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 a state-of-the-art, fully equipped studio with hand-building and wheel throwing studios, designated glazing space, and kiln room. On display in the newly opened Gallery, visitors will find the work of nine 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 as she studied ceramics at SUNY Potsdam and continued 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, as well as a professor of graduate and undergraduate courses at multiple universities. She is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and a former adjunct professor at The Cooperstown Graduate Program through State University of New York, College at Oneonta, and State University of New York, Cobleskill. As the studio has grown, so too have the class offerings. Christina welcomes hundreds of students from local, neighboring, and regional communities and one-time or returning visitors to our region, openly sharing her passion for ceramics and teaching with 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 hones 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 started pursuing her interest in pottery, which has become her passion alongside gardening, biking, and kayaking.

katherine winslow, studio and gallery assistant

Kat has been a part of the studio since the summer of 2022, starting as an assistant and beginning her pottery journey in the winter of 2023. She assists with a variety of behind-the-scenes duties, including maintaining the studio, managing inventory, handling photography, and updating portions of the website as needed. Kat also assists in the gallery, with event and festival preparation, and sales. Kat has training in a range of studio arts, with a primary focus on graphic design. She also has several years of experience in customer service and retail. In their free time, Kat enjoys running, snowboarding, and gaming. She also adores animals, and they quickly learn to love her right back.

views from the studio