Windblown Studio - The people

Rita Nichols and Fred Wilbur are partners in both Windblown Studio and marriage.

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"When I was five, my mother gave me some modeling clay and I was hooked. Clay has always appealed to my tactile sense and stimulated my creativity. The idea that I can squeeze and squish a hunk of the earth into any old form at all and then fire it to turn it to stone still amazes me."

Rita Nichols has been an artist and potter for over 30 years and has studied at universities and art institutes in California, Indiana, New Hampshire, Colorado and Pennsylvania. She holds a B. S. degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

As a freelance artist she has worked in various mediums: oils, pastels, photography, lithography, woodcut, stone sculpture and clay. As a scientific illustrator and graphic artist, she felt that working with clay was an antidote to the strict and meticulous methodology of commercial art. Finally, clay has become more than her personal medium. It is her main focus and gives her the satisfaction and freedom of expression that had always been, for her, the essential appeal of clay.

"I love making a dish that I can bake in or eat out of. I hope that by sharing my pots with other people I can encourage them to recognize the connection we all have with the earth."

Rita Nichols - artist and potter

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"When I was five, my mother probably spanked me for playing in mud, so instead I went to work developing Software."

Fred worked in the technology industry for over 30 years. He really wanted to be a teacher, but never finished his BS degree until the age that most teachers retire. Always searching for ways to scratch his creative itch and finding himself on the outside of high-tech, he decided to learn to throw. He now uses clay to satisfy his passion to teach, to help others, and to be creative.

His goal is to keep his novice status so he can relate to begining potters, but become good enough to use clay as a medium for his creative urges If, along the way, he gives away some pottery to family and friends, makes the perfect coffee mug, and has fun, that's ok too.

If pushed to be perfectly honest, he would also like to sell some pots to put food on the table and help pay for the new studio.

Oh, one thing he did learn. There is no such thing as a 'perfect coffee mug'