About Claire

I’ve always had a thing for mud. As a child, I followed my curiosity to the bottom of the sandbox, where rich red clay sat ripe for the taking. My pinch-pots (painted with sidewalk-chalk sludge) opened a spacious place in my heart that would eventually grow to house a growing passion for ceramic arts.


I believe the thrum in me to keep working with clay is largely the desire to join the creative work that God began when he created the first man out of two very curious ingredients: clay, and his own breath. In Old Testament scripture, God uses the happenings in a potter’s shed to poetically reveal elements of both his character and mankind’s. He is the Potter, we are the clay.

A woman with long brown hair smiling outdoors near a body of water with trees in the background, wearing a white blouse and brown pants.
Claire Lemp Ceramics.
Claire Lemp Ceramics. Person kneading clay on a wooden work surface in a well-lit room.

Every time I work with clay, it translates truth about spiritual formation from my senses to my heart. As I embody the role of the potter, I notice that sublime beauty is made when the strength of the potter meets softness in the clay. I notice too, that unyielding clay does not produce beauty… until the patience of the potter restores it (at times quite forcefully!) to the suppleness it was intended for.

We are the clay, He is the Potter. We are all the work of his hands. Peculiar peace comes when we rightly see God, and in turn, rightly see ourselves.

Seeing the pottery process this way has amplified my passion for creating with clay. It’s become a way of life, a way to learn, grow, and communicate truth in the language we call art.

Now that I’m rooted in the Gallatin Valley of Montana, my pottery takes aesthetic cues from my fresh, rugged surroundings. The contrasting colors of Bozeman’s mountain ranges, rivers, and forests make their way into my palette. Often I layer glazes and rural motifs to communicate the ethos of where these pieces are made and the Biblical truth I’ve been meditating on during the creative process.

When I make functional wares for your home, a little bit of this story is tucked into the making of every vessel.

From hands & heart,

Claire

Claire Lemp Ceramics. Bozeman, MT Potter, pottery. A woman in a white shirt and jeans is shaping a tall pottery piece on a potter's wheel, with chocolate glaze covering her hands and the pottery.
Claire Lemp Ceramics. Bozeman, MT Potter, pottery. A woman is creating a pottery piece on a pottery wheel in a studio, surrounded by clay and tools.
Claire Lemp Ceramics. Bozeman, MT Potter, pottery. Family of four outdoors by a river, smiling at the camera.

Drop a Line

clairelempceramics@gmail.com