Chris Baskin

I came to clay through curiosity—about materials, about history, about the way objects shape our lives. Early on, I studied world religions, drawn to the ways meaning is embedded in form. But it was in a ceramics studio, hands covered in clay, that I realized where I belonged. I earned my MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics, refining both technique and philosophy, but the real education has been decades of making, firing, and teaching.

My work exists between the practical and the contemplative. I make utilitarian pottery—plates, bowls, cups meant for everyday use—because small rituals matter. I also make cremation urns, vessels that hold memory, shaped by fire and time. Both serve a purpose beyond themselves. Whether I’m throwing, firing, or teaching, I approach this craft as something alive—something that changes with process, with use, and with the hands that hold it.