Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Shaw.
Hi Melanie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Melanie Shaw received her BA from Hunter College, New York, with a double major in Digital Media and Film and Studio Arts (ceramics concentration) and graduated summa cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Her artist residencies have included Guaitil Pottery, Tamarindo, Costa Rica, Brickhouse Ceramic Art Center, New York, Hunter College, New York, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Maine, and Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina. Her curating experience includes exhibitions “Personal Universal”, “Funk: American Dada” & “Critical Function”, Pittsburgh (NCECA), “50 Women-A Celebration of Women’s Contribution to Ceramics”, Kansas City (NCECA), “Texas State of Clay”, Bastrop, TX, and “Gems of the Hill Country”, Tea + Art, Houston, TX, “Jewels of Earth and Fire”, Pittsburgh (NCECA), and “Critical Function II”, Richmond (NCECA). Her speaking engagements have included “Past Masters” NCECA, Cincinnati, OH, “ScanCeram”, Denmark, and Bastrop Historical Society, Bastrop, TX.
She is a self-employed ceramic artist and became owner/operator of Art Off Center, LLC, a ceramics-teaching center in Taylor, TX as of 2017 after to moving to Texas in 2014. Ms. Shaw also teaches a ceramics decorating workshop called “Color Collage on Clay” at various locations in Texas, and has taught/demoed for GACA, Austin, Cynthia Brinson studios in Arlington and at CERA pottery studio in Ft. Worth. She is also a founding member of “Wilco Potter’s Club”, Williamson County, TX.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Running a small community pottery studio has been incredibly rewarding—but definitely not without its challenges while trying to maintain my own ceramics line. One of the biggest ongoing hurdles has been maintaining consistent revenue while keeping classes affordable and accessible to the community. Pottery is a high-overhead art form, with a long time line for the creation process. There’s a delicate balance between paying for materials, kiln maintenance, and rent, while still creating an inclusive and creative space for all skill levels.
COVID-19 hit us hard, like it did for most small businesses. We had to pause in-person classes completely for several months and pivoting to a “drive-by” drop off and pickup model, which meant a sudden drop of income. That period taught me to be flexible, resourceful, and to lean on the support of our community. I took advantage of the downtime to work on my personal goals, completing a mentorship program and trying to refine and improve a line of ceramics that reflect my personal practice.
As a small woman-owned business, it’s usually just me trying to juggle social media, emails, and community outreach between kiln firings, teaching, volunteer work and keeping my ceramics line fresh and inspiring.
Taylor is a growing town about 15 minutes from Round Rock and Georgetown, which brings both opportunity and challenge. One bigger obstacle has been visibility—getting the word out consistently in a digital landscape that’s always shifting and changing, trying to encourage students/artists to disconnect and work in-person in a small creative environment.
What keeps me going are the people. Our students, visiting artists, and fellow creatives (in our studio membership) are what keep me inspired. Seeing someone fall in love with clay for the first time, or watching a returning student finally master the wheel or a sculpture—that’s the magic!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I wear a lot of hats—as most small studio owners do. I’m the teacher, technician, marketer, kiln loader, and janitor all in one day! But at the heart of it, I specialize in being a connector within our local ceramic community. I think I’m best known for making ceramics approachable and for creating a space that feels welcoming and supportive.
My background from college was based in abstract sculptural work and during COVID I switched over to working on figurative sculptural works, pulling some inspiration from drawing and painting classes I took while living in New York at the lower east side Arts Alliance and New York Academy of Art. I’m really proud of this line of sculptural work that I’ve developed over the past few years— figurative busts and small full-figure pieces. They’re deeply personal, expressive works that draw inspiration from the Austrian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, each one lets expression, form and coloration carry the emotion, and I’m proud of how much they resonate with people.
What sets me apart is both the breadth of what I teach and the intention behind it. I can move between functional ware, sculpture, and surface design, and that flexibility allows me to meet people where they are creatively. I try not to box people—or myself—in. When it comes to utilitarian ceramics, I think what really distinguishes my work is my approach to surface design. I use local plants and organic textures to create hand decorated pieces. My favorite glazes are often my take on white-on-white glazes, but am also not afraid of vibrant colors when the piece dictates the need for more color.
What matters most to you?
I make pottery and sculpture because it connects me to something deeply human—working with clay is both grounding and expressive. It’s tactile, slow, and rooted in tradition, yet it leaves space for play, exploration, and storytelling.
When I’m working on a piece or a body of work, I often begin by dreaming, planning, and imagining the final form. I’ll sketch out an idea, but the piece usually shifts as it takes shape. Clay is incredibly plastic and responsive—changes happen in real time, and I adapt with it. That process mirrors how we move through daily life: constantly adjusting, reshaping, and evolving. It’s that flexibility, that openness to change, that keeps me coming back to ceramics.
What makes the work meaningful is the connection it creates—between my hands and someone else’s experience. That moment of shared touch, even across time, is why it matters to me. It keeps me present, curious, and grounded in something larger than myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.melanieshawceramics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/melanieshawceramics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melanieshawceramics/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artoffcentertx
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/art-off-center-taylor
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MelanieShawCeramics
Image Credits
All photos provided by: Melanie Shaw or Rachel Trussell
