In The Studio With

July 28, 2025

Featuring artists & designers from our shop.

Jo Ann Williams’ ceramic work has evolved over the past eleven years motivated by an artist residency in Italy she embarked on after her husband's passing. Since she moved full-time to West Texas she has installed a kiln on her property and developed a robust studio practice. We visited Jo Ann in Marfa to learn more about her artistic process.

GARZA: What does a day in the studio look like?

JAW: I alternate between sitting at the wheel and standing while hand building. I always pick music to suit my mood of the day. I was on a jazz kick in June, these days I have been listening to classical sitar music.

JAW: I love clay because it's so immediate & tactile. Right now I'm trying to make dark earthy clay more vibrant, not serious and heavy. When I’m in the studio I'm so focused I often forget to eat and neglect dog walks. I have to remind myself to slow it down and breathe, ideas come fast and I want to jump up and make stuff!

GARZA: Do you work in series?

JAW: I don't think about my ceramic work in series but more as groupings. The group of larger pieces I've been recently working on were, in a way, a series, or conversation with my late husband's photographs. Casey shot large format photographs of the shipping containers that traveled along the channel in The Port of Houston, photographs I have hanging in my home in Marfa. Looking at the colors and textures of the rusted containers he captured in his beautiful photos inspired me to create a new technique with bands of glaze on my larger vessels.

GARZA: What are you doing when you are not making art ?

JAW:When I’m not making art I’m moving, swimming, step class or yoga! I spontaneously walk outside often just to breathe in the air. Every night I calm myself by reading and I always have 2 books going at a time.