Meadow Coldon

Ouray Made
Dec 1, 2025
2 min read

Ouray Artist & Business Owner

I'm a full time ceramic artist and instructor. I run a community clay studio on Main Street in Ouray, where I also produce my own functional ceramic wares. I have been apprenticing with Mancos-based ceramic artist Janet Lever-Wood since 2022, and owe much of my education to her leadership and friendship. I received my BA in Archaeological Anthropology in 2012, and worked as an archaeologist for over a decade across New England, the American Southwest, and the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya, documenting and preserving cultural heritage sites. My experience with global histories continues to inform and inspire elements of my work.

I am primarily interested in materials and firing methods, and the dynamic dialogue that happens between them during the intense and volatile atmospheric firing processes. Wood and soda kilns are most often fired by a team of potters, and connecting/collaborating with other creatives in this way is very special. In wood firing, there is a conversation between the kiln and the artists- the flame, the atmosphere, the ash, the clay, the potters stoking relentlessly for many days. Not everyone appreciates the elements of surrender and surprise that exist in wood firing, but there is a lot to read and be inspired by in the finished work; how each piece was affected and made more beautiful by the placement of each piece around it. There is a great metaphor in there.

With appreciation for the union of the technical function and austere beauty of teaware, I'm in a perpetual pursuit of bettering my understanding and manifestation of these forms. During what feels like a chaotic time to be an independent working artist, I remain buoyed by the pursuits of creative communities in Ouray County and Colorado. Among the chaos, moving slowly with phones down, enjoying a cup of tea brewed and sipped from handcrafted ceramic wares can serve as a daily ritual of rebellion.