Made In Clay: Women Ceramists

December 4, 2025

In Clay is inspired by the life of Marie-Berthe Cazin, an overlooked 20th Century female ceramist. To continue the exploration into women artists, please find below some more women ceramists, both historical and contemporary, listed in order of year of birth.

Daisy Makeig-Jones

1881-1945

Born in Yorkshire, England, Daisy Makeig-Jones developed the decorative china artform called Fairyland Lusterware. Drawing on her love of fairy tales, she used motifs that featured fairies, imps and goblins illuminated with iridescent glazes, jewel tones and gold-painted details. These bright and vibrant patterns were in complete contrast to the world embroiled by World War I. She was employed by the Wedgwood pottery company.

Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Ghostly Wood Covered Malfrey Pot. Designed by Daisy Maekig-Jones. Circa 1920

Beatrice Wood

1893 – 1998

Considered the “Mother of Dada,” Beatrice Wood explored painting, drawing, writing and acting before discovering her love of clay. She set up a studio in Ojai, a small community outside Los Angeles where she sold her lusterware. In 1961, she was named a Goodwill Ambassador to India by the United States government and in 1994, the Smithsonian Institute named her an Esteemed American Artist. She continued to create pottery until her death at age 105.

Luster Chalice by Beatrice Wood, Permanent Collection, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts & Happy Valley Foundation

Maria Martinez

1887-1980

Pueblo artist Maria Martinez learned to make pottery the traditional way by watching her mother and grandmother. By age 13, she was already celebrated by her tribe for her creative skills. Along with her husband, Julian Martinez, she revived an ancient local process for making all-black pottery that stood in contrast to the all-red or polychrome ware that had dominated the Pueblo’s production for generations.

Maria Martinez and Julian Martinez, Jar, ca. 1939; Blackware, 11 1/8 x 13 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay.

Margaret Tafoya

1904 – 2001

Tafoya learned the ancient techniques of hand-building pottery from her mother, Sara Fina Tafoya. She followed the ancient method of coil-building with clay taken only from the Santa Clara Pueblo and used traditional patterns such as kiva step, mountain, clear sky, buffalo horn and bear claw. She became more well known in the 1950s with the rise in interest in Native American Art because of her ability to play with scale and handbuild uncommonly large clay vessels. Out of her ten children, eight became potters, including her daughter, LuAnn Tafoya, who became well known in her own right.

Margaret Tafoya, Jar, ca. 1965; Blackware, 17 x 13 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; © Margaret Tafoya

LuAnn Tafoya, Jar with Bear-Paw Imprint, 1996; Redware, 23 x 20 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the artist; © LuAnn Tafoya

Magdalene Odundo

Born in 1950

Born in Kenya, Dame Magdalene Anyango Namakhiya Odundo studied traditional hand-built pottery techniques in Nigeria and Kenya. She often uses a coiling technique and fires the clay twice. Her second firing in an oxygen-poor atmosphere causes the clay to turn black. She uses the same type of techniques as ancient Greeks and Romans and often sketches natural forms into her designs. Her pots are often reminiscent of the human form.

Magdalene Anyango N. Odundo (British, born Kenya 1950). Symmetrical Reduced Black Narrow-Necked Tall Piece, 1990. Terracotta, 16 x 10 x 10 in. (40.6 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Dr. and Mrs. Sidney Clyman and Frank L. Babbott Fund, 1991.26. © Magdalene Anyango N. Odundo. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Jiha Moon

Born in 1973

Born in DaeGu, South Korea, Jiha Moon’s paintings, sculptures and installations explore fluid identities and the global movement of people and culture. She draws on Eastern and Western art histories, Korean temple paintings and folk traditions and popular culture - transforming and distorting them to make them both unrecognizable and familiar at the same time. Moon is now based in Tallahassee, Florida as a faculty member at Florida State University. See examples of Jiha Moon's work on her website or follow her on Instagram at @moonjiha

Special thanks to the National Museum of Women in the Arts for their resources to shine the light on women ceramists. For more information about these and other women artists from throughout time and across medium, visit www.nmwa.org