About
Jason Bohnert is an artist and studio potter working in a range of clays in electric, wood, and soda kilns. After completing his MFA studies at West Virginia University in December of 2002, Jason accepted a residency at the Energy Exchange in Penland, NC and began his full-time pottery career. In 2001, 2002, and 2004, Mr. Bohnert travelled China extensively and lived in private studios in Jingdezhen and Yixing, learning traditional pottery making techniques. The pottery and tea culture, architecture and cuisine, proved lifelong learning experiences that continue to influence his work. Based in Flagstaff, AZ from 2008-July 2024, Jason taught full and part-time at Northern Arizona University from 2010-2023 and built a home, a pottery studio with tiny gallery, and produced work for exhibit and sale. A regular participant in the Sedona Open Studios and the Verde Valley Pottery Festival, Jason has taught workshops at educational studios including Reitz Ranch, Odyssey Clay Center and Hood College and exhibits nationally in invitational and juried shows including Strictly Functional Pottery where his teapot was awarded a Juror’s Choice award. Most recently, Jason has accepted an artist residency in Steamboat Springs, CO at Warehome Studios, where he will teach community clay classes and make work in preparation for two exhibitions at the 2025 NCECA conference and for wood-firing at the La Serra Collective Anagama and soda kilns in Denver, where he will be a featured artist beginning December 2024. Stay tuned for future workshops, exhibitions, and artist residence opportunities in France beginning 2026.
Studio
We built this studio in our backyard by hand in 2017. I wanted an energy efficient, comfortable, and inspiring space to create. I incorporated in-floor radiant heat and a spray foam insulation envelope to keep energy use and costs low. Natural light floods the studio during the day and windows frame in ideal views of surrounding trees and sky. The first pots were made in the studio in fall of 2018 and it was my creative oasis, until we sold in July 2024, to pursue our dream of opening a community clay studio in Brantome, France, opening in 2026.
Kilns
My low fire work consists of red earthenware with slips, terra sigilatta, and a clear glaze fired between cone 04 and 1 in my electric kilns, often with applied laser decal imagery. My mid-range work is a rich brown/black clay also adorned with colored slips, terra sigilatta, and a clear glaze fired to cone 5 in an electric kiln. My high fire work consists of custom iron bearing porcelain and stoneware clays fired in wood kilns. Since teaching part-time (2010-14, 2023) and full-time (2014-20) at NAU, I have been fortunate to fire dozens of times in the amazing wood kilns on site. Most recently, I have helped fire the Anagama kiln in Denver at the Balistreri Vineyards with the La Serra Collective and artist, John Domenico.