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TCC Instructors
Education is at the very heart of TCC's mission. We love ceramics and want to provide a premier resource and supportive environment for high-quality instruction for all those who desire to learn or further their knowledge of the art. We recognize that the quality and depth of our instructors is essential to the success of our goals. We are quite proud of our team!
REBECCA
BROWNING-YAGER
Rebecca works in her studio in El Prado, NM. She fires in an anagama wood kiln as well as Raku. Rebecca states that her goal when creating ceramic works is to amplify the simplicity and elegance of a form that she visualizes first on paper or in her mind. Rebecca holds a BFA in Sculpture from The Cleveland Institute of Art; an MA in Art Education from Case Western Reserve University; and was awarded a full fellowship to The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; and Teaching Assistantship at The Lacoste School of The Arts; Lacoste, France
LEE AKINS
Lee received a B.F.A. from the Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio in 1975 and a M.F.A. in Ceramics in 1986 from Southern Methodist University. He has taught ceramics at the college level for more than 40 years and is currently an instructor at UNM, Taos, and the Taos Ceramics Center. Over the years, Lee has taught hundreds of classes and workshops on all aspects of the ceramic arts. His students and peers consider him to be among the most knowledgeable and accomplished instructors in New Mexico. His work has been featured in ceramic magazines and publications, including Ceramics Monthly.
BYRON ASHLEY
Byron Ashley is a Ceramist from Topeka, KS. He graduated from Kansas State University with a B.F.A. in studio art in 2019. In 2025, Byron completed his M.F.A. in studio art from Texas Tech University. His work features ceramic objects of discarded products and screen printed labeling. Recently Byron completed an artist residency with Chautauqua Institute and will complete a short term residency with Red Lodge Clay Center before becoming a resident at the Taos Ceramics Center. His work has been recently featured in the exhibitions CraftTexas 2025, What Holds: Ceramic Boxes and the Language of Containment, and MARFA Invitational.
SONJA HINRICHSEN
Sonja studied Art Education and 3D Art in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1999 she moved to San Francisco for a Masters Degree in New Genres Art. She specialized mostly in video and created immersive installations. Her art practice also includes photography, and she has conducted participatory art events with communities all over the US and Europe. In her large-scale project “Snow Drawings” she merges collaborative art-making with sublime nature experience. In 2014, Sonja began taking ceramics classes at an Oakland, CA community college – "and got completely mesmerized – and hooked!" She spent the fall 2024 semester at the University of Nebraska where she studied with acclaimed ceramicists Pete Pinnell and Margaret Bohls. Sonja has been teaching ceramics for several years. She most recently taught at Studio One in Oakland. She enjoys helping her students achieve their creative imaginations and introducing them to new and exciting skills in all things clay. Sonja will begin her residency at the TCC in January 2026.
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TCC Past Presenters
TCC has had the privilege of hosting the following workshop presenters and speakers:
CLAYTON KEYES
Clayton Keyes is an Artist and Educator living in Tulsa, OK and was the Ceramics Area Head at Westminster University in Salt Lake from 2013-2021. He is an alumnus of the Schools of Art at the University of Oklahoma (BFA) and the University of Tulsa (MFA).
Clayton’s academic work focuses on human and animal figures for creating emotional narrative. Clayton exhibits nationally, and he provides workshops and demonstrations of his various processes across the US, at conferences, museums, craft schools, universities, and community studios.
You can read more about clayton and view his work at claytonkeyes.com
NATHAN GODDARD
Nathan was born in Grand Rapids, MI and has since lived in many parts of the country. He is well traveled in the USA, Europe, and Japan. He received his BFA in Studio Art and Land Art from the University of New Mexico. It was in the American Southwest that he began to see the greater potential of earth and materials in his paintings and installations.
His investigation of alternative materials and ceramics has continued beyond his MFA work at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. In 2007, the State of Michigan commissioned him to design and develop the Governor’s Award for Arts and Culture.
Nathan is past Programs Coordinator at Red Lodge Clay Center. He has taught numerous ceramic courses and workshops and was Adjunct Professor of Studio Art Ceramics at Wofford College and Lander University in South Carolina. He worked in Skælskør, Denmark at Guldagergaard as the Kiln Yard Technician in 2015-16. Nathan has made Red Lodge, MT his new home.
JIM ROMBERG
Jim Romberg has been working with Raku ceramics for over forty years. An M.F.A. graduate in ceramics from Claremont Graduate University and early student of Paul Soldner, Romberg is well known to collectors and academics for his progressive work in sculptural Raku ceramics.
After 18 years as Professor Emeritus of Art, at Southern Oregon University, Romberg retired to become the Artistic Director of the Eagleheart Center for Arts and Inquiry where he produced the 14-day “Raku Summit 2005: Origins, Impact and Contemporary Expression.”
Romberg’s work is featured in numerous international private and corporate permanent collections, including Arizona Museum of Art, Geneva Municipal Art Collection, The Banff Art Center, and the Collection of Contemporary Ceramics at Scripps College.
ALMA QUILLIAN
Alma Quillian received her BFA at SMU as a sculpture major. She has a Masters in Art Education from Sul Ross State University. After teaching art at the secondary level in Texas for 24 years, she moved to New Mexico where she continued to teach at a clay studio in Sandia Park. After moving to Taos, she taught clay sculpture privately as well as at UNM in their Dual Credit classes.
Throughout her teaching career, Ms. Quillian has been an active artist with a concentration in clay sculpture and printmaking. Her love of animals and nature is reflected in her work. She is currently showing her work at Wilder Nightingale Fine Arts in Taos and Artisans on Main in La Veta, Colorado.
