Noel Bailey is a potter and teacher, living, raising, working, and playing in Vermont’s Mad River Valley.

Born and reared in Southwest Colorado, Noel is enchanted by vibrant landscapes through the continual pursual of gorgeous lines and hydrologic idiosyncrasies. He has a M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a B.A. in Art Education from the University of Northern Colorado. He spent many summers with renowned makers and workshop presenters at Laloba Ranch Clay Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Through a home-town apprenticeship with Potter Bill Wilson, he learned he could be a potter.  

Statement

I am a potter. I am in love with the material and the process. My practice and ideas evolve through making.

My work is strongly influenced by the natural environment that I live and play in, with the various forms and processes associated with water composing a central, resounding theme. I am drawn to serene, fluid, and graceful forms, which I find abundant in vertical ice and water-carved rock. What fascinates me are the rhythms of freeze and flux, ebb and flow, erosion and deposition. My process engages these transformational cycles; the resulting dynamic surfaces convey a narrative of movement and change.