Maud Boleman

Maud Boleman holds a BA in Art Education and a MS in Psychology and has been making pottery for over 25 years. She is currently a studio potter and gallery owner at Black Mountain Studios with Austin Boleman.  She moved to the mountains of western North Carolina to open the studio and play in clay. She loves getting her “old” hands dirty.

“Since moving to the mountains of Western North Carolina she has tried to incorporate the look of the mountains in her work. Her technique and style have developed into a synthesis of the rustic and the refined, with form and function playing an intriguing duet.”

Austin loves playing with fire and has also been making for a long time.  He makes the most amazing horse hair, vapor glaze and lost raku pottery.

We do not consider art to be some obscure, esoteric pursuit that is practiced by the extremely “gifted” and understood by few. Art is the work of our minds and hands, is the result of the creative process, and we are all creative. How you carve a piece of wood, dig a trench, fold your laundry, form a rock into a functional piece, or, yes, shape a spinning ball of clay all involve the creative process. The purpose of the work that we do at Black Mountain Studios is quite simple: it is to make objects that are pleasing to the eye and the hand, to make things of beauty, be they utilitarian or not. If you look at one of our pieces and have a little bit of your breath taken away, or hold it in your hands or lift it to your mouth, and it feels good, it feels right, then we have achieved our goal.  Austin and Maud Boleman