A.C. Bell is a North Carolina potter, originally from Chicago, IL. She studied biology in college and spent time working in a veterinary clinic and pursuing a master’s degree in sustainable urban development before discovering pottery in an evening class at a local Chicago neighborhood art center. She fell in love and began taking classes and working as a studio monitor, moving into teaching introductory classes for kids and adults. In 2021, after going as far as she could taking classes at art centers and craft schools, she moved to North Carolina for the Professional Craft Program at Haywood Community College.

Pinched clay retains the impressions of fingerprints, wheel-thrown clay remembers the rotation of the potter’s wheel, glazes melt and are guided by gravity across surfaces, and a beautiful pot is one which fits in the hand of the user as naturally and organically as it formed in the hand of the maker. It is important that the creation processes I employ in my practice can be seen and felt by the user.  When people pick up my pieces there is always an echo of the process present in the experience. These are objects for contemplating, for being present, for inhabiting a moment in time.