John Hunter

John Hunter Pottery

Guest artist at 12) PruVisions

Hunter has been working with clay since he left high school. He studied with Cynthia Bringle in 1969-70 at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, where he learned the discipline of production pottery and sound design. Great potters like Leach and Hamada inspired him.

Recently, after 25 years of potting outside of Windhoek, Namibia, where he built and used wood-fired kilns and started Community Hope School for orphans, he and his wife, Suzanne, moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to be closer to their family. Some of the proceeds from the pottery sales help support Community Hope.

He built a gas soda kiln at his studio on the Isthmus close to the Capital. John's pots are comfortable to hold; pick up one of his mugs. Every kiln load is a surprise and full of discovery.

In addition to other awards, in 2017, at the Namibian Ceramics Biennale, two of his Elephant Mugs were awarded the Premiere Award and purchased by the Namibian Arts Association for their permanent collection. In the 2019 Biennale, one of his wood-fired, salt-glazed teapots again won the Premiere Award.

Hunter has done workshops worldwide with his potter's wheel, demonstrating throwing, glaze decoration, and Sumi-e brushwork for potters in Southern Africa, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and North and South America.

He does custom orders and tableware for homes and restaurants.