Introducing Mug of the Month Artist, April 2025: Ryan Vanhorenbeck

Ryan is a potter from the South Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Growing up he was never big into art and coming out of high school planned to go into computer science until after he took a few ceramics classes in 2017 at CCAC.

In his first semester, after throwing on the wheel for the first time, he found himself spending as much time as he could in the studio. Here he attended his first wood firing and fell in love with the process of firing ceramics. After finishing his degree at CCAC he transferred to California University of Pennsylvania to get a degree in graphic design and ceramics. During school Ryan worked mostly in Cone 10 Reduction, learning how to throw functional ware, with some fun sculptural projects on the side.

After finishing school Ryan worked as a jeweler for a family owned jewelry store in Uniontown, PA for two years. There he learned a lot about craftsmanship and working with metals, but since taking the job he didn’t work in ceramics as much. Eventually Ryan found POCG when looking for a place to fire ceramic work, and began working on his ceramics again. First focusing on mixing and testing glazes and rediscovering what he loved about ceramics. Now Ryan works in his basement studio to make his work in his free time.

His current work aims to achieve the natural beauty of clay and glaze and how it is formed to create functional objects for people to enjoy. He does this by stretching and carving surfaces to create variety and in some cases stretches the clay and allows it to move naturally without any extra influence. This then gives the glazes the ability to melt and separate over the ridges and bumps to create an interesting visual.

Examples of Ryan's Previous Work

Mug of the Month - April Design Inspiration:

"For this Mug I want to try something that I have had on my mind for sometime, a pieced double walled carved mug that references my claywork aesthetic and completed ceramic work up until this point in time.

I don’t want to spoil too much, but I'm expecting a ton of challenges to make it look good and also functional.

Hopefully the end result will be an interesting and unique mug that will add a bit of intrigue and excitement to anyone's mug collection and morning beverage. More design details will follow in mid-April with the MOTM Progress Installment on the website with the final design presentation the last week of the month. Reservations are open now!"

~Ryan