There has never been a better moment to connect with the handmade. Become a Subscribing Member now through December 3 and receive a special discount rate.
Makers

The Queue: Alana Cuellar

The St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin–based ceramist has lived her entire life immersed in craft.

Cuellar shares the relationship between pottery and cooking in her life, where she gets ideas for her work, and the craft projects she’s excited to see come to fruition.

By Shivaun Watchorn
January 23, 2023

Digital Only

#The Queue
Free To Read
Photo by Paul Howe

Alana Cuellar at the wheel.

Alana Cuellar focuses on the functional.

Cuellar is a second-generation potter who lives and works in the St. Croix Valley along the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The daughter of potter Guillermo Cuellar, she grew up immersed in handmade objects. “These kinds of objects feel essential to me,” she says. A yearly participant in and future host for the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour, Cuellar makes functional pottery intended for daily use. Janet Koplos wrote about the pottery tour, now in its 31st year, in “Potteryland” in the Spring 2023 issue of American Craft.

How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?

My practice is rooted in repetition and variation. I use a wheel, which lends itself to working in series. I move between producing forms I feel somewhat comfortable making, letting those evolve naturally, and the riskier effort of deliberately exploring new ideas and failing a lot. My heart can only handle so much!

Photo courtesy of the artist

Alana Cuellar, Pitcher, 2022, stoneware clay, glaze, stain, 4.5 x 4 x 7 in.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve been figuring out how to incorporate relief carving into some of my wheel-thrown pots and on small tiles. It’s been a sneaky way of learning about drawing while still working in three dimensions. I’m also making luminarias, maybe as a response to the dark season here in the Upper Midwest.

Who and what—craftspeople, artists, ideas, books, music, nature, etc.—inspires your work?

Historical pottery (lately I’ve been looking at a lot of medieval Persian ceramics) and home cooking are big sources of inspiration. I love to cook, and pottery is a big part of that. Clary Illian’s pots and her book A Potter’s Workbook helped me learn to see form and think about what makes a pot work visually and practically.

You are a second-generation potter and work with your father, Guillermo Cuellar. How does this lineage affect your practice?

Guillermo makes functional pots intended for use by everyday people. This goal shapes the studio rhythm, firing style, material choices—every aspect of the process where we often work together. I have found great freedom within the parameters created by this approach. I don’t know where my work will lead me, but I suspect this ethos—pots for people to use in their daily lives—will underpin my practice for a long time.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Alana Cuellar, Garlic Pot, 2022, Stoneware clay, glaze, 7 x 5 in.

If you could have any contemporary craft artist’s work for your home or studio, whose would it be and why?

I am very excited to check out pots from Beth Bolgla, a new guest potter on the 2023 St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. I would love to have a piece of furniture from Kevin Reiswig in my home. Maria Davila and Eduardo Portillo’s textiles are beautiful too.

Which artists, craft exhibitions, or projects do you think the world should know about, and why?

Liz Born and Gabe Hoare are the printmakers behind Hoofprint, a studio on the South Side of Chicago; they are a great resource to artists and are wonderful humans. Vessels for the Human Spirit is an upcoming film about the ceramicist David MacDonald. I look forward to learning more about his life and work, as I’m sure many potters do. The film is a project of Osa Atoe, Amilcar Navarro, and the Kaabo Clay Collective. To donate in support of this project and learn more, visit potterybyosa.com.

 

Shivaun Watchorn is associate editor of American Craft.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Alana Cuellar, Bowl with relief carving, 2022, stoneware clay, slip, glaze, stain, 3 x 7 in.

Check out Alana Cuellar's work online.

Website Instagram

This article was made possible with support from the Windgate Foundation.

Before you go!

We believe that making creates a meaningful world, and we hope you do, too. Deeply researched and impactful journalism on the craft community is in short supply. At the same time, being featured in a national publication can have a major effect on a maker’s or artist’s livelihood, particularly those who are just starting in their career. You can help support our mission and the work of makers around the country by becoming a member or by making a gift today.

Thank you!
American Craft Editors

Join Donate

Related Stories

View Makers
Makers
Free To Read

Piece by Piece

Riffing on global textile traditions, Adam Pogue creates delightfully improvisational home goods and sculpture.

Winter 2025

#At Home
#Features + Profiles
Makers
Free To Read

Holding Space

Drawing on Irish traditions, Port Townsend, Washington–based artist Maureen Walrath weaves local willow into baskets that help usher souls into the next world.

Digital Only

#Features + Profiles
Makers

Riding into the Sunset in Style

Thanks to classic machinery, the boldly emblazoned chain-stitched shirts, jackets, pantsuits, and wallpaper swatches made at Austin, Texas’s Fort Lonesome are lighting up the Western stage.

Winter 2025

#Craft Companies
Makers
Free To Read

History in the Making

A commentary on labor and excess, woodworker Stacy Motte’s humorous-looking Adventures in Highboy Land is deadly serious.

Winter 2025

#Features + Profiles
#History
Makers
Free To Read

Paper Prayers

Combining block printing, paper craft, and illustration, Maui-based artist Susanna Cromwell imparts meaningful intention with each paper quilt she creates.

Winter 2025

#At Home
#Features + Profiles
Makers

Hand-Turned Tales

For centuries, craftspeople have created backlit moving scrolls to tell stories. Intimate and expressive, the “crankie” tradition is thriving thanks to a growing troupe of enthusiasts.

Winter 2024

#Craft Communities
#Features + Profiles
1 - 6