Ceramicist Logan Wannamaker crafts beautiful vessels inspired by nature. 

SAGEBRUSH. NEWLY FALLEN SNOW. Rocks in the river canyons. They serve as inspiration for Logan Wannamaker’s less-is-more utilitarian art. 

“I am searching for a reinterpretation of that landscape in my work,” says the ceramicist, who creates artistic plates, cups, and pots in his home studio in Arroyo Seco, near Taos. 

Wannamaker first got his hands into clay during an art class at Colorado’s Durango High School and discovered an immediate affinity and talent. After college, he returned to the craft, moved to New Mexico, and helped establish Taos Clay, a community studio offering summer workshops and classes. 

For the past seven years, Wannamaker has devoted full-time efforts to his own ceramics, even searching out and harvesting local clays to match the hues he desires. 

Most of his wood-tone works are fired for five to seven days in a 25-foot-long anagama kiln (anagama means “cave kiln” in Japanese). Seven feet tall in the front, the kiln tapers like an orca along its length to about three feet in the back, where the ceramics are placed, imparting variations to each piece based on their location.

His vessels, cups, and bowls mirror the texture, color, and shape of his natural inspirations. A line of luminous white pottery gets submerged in a glaze-and-slip mixture that “accentuates the movement in the piece,” Wannamaker says. 

The edges of some of his plates curve under, creating little platforms for your food. “I think it’s important to be able to use the art,” he says, “to develop a relationship with it.”

Logan Wannamaker Pottery Set
Clockwise from top left: Purple trout vase, $325; Pasta bowl, $38, Dolina plate, $42, Espresso mug, $38, Lunch plate, $85, Large wood-fired dinner/serving plate, $135. 

Visit the Logan Wannamaker Pottery studio, in Arroyo Seco, near Taos, or purchase his work online.


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