John Lloyd-Flynn
Ceramics
Whenever I meet someone, a question I often ask is where they were born or grew up. To me, it’s interesting and helps define them as an individual so I’ll share my background with you.
I was born and raised in northeastern New Mexico in a little town called Las Vegas. It’s nestled against the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the plains meet the Rocky’s, just over the mountains from Santa Fe. My childhood vacations were spent exploring ancient Anasazi sites like Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado, Chaco Canyon in the four corners region and Bandelier National Park near Los Alamos, the trails littered with broken pottery shards. These broken relics with geometric patterns and an occasional fingerprint of the original artist fascinated me, inspiring me to become the ceramic artist I am today.
I initially studied drawing, then painting, and finally ceramics at City College of San Francisco. I completed a BFA in Ceramics at California College of the Arts in Oakland.
I create and work in my home studio where I also give private lessons and host team building workshops. In 2019, I spent a month in Japan working with Masakazu Kusakabe and being inspired by the Japanese culture and countryside. I still like to draw and am part of a “drawing salon”, where I incorporate the figure in both my sculptural and functional pieces. I’m part of an art collective in Benicia (The Little Art Shop), and volunteer at the Sonoma Community Center and the Senior Center in Fairfield.
