti (Patricia) Frei-Burris, the lone potter at Old Pearce Pottery located in Pearce, Arizona. It’s wonderful working out here in the middle of the high desert (4500’) along the Ghost Town Trail. Pearce is an old mining "ghost town" and is the beginning of the famous "Ghost Town Trail" that goes through southeastern Arizona.

My work is stoneware at cone 6 oxidation. I do have a propane (huge) kiln out back of the studio...all ready to go, but I'm going to sell it. The electric kilns work well for me and it's the "making" that I enjoy most these days. I mix the glazes and one clay body for my work. I have relied heavily on John Conrad's Complete Compendium and Ceramics Monthly, as well as old recipes from Arizona State University, where I was introduced to clay. Every now and then, I'll "try" something in the glazing process and sometimes it works, so I've kept those trials.

Arizona State University in the early 70's stress-ed wheel thrown ceramics. I enjoyed the engineering of cups, pitchers, plates, etc., and worked diligently on my skills. Anyone who knew me then, may remember how difficult it was for me to "center" clay. "And then it happened"! I’ll never forget the night! It was between semesters. Randy Schmidt gave me a “B” in my first class simply because I tried so hard. I walked into my second class and my fellow aspiring potters couldn’t believe I was going to try another class! And then I sat down at the wheel! Life hasn’t been the same since!

Before I was to start my last year at ASU, I took a summer job on Santa Catalina Island. I ended up staying thirteen years. I met my sweetheart, Michael, on the “Island of Romance”. The City of Avalon was very good to us during our life there. It was in the mid 80’s that the City commissioned my studio (in collaboration with Caprice Glaser of St. Paul, Minnesota) to build a tile “Welcome Sign” that included a City Map and Time Capsule encasement for their Centennial Celebration. This successful piece stands on the Cabrillo Mole Peninsula and led to several smaller commissions: drinking fountain tiles along the beach, historical tiles (on the serpentine wall) and bench tiles.

Time and Life brought us to the desert. We purchased the Old Post Office in Pearce in 1985. The studio was first located in the back of the building in 1988 because the rooms were uninhabitable. Now, I have a wonderful, large studio outside the main building and a show room in front.

We subcontracted for tile work under Marylin Zwak for South Mountain Community College in the mid 90’s. If you’re in the Phoenix area, the tiles are 4’ in diameter and sixteen discs form a ceremonial area for the college.

We hold pottery classes starting the first week of February every year. Class sessions run a day a week (plus an extra day for throwing on the wheel) for 8 weeks. Handbuilding techniques (including tar paper, balloons, glaze making, coil, slab, etc.) are incorporated into beginning and advanced classes. The studio has 4+ oxidation kilns, two standard slab rollers, one oversized slab roller, an extruder, eight wheels, multiple work tables and loads of tools! Email or call for more information. Two sessions occur each year and the classes end toward the middle of May. Cost of each session is $150 - $200 per person and includes everything except the clay.

Order online 24 hours a day!

Old Pearce Pottery Store Hours:
Tuesday thru Sunday: 10 am to 4 pm (MST)
Store Phone: (520) 826-3588
or email anytime.

Visit the Old Pearce Store

Old Pearce Pottery
PO Box 409
912 Ghost Town Trail
Pearce, Arizona 85625
(520) 826-3588
oldpearcepottery@vtc.net