Current Series:
Transmutable Ground
Made using rocks and minerals from the landscapes that inspired their design.
Embedded and fired into the clay body or pulverized to use as a glaze ingredient.
Rocks Cups
Desert Canyon Altars
Caliche Aventurine Cups
Anthropocene Fossils
Creating a visual and tangible connection between local landscapes and ceramics.
A solo exhibition that was on view January-February 2025 at the Mudroom Gallery in Tucson, Arizona featuring works that incorporated Madrean Sky Island rocks and minerals into ceramics.
My current favorite side quest: developing glazes using one or more rocks and/or minerals from.a particular site as ingredients in a glaze recipe. This is a slow process but very rewarding.
Reach out if you’re interested in exploring the glaze possibilities for minerals or rocks found on your property.
Shown in the image is a glaze made primarily of local granite. The tumbler also has a piece of the same granite embedded and fired into the clay.
Site Specific Glaze Development
Along with eleven other ceramic artists, I was invited to create bookends to hold five books of my choosing for this exhibition.
October 3rd to November 2nd, 2025. Curated by George Rodriguez
To begin and end. To support and hold. To bring into focus.
There are many ways in which books have made an impact on these artists' lives. These books have inspired, supported, provoked, challenged, comforted, informed, and moved their creative practices. The bookends frame each curated set and ask the viewer to consider the relationship between the sculptures and the content they support. As access to information becomes increasingly monitored, controlled, and threatened, physical books remain a persistent monument to creativity, critical thinking, and the flow of information. These artists have created supports to hold the books that bolster, inspire, and hold them in return.
Arizona Illustrated feature
I was honored to be a featured artist on Arizona Illustrated, a beloved local PBS show. Below is the video description:
“Samirah Steinmeyer’s love of the natural world is deeply embedded in her ceramic pieces. Even her early ceramic works featured insects and plant designs on them as she started selling mugs, plates, and bowls on Etsy. After dealing with burnout, healing from a serious bike accident, and facing supply shortages for ceramic ingredients caused by the pandemic, Steinmeyer amped up her experiments with local minerals and rocks, such as caliche and feldspar, and learned how to incorporate them into her ceramics. Her unique works visually and texturally mimic their real-life geological counterparts and the plant life that grows on them. The highly detailed pieces take time to create and Samirah explains the benefits that working slowly and intentionally has brought her.”
I have been making and selling pottery online since 2013. My practice has always allowed space for experimentation, curiosity, and the ongoing evolution of my work.
Because of this, my pottery has reflected a wide range of styles over the years, all inspired by experiences in Nature.
My online shop updates feature a mix of newer work and older classic designs
Past Work
Meet Juany Gámez, the last practicing Yoreme potter from her Mayo community in Masiaca, Sonora. She is committed to reviving the ancient Mayo pottery traditions so that they can persist for the benefit of future generations.
To learn more about Mayo pottery and my visit with Juany, click to read the online article in Studio Potter Magazine, or listen to the audio version of the article.
