Heather Goff Pottery
A tactile return to joy – one handful of clay at a time.
Pottery isn’t always at the forefront of my creative life, but it’s never far away. It calls to me in cycles – like a tide pulling me back to the grounding, centering act of shaping earth with my hands.
When I’m in a pottery season, I make highly decorated, whimsical pieces: mugs, bowls, and bas relief tiles filled with folky designs, layered glazes, and tiny carved worlds. These pieces are born from intuition rather than production goals – made when my hands need to slow down, and my spirit needs to reconnect.
Sometimes the shelves reserved for me in our Island Folk Pottery shop are full. Sometimes they’re empty, because my energy is elsewhere – in writing, design, brand building. Pottery is not a business for me, although I do sell what I make. It’s a rhythm I return to when the digital world becomes too heady and I need the balance of earth.
The joy I find in pottery is in the process:
In centering a lump of clay on the wheel.
In carving stories into the surface of a tile.
In spending an entire day decorating a single mug.
This is the joy of returning to the body. To texture. To patience. To stillness.
And I know that when I next need grounding, my studio will be waiting.
Tools & Roles
- Wheel throwing and hand-building
- Bas relief carving and mold making
- Glaze chemistry
- Kiln firing and studio maintenance
- Pottery photography and listings
- Packaging design
- Integration into Island Folk Pottery retail shop
- Website design and updates
What It Taught Me
That not all creative work needs to scale.
That joy can be tactile, quiet, and slow.
That balance is found when I follow what I need – whether that’s mud or metaphor.
That the act of making, without pressure, can be its own kind of success.
Please visit heathergoffpottery.com for examples of my ceramic creations.