About Marianna Gardenhire

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I began my love affair with pottery and sculpting in the mid-nineties.  

After a few years, I decided to combine my two passions: sculpting and food equality.  As a pastry chef, I spent over a decade incorporating my passion for art into my pastries and cakes.  Shortly after graduating The Culinary Institute of America, my husband and I opened a restaurant, Backyard in Forestville.  Along with an extensive organic garden, charming bees and herding chickens.  

After a twenty year (!!!) hiatus, my passion for pottery was reignited in 2017.  There is no where else I would rather be, than in my studio creating.  My pottery is inspired by my garden, the restaurant life, snorkeling, my Hellenic heritage, and the beauty of nature that is all around us.  I love creating functional pieces, made to be used every day in your home and kitchen, as well as pottery for plants, sculptures and garden totems.  I am currently creating pieces using various methods of sculpting, sgraffito and pit fire, in addition to my traditional method of wheel throwing.  I am always thinking in the seasons- how food will look, be presented on my pieces, how flowers will lay in a vase, or how a sculpture will sit in a garden.  I tend to gravitate towards earth tones,

 and blue hues that glisten in the sunshine.

My studio is solar powered, residing in Sonoma County, 

where I have been creating art, in some form, for over seventeen years. 

 I hope you enjoy my pottery as much as I enjoy making it.