Rod Hemming

"My passion is creativity in design and color--combining them to make each piece a visual feast and an inspiration for conversation in every patron's home."

Rod Hemming originally comes from Staffordshire, England, an area best known for its potteries. His inspiration comes from theater, music, and what life puts before him, both natural and manmade. With 40 years of experience designing carpet, wallpaper, vinyl, and fabric, he has returned once again to ceramics. He has always admired the work of ceramic artists Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff.

Rod Hemming creates thrown, slip-cast, and slab-rolled clay pieces that he bisque fires to cone 04. He then carefully designs and hand paints the surface of each piece with underglazes using a variety of small brushes. Finally, he coats his pieces with clear overglaze and re-fires them to enhance their beauty. His tiles vary from 1/2" to 8" wide. He and his artist wife paint them as a team.

Rod Hemming's biggest mentor was his high school art teacher, a graduate of Royal College of Art, who not only trained him in drawing and other mediums, but also introduced him to art history and encouraged him to extend his education at a design college in Worcestershire, England. Hemming's major was in surface pattern design with an emphasis on clay tiles and woven carpets.