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  • Art Teacher for over twenty years in public  schools and at community colleges.

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  • Studio coordinator and live demonstrator at the Carborundum Museum of Ceramics in Niagara Falls, New York. 

 


Undergraduate degree: 
 

  • State University College of New York at Buffalo 


Graduate degrees: 
 

  • University of Northern Colorado

  • Alfred College of Ceramics

  • University of Siena, Italy

  • Fulbright Foundation recipient in 1999 where she studied in Japan


In depth firing and forming workshops from notable ceramics artists:
 

  • Dan Rhodes

  • Paul Soldner

  • Bob Smith

  • Biz Littel

  • Jim Romberg

  • Linda and Charlie Riggs

  • Kurt Spurey

ABOUT

As a cancer survivor, Annie Brooks believes each new day is a bonus given to her. Her passionate embrace of life is apparent in the vibrant hues and bold, yet delicate patterns of her work. Annie's creations channel her love of the natural world, in particular the wide expanses of sky and wild crags of the Colorado mountains and display her interests in ancient civilizations and Asian cultures. Her memorial urns for humans and pets honor the process of life by providing a vessel through which those left behind may celebrate the unique souls of their loved ones.

Annie began what she describes as her "love affair" with clay in 1968 at the age of 17 while attending high school in Patchogue, New York, and she still loves the feel of clay between her fingers. On a trip to Estes Park, Colorado, in 1973, Annie felt she had come home for the first time. In 1975 she moved to Colorado, where she still resides with her husband Bob and collie Doc Holliday in the picturesque town of New Castle, Colorado on Colorado's Western Slope. 

In 1999 Annie was awarded a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship, which allowed her to travel to Japan to study the work do Soji Hamada, the Japanese potter whose work has deeply influenced her own. She has maintained a private studio since 1975. Her pottery combines the clean lines and ceremonial styling of traditional Japanese Raku with a playful, colorful sensibility. She currently works in glass, stoneware, which she uses in her Raku and horsehair pieces, and porcelain, which she uses to create pieces such as mugs, mixing bowls, and serving platters that are fully functional works of art.

From prehistoric man's sculptures of fertility goddesses to Greek storage urns to the intricate teapots and cups used in Japanese tea ceremony, potters have long integrated art into the daily activities of their lives, and Annie carries on an artistic tradition as old as humans themselves. As potters have done for centuries before her, Annie's work allows art to be part of our lives, inspiring us to also express ourselves through art. “I believe all humans have an innate need to create and that the media that best allows us to express ourselves will choose us, just as pottery did for me when I was 17.” 

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