Biography
Maria Dondero has lived in Athens, GA, for 26 years with her partner and fourteen-year-old twins. Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, she grew up in a large, travel-loving family that shaped her artistic perspective. She discovered pottery in 2000 while living in Mexico and has been making and teaching ever since.
She completed her MFA at the University of Georgia, Athens, in 2008 and founded Southern Star Studio in 2016 – a thriving ceramics space. She teaches, and her work is exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2022, she co-founded a Clay Studio in Cortona, Italy called Tuscan Clay Lab, and now takes groups to Tuscany for clay workshops twice a year.
Maria creates mid-range earthenware pots that draw on the rich history of ceramics. Her work subtly references global pottery traditions while remaining deeply personal and rooted. She intuitively sketches imagery from her everyday surroundings onto each surface, grounding her forms in the red clay and cultural landscape of Georgia.
Artist Statement
Humans have made pottery since long before we started growing our own food, and we’ve almost always given in to the impulse to decorate our vessels — even the lowliest cooking pot. Some of my favorite art is sketched on old ceramics; a 15th century Italian wine vessel hastily scrawled with the impression of a woman — maybe the artist’s neighbor — can make my day.
When you hold a handmade mug in your hands, you’re touching something intimate, warm and alive. You hold the combined history of humanity and also the fleeting, intimate experience of the artist.
I want my pottery to serve as a companion through life, like a friend who accompanies us through our quiet, habitual minutes: a vessel for a steaming morning coffee, a plate to hold hasty sandwiches and special dinner. I want my pots to feel lovely in the way your favorite people open your heart just a little when you see them, offering up imperfection and vulnerability along with the beauty.
I work with terracotta because the rich color reminds me of the native clays of my home state of Georgia. I use a kaolin slip to add texture and a surface to cover with imagery from my own life and surroundings — quick sketches like a journal entry. I choose colors that feel like the ones that seep into my heart through my eyes. My hope in making each pot is that these moments will give someone a snapshot of lived experience that will outlive the artist.
More information about Michael can be found at: www.mariadondero.com
IG: @Maria_Dondero