Heidi Meissner
Heidi Meissner is currently a ceramics instructor (Hand-building/Throwing) at the
Arvada Center and at the Denver Arts Students League in Colorado. She has taught
ceramics since 1990 to all levels (K-12 through college). She has a BSEE with graduate
work in Optical Engineering and Art Education.
She has worked with ceramics throughout her life and received her first award for
ceramics when she was only 6 years old. Her main focus today is in thrown functional
porcelain and stoneware work and follows from her training via James R. Srubek, Phd. (d.
2023) in conjunction with Sensei Manji Inoue, National Living Treasure of Japan (d. 2025)
She worked with Dr. Srubek at the University of New Mexico for 10 years learning and
teaching the Arita Porcelain Method, still taught today the Arita Ceramic College in Japan
and at UNM (via Kathryne Cyman).
This method reinforces the discipline to be patient, to focus, and to repeatedly practice the
Arita Porcelain process and to forgo keeping product until mastery of technique has been
achieved. She loves the study of clay – its nature and its techniques of making. It must be
humbly and patiently practiced for one to become “one with the clay”. Her work fills her
with purpose and joy and leads her to the excellence and growth of her creative work.
Her functional work is made utilizing an intricate design process that is inspired by the
extraordinary intricacies of nature; just as porcelain clay is a manufacturers nightmare of
refinement - to obtain purity of whiteness, translucency, and resonance and to balance the
chemical materials to reach both working plasticity and the maintenance of form at high
firing temperatures.
She ideally wants the everyday user to be visually inspired by and to feel the balance and
texture of her functional ware while cradling it and, of course, while using it to sense the
elevation of the food held within. She believes the making of functional, aesthetic ceramic
ware is a living field that is deeply interwoven with daily and commercial life. She knows
that she, in part, was given the responsibility of attempting to maintain the traditional Arita
Method so that she can contribute to the art of ceramics through her own work and to
continue teaching ceramics to encourage others to do the same. “Always keep your heart
open.”
Arvada Center and at the Denver Arts Students League in Colorado. She has taught
ceramics since 1990 to all levels (K-12 through college). She has a BSEE with graduate
work in Optical Engineering and Art Education.
She has worked with ceramics throughout her life and received her first award for
ceramics when she was only 6 years old. Her main focus today is in thrown functional
porcelain and stoneware work and follows from her training via James R. Srubek, Phd. (d.
2023) in conjunction with Sensei Manji Inoue, National Living Treasure of Japan (d. 2025)
She worked with Dr. Srubek at the University of New Mexico for 10 years learning and
teaching the Arita Porcelain Method, still taught today the Arita Ceramic College in Japan
and at UNM (via Kathryne Cyman).
This method reinforces the discipline to be patient, to focus, and to repeatedly practice the
Arita Porcelain process and to forgo keeping product until mastery of technique has been
achieved. She loves the study of clay – its nature and its techniques of making. It must be
humbly and patiently practiced for one to become “one with the clay”. Her work fills her
with purpose and joy and leads her to the excellence and growth of her creative work.
Her functional work is made utilizing an intricate design process that is inspired by the
extraordinary intricacies of nature; just as porcelain clay is a manufacturers nightmare of
refinement - to obtain purity of whiteness, translucency, and resonance and to balance the
chemical materials to reach both working plasticity and the maintenance of form at high
firing temperatures.
She ideally wants the everyday user to be visually inspired by and to feel the balance and
texture of her functional ware while cradling it and, of course, while using it to sense the
elevation of the food held within. She believes the making of functional, aesthetic ceramic
ware is a living field that is deeply interwoven with daily and commercial life. She knows
that she, in part, was given the responsibility of attempting to maintain the traditional Arita
Method so that she can contribute to the art of ceramics through her own work and to
continue teaching ceramics to encourage others to do the same. “Always keep your heart
open.”
