Susan Abramovitz

Susan Abramovitz has spent the last 48 years in the production and marketing of traditional, functional pottery, and has made a living from her craft. She is considered one of the best in her style of pottery in southeastern Ohio and shares her work with avid collectors from all over the world who use her functional pottery daily. Since establishing her business in 1978, after leaving her position as the head of the ceramics department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, she has been supportive of fledgling potters, showing them the techniques that would help them to navigate their own paths.

She uses a stoneware clay body that she developed herself, using raw materials mixed in her studio, from ingredients found in the nearby landscape. She has also offered her expertise and knowledge of clay to preserve a stoneware clay called Goldart from extinction. By 1984 Goldart quality had greatly declined due to high sulfur and iron contamination, threatening its removal from the market. Working with ceramic engineer, Steven Blankenbeker, Susan helped to save this staple of stoneware pottery by her painstaking testing and historic knowledge of pottery techniques.

Besides being a production potter, Susan is also a mentor and teacher to many students. She teaches adults and children through workshops, serving on several arts’ organization boards including the Ohio Designer Craftsman and the Foothills school of American Craft. She holds demonstrations at festivals and in her studio for school groups. She has mentored many Ohio University art students through the years.