Our studio team
Anna Campbell
Co-Owner of Uptown Clay & Studio Director
Anna has been working with clay for many years, and loves the balance of challenge, creativity, and community it offers. She finds inspiration in nature and draws on that when creating forms. Anna’s hooked on wood-firing and is currently restoring a small noborigama kiln in the Western Catskills.
Fun fact: Anna is obsessed with Monster Trucks and hot sauces.
Camilla Sturm
Co-owner of Uptown Clay & Gallery director
As an archaeologist as well as a potter, Camilla thinks about ceramics 200% of the time. Her studio practice is inspired by her research on ancient pottery and craft traditions from around the world. She enjoys both hand-building and throwing on the wheel, generally dislikes glazing, and gets a kick out of experimental firings - for science, of course.
Fun fact: Camilla has a motorcycle license (for a scooter that was stolen one month after moving to NYC).
Tyler Lea
Wheel instructor & Studio manager
Tyler’s interest in pottery started with his dad, who collected pottery from places around North Carolina. Years later, Tyler taught himself how to throw on the wheel and has been making simple, clean shapes and folk art pieces ever since.
Fun fact: Tyler grew up on a farm where he raised goats and sheep as part of his hometown 4H club.
Carmen Andrea
Children’s class instructor
Carmen finds joy in balancing her love for math and art. Both disciplines come across in her art. Carmen’s experience teaching math gives her the skills to differentiate and cater to a wide range of young creatives in her hand-building class. Her goal for her pottery classes is that that all students have fun making art while growing their skillset as young artists.
Fun fact: For the past year and a half, Carmen has been practicing Kungfu at Lohan Kung Fu at OSA.
Sarah Bortel
Wheel Instructor
Sarah is from Washington state and started doing ceramics when she was in high school. She continued working with clay throughout college and now continues through grad school. She likes to make altered forms on the wheel - things that start out round and are manipulated or combined to make something more interesting.
Fun fact: Sarah swam with a bear on accident.
Peter Bulow
Handbuilding instructor
Peter was born in India and lived in Berlin until he was 8. There he took clay to the zoo and made sculptures of the animals he saw there. He took a break from making from age 12 to 14, and has been sculpting ever since. In his classes, Peter shares his techniques for figurative sculpture and guides participants in the exploration of form.
Fun fact: Peter’s sculptural work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Joanna DiBiase
Wheel instructor
Joanna stumbled into pottery after thinking “that looks fun” and loved it. She enjoys making simple and functional pots but is pushing herself to experiment. She hope that my students will find joy in making things with their hands and learn that mistakes are part of the process.
Camille Knop
Wheel instructor
Camille is a graphic designer, content manager, and lifelong Washington Heights resident. Seven years ago, while on the hunt for a new creative outlet, she stumbled upon classes at Cornerstone Pottery (now Uptown Clay) and hasn’t looked back. What Camille loves most about working with clay—both in her own work and with students—is the creativity sparked by the constraints of the process. She has learned to embrace the unexpected and delight in problem-solving along the way.
Fun fact: Camille is trilingual (English, French, German), an avid photographer, and a YNABer (if you know, you know!).
Nick Park
Wheel Instructor
Nick spent a majority of his life in NYC as a performing artist, and found his path to clay as a new way to express himself and heal through craft. When you take a class with Nick, you can expect a very hands on and collaborative experience. He come to class to be inspired by his students just as much as he hopes to offer them inspiration. Nick’s classes are safe spaces filled with a very “Yes! and…” energy, where no questions are silly and all exploration is encouraged. He loves teaching and can’t wait to clay with you!
Fun fact: Nick’s favorite things in this world are dogs and desserts - if you have a dog and a great recipe for snickerdoodles then you are best friends already!
Alex Rodriguez
Wheel instructor
Alex was one of the original members and directors of Cornerstone Pottery Studio, Uptown Clay’s previous incarnation. He’s been teaching and working with clay for decades. In his classes, Alex wants his students to understand throwing as a pleasurable form of meditation in motion, which calms the self through focus on the practice. It may be an easy step to that first bowl, but it’s a lifetime of fine-tuning that simple shape.
Fun fact: I also play the fool, sometimes I play guitar.
Carolyn Tacey
Handbuilding Instructor
Carolyn recently retired from a 32-year NYC teaching career and has been working with clay over 25 years. She moved from wheel work to hand-building 15 years ago. Students in her class will work primarily with slab technique, but will also explore other hand-building methods like as hump-mold work. Carolyn will also be sharing information on texturing and glazing.
Fun fact: Carolyn writes poetry and loves taking close up photos of flowers especially in The Heather Gardens.