Photo by Brittany Lesavoy Smith

the studio

Established in 2015, azure arts studio is located on a beautiful rural property just two miles from Canadarago Lake less than ten minutes from the famed Otsego Lake and Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY. From the studio, you'll see gorgeous views with quaint farms set on the hillsides in the distance. The studio is surrounded by rolling fields, hedgerows with centuries-old maples, pines, and apple trees nestled around a picturesque pond. The newly expanded and renovated studio is fully equipped with handbuilding and wheel throwing studios, a glazing area, and kiln room. On display in the newly opened Gallery visitors will find the work of eight regional ceramic artists who work in diverse styles and firing methods. The bright, open space is designed to be welcoming, comfortable and inspiring.

christina ely milliman, founder, educator and ceramicist

Christina has been teaching and making pottery for over 25-years. As an artist she designs, crafts and hand paints each piece of pottery in the studio in Richfield Springs, New York just north of Cooperstown. In her early college years, Christina transitioned her studies from instrumental music to the visual arts and education. Clay became her medium of choice, studying ceramics at SUNY Potsdam, then continuing at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts at UMASS Dartmouth and other studios. Over the course of her career, Christina has taught informally and formally as an educator in Museums and community pottery studios, and as a professor of graduate and undergraduate courses at multiple Universities. As the studio has grown, so too have the class offerings. Christina welcomes hundreds of students from local, neighboring, and regional communities, as well as one-time or returning visitors to our region openly sharing her passion for ceramics and teaching others in the studio’s active, creative and inspiring space.

brian milliman, studio manager

Without Brian there would be no studio! Building and creating the studio space several years ago and improving it consistently has helped the studio grow by leaps and bounds. Brian keeps the studio running efficiently and smoothly, solves every problem with all those things we take for granted (like lights, heat, air conditioning), maintains the kiln and wheels, builds custom furniture and problem solves improvements at every turn. Whenever there is an operational and structural studio challenge, everyone turns to Brian for his kind, patient and selfless help.

deb rankins, studio assistant

Deb has been taking classes at the studio since June of 2020. She specializes in wheel thrown functional work and has recently expanded her practice to her home studio where she works on specialty pieces and honing her technique beyond the classroom setting. Deb assists with “behind-the-scenes” studio maintenance, glaze testing/mixing, kiln firing preparation and loading, readying the studio for classes and workshops and many other duties. Deb retired from a career as a CT Tech at the Little Falls Hospital and soon after starting pursuing her interest in pottery which has become her passion alongside gardening, biking and kayaking.

views from the studio