What the Flux!
This issue of What the Flux! is a tribute to long-time Potters’ Studio Teaching Artist and glaze maven Dina Gewing, who retired earlier this year.
You’ve probably been wondering lately why you haven’t heard the familiar and distinctive laugh permeating the studio that let you know Dina was on-site. For years now she’s been as much a fixture in the studio as the kilns themselves and as integral to the flow of creativity on the studio floor.
Dina brought her joyful energy to every aspect of her time in the Studio, whether she was preparing for or teaching one of her classes, or running one of the numerous lively and informative Clay Clubs she developed for Members and Students. Perhaps you were lucky enough to take one of her hand building classes, where she explored an incredible variety of construction and surface decoration techniques, from making decorative cake plates and butter dishes to creating underglaze transfers. Maybe you also followed her down the rabbit hole of glazing and witnessed the magic of the studio glazes coming to life as she guided students in making hundreds of test tiles.
Dina was always ready to share to her knowledge, and always willing to stop what she was doing to answer questions or teach a technique to any and everyone who asked. Whatever your experience with Dina’s instruction may have been, we are sure it was filled with laughter and peppered with her pearls of wisdom.
Dina’s first exposure to pottery was at Skyline High School in Oakland. She fell in love with the medium and pursued ceramics as an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz. One of her mentors, Al Johnson, encouraged her to apply for a coveted fellowship from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. After convincing her parents to allow her to study on the other side of the country, Dina spent two years at Alfred focusing on all things ceramics. For a young woman born and raised in California, her two winters in upstate New York were brutal, but Dina dug into her studies and deepened her ceramic skills. After a detour to a kibbutz and a winter on the Red Sea, she returned to California and worked as a caterer for the next two decades.
When a work-related injury ended her catering career, Dina became a receptionist for a software company. She discovered The Potters’ Studio on a fortuitous visit to a studio seconds sale more than 20 years ago while shopping for a piece to display the company’s reception area. She loved the piece she bought so much she decided to revisit ceramics and join the studio. Dina recalls how Maija Williams, the studio manager at the time, immediately embraced her and made her feel welcomed whenever she came to the studio. Maija recognized what was missing in Dina’s life, and her kindness and loving demeanor made Dina feel at home and valued at the studio. When she began to throw on the wheel again, Dina thought of Maija’s kindness and focused on making teapots because, she says, “teapots are the symbol of friendliness.”
In 2010, Dina took over the studio’s Clay Club, which she continued to lead and direct until 2023. Most of her instruction over the years at the Studio focused on teaching intermediate wheel throwing classes and her very popular Glaze 101. From time to time Dina also offered hand building classes. In addition to her work as an educator, she also served on the Studio’s board of directors.
Although she has decided to retire, Dina misses her students, and she hasn’t abandoned pottery or the Studio. She remains a Member and expects to be back in the Studio soon to make more teapots. And along with treating us all to her joyous and raucous laugh, she’ll be ready to share more of her pearls of pottery wisdom such as “you must witness” when you look at your pots and assess what works or doesn’t, and “don’t be afraid to use the hammer of no regrets.”
Dina has spent the last few months focusing on her health and swimming almost every day. She’s excited about traveling more now that she has the time and hopes her first trip will be to South America. She’s also working on a cookbook dedicated to her favorite food, beets, that she’s named The Beet Generation.
The next time you see Dina, be sure to congratulate her on her retirement and thank her for all of her years of service and contributions to the Studio. After giving so much so ceaselessly to the Studio community, her retirement is well deserved! We wish Dina all the very best and look forward to sharing a “spot” of tea with her soon.
