Jonathan Steele

Jonathan Steele has been making pottery since 2009 with a direct focus on teaware for Gong Fu since 2016. He received an MFA from Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2016 and was Resident Artist at Pleasant Hill Pottery from 2016 to 2018. Since then, Jonathan has held several teaching and studio technician positions in Washington and Oregon. Currently he has a resident studio at Vortex Pottery in Seattle, WA and is working to establish a longterm space in Redmond, WA. Jonathan’s regular commitments to the tea community present themselves often in the tea festival scene around the Pacific Northwest and further afield.

Jonathan is equally inspired by the aesthetics of the natural landscape and the practice of serving and drinking tea with the intention of the gong fu style. These parallel interests inform each other in especially beautiful ways – a river flowing over rocks in the forest reminds him of water steeping leaves in the pot. The sunrise over the hill appears like the flame in the kiln. The teapot can be a small piece of the landscape and the tea can be a small sample of the rain in the forest.

Jonathan holds these parallels in mind when he is in the studio to create, choosing materials and processes, textures and colors that are born in his hands rather than manufactured. He hopes dearly that his audience sees these gently informed decisions as they use and share the joy of his pots.