Meet the team

Chris was born in Connecticut and moved to San Francisco in 2015 to work as a restaurant chef. After walking by the Clayroom window display, Chris decided to take an Intro to Clay Class, and the rest is history! He was immediately hooked onto the idea of Pottery not necessarily as an art form, but as a Craft. His work centers around the pottery wheel, with a focus on functional pieces to be used in the kitchen and home, as well as large-format vases. Chris is passionate about sharing his knowledge and excitement for clay with new students and gets satisfaction from helping them find methods and techniques that work best for them. When not teaching clay, you can find Chris on the golf course, cooking, or eating!

Hailing from Santa Maria California, Matthew moved to Oakland in 2013 to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at Mill’s College. After graduating, Matthew never used his degree and instead spent the next 9 years startup hopping till finally burning out and returning to something more meaningful – woodworking. Joining Clayroom SF in the fall of 2022, he has spent the last year learning as much as possible to better his craft. At the moment he is diving deeper into the art of finishing though he will be the first to admit that there does seem to be an endless amount to learn. Above all, he enjoys seeing people learn, create, and be inspired.

Neil's teaching style blends excitement, energy, and mindfulness to help students understand the foundational principles of ceramics and woodworking. His passion is to conquer the initial hurdles and fears and help students feel successful in the studio. Personal attention, catered techniques to help the individual succeed, and having fun with clay is his signature style.

Kiran Joan is an artist whose practice weaves together the visual vocabularies of Oman, India, and the United States. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Politico, and LA Times, while her ceramic work has been spotlighted by Vogue India, Ceramics Monthly, Print magazine, and BmoreArt. Joan has delivered talks at Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has attended residencies at Township10, Penland School of Craft and the Open Studio residency at Haystack.

Mingjing is no stranger to creative pursuits as
she has been creating large scale lighting art
and painting in tempera for many years. Her
pottery journey started 4 years ago on the
wheel and she quickly found her way to the
Clayroom community. One of her favorite techniques
is combining wheel throwing
and hand building on the same object to
create unique and organic forms. In April 2025
she traveled to Korea for 2 weeks to learn
from masters and what she has learned galvanized her focus on surface design for functional pieces

Miia Le is a woodworking instructor and Woodshop staff at Clayroom SOMA, keeping the day-to-day running smoothly alongside shop manager Matthew. With roots in Industrial Design and large-scale event fabrication, she leads the youth woodworking program, manages social media, and brings the curiosity of a designer, artist, cook, and gardener to everything she makes.

Natalie grew up in San Francisco, CA and has always been acquainted with the arts in some form.

She began her adventure with clay in high school where she focused on wheel throwing and functional ware. In college, she discovered a newfound appreciation and love for hand building. Her work explores more figurative and abstract concepts, and those that fit into the world of whimsicality.

She enjoys the sensory experience of working with clay, and how it allows for contemplation and curiosity.n Ann Arbor Michigan. She fell in love with clay in 2016 and has been obsessed ever since then. Isabella has a BA concentrating in ceramic sculpture from Alfred University and is currently living and making art in Foster City CA.

Isabella Amaya is a sculptor with expertise across a variety of mediums. Her work is deeply influenced by the natural world, personal life experiences, mental health, and the beauty found in everyday moments. Her lifelong connection to nature, art, and creativity has shaped her journey, allowing her to explore diverse practices, including ceramics, woodworking, painting, printmaking, and metal arts.

Casey sees clay work as a connection to one of humanity’s oldest art forms — a chance to experience a process that people have shared across cultures for thousands of years. Whether you’re touching clay for the first time or refining your skills, she hopes each class leaves you feeling inspired, curious, and excited to keep creating.

Alex is a full time ceramic artist and instructor based in San Francisco. Alex moved to the Bay Area from Indiana, where he got started in ceramics and wheel throwing in high school. Once in San Francisco, he started taking classes at Ruby’s Clay Studio and eventually Clay by the Bay. Alex continues to participate in the ceramics community teaching at several studios in SF as well as participating in various craft fairs and art festivals throughout the Bay Area. Alex works on the potters wheel and enjoys altering his forms with textures, color, and surface design. You can check out Alex’s work on IG or at https://alexbeckceramics.com/

With an MFA in 3D animation, Bennie transitioned to the world of clay in 2017, bringing a fresh perspective to her ceramic creations. As a passionate artist, Bennie has a deep appreciation for Japanese aesthetics, which includes a focus on simple shapes, unique colors, and textures. Her creative journey led Bennie to craft functional ceramics, specializing in dinnerware and kitchenware, where she continuously explore the endless possibilities of glazes on the simple forms in my work.

Rachel Heibel is a sculptor who works with clay as the primary medium, but also has experience with wood, plaster, and wax. She holds an MFA in ceramics from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from The University of Michigan, where she explored the intersection of ecology and ceramics. The repetitive nature of her ceramic work is a meditative act, echoing the disciplined sports training of her childhood. Her sculptures both suggest the presence of the body and the actions it performs. She works to acknowledge ceramics as a material steeped in history and functionality, continuously thinking about its unique ability to capture and preserve the voices of makers through objects of mundane, repetitive daily life that define a culture.

Samantha is a San Francisco-based ceramic artist who works primarily with wheel-thrown pieces. Her practice explores form, and the quiet precision of repetition, focusing on creating pieces that feel both refined and functional. Her work is influenced by time spent learning from traditional Chinese and Korean ceramic practices, and she continues to develop her voice through experimentation with form, glaze, and firing. At the SoMa studio, she also teaches collaborative classes that bring ceramics into conversation with wood and paper—pairing hand-thrown teacups with custom wooden boxes, or combining turned bowls and ceramic vessels with paper lantern shades.

Mell is a ceramics instructor and artist based in the Bay Area. After taking a ceramics class for fun in college, Mell loved it too much to give it up. She received her bachelors in Studio Arts with a concentration in Ceramics at SFSU. Ceramics has given Mell the opportunity to self-express, to explore within herself and the community around her. Her art practice involves manipulating forms made on the wheel to reflect the way that life can take perfect situations and change them forever, at times leaving lifelong pain and damage. Through the exploration of pain and healing, we can mend ourselves and build up who we are. Despite certain situations, Mell continues hopeful that light will continue to guide us through the dark.