A native of Washington State, Joe began making pottery in 1999 at Cornell College. He went on to make pots at Haystack School of Crafts in Maine and the Rochester Folk Art Guild in Rochester, NY before beginning a two-year apprenticeship with internationally renowned wood-fired potter Mark Hewitt in Pittsboro, NC. After his apprenticeship, Joe worked as a journeyman potter for Dover Pottery and King's Pottery in the historic pottery community of Seagrove, NC.  He also worked with local materials development at STARworks Ceramics, Materials, and Research, and taught wood-firing and kiln building at Central Carolina Community College.

During the time they lived in Seagrove, Christy, who grew up in eastern Iowa, learned to make pots the old-fashioned way. She ran a small organic farm in the summertime and worked for a number of potteries during the wintertime, learning to handbuild through experience and experimentation. While Christy still makes plenty of stoneware pots, she is currently experimenting with wood-firing locally dug red earthenware clay. Visit our blog for regular Windy Ridge Pottery updates!

Our family also includes our dogs Maggie Pie and Charley, barn kitties Great Uncle Kudo and Meryl Stripe, and a flock of overly friendly chickens.