23 | Artist profile: Sandy Simon
Sculpture, vessels and works on paper Exhibition | Sandy Simon and Robert Brady from September 27- November 30, 2025
Medium lidded jar 2025
Porcelain
8”h X 9” in diameter
Where utility meets intention
There's a quiet revolution happening at dinner tables around the world. Home cooks and celebrated chefs alike are choosing handmade ceramics over mass-produced dishware—and for good reason. When you hold a piece shaped by an artist's hands, you're not just holding a vessel. You're holding a connection to the earth, to intention, to the human touch. Sandy Simon has dedicated her career to keeping that connection alive.
The Berkeley Years
In 1994, Sandy opened TRAX functional gallery in Berkeley, California, with a clear mission: to provide greater representation for ceramicists dedicated to utility. At a time when the boundaries between art and craft were rigid, Sandy created a space that celebrated both—a gallery where beauty and function weren't at odds, but in conversation. Sandy isn't just a curator. She's a maker, through and through.
Sugar and Creamer set with tray, 2024
Soda fired porcelain
The Student Years: A Golden Moment
Sandy's foundation was built in the late 1960s at the University of Minnesota, where she studied under Warren MacKenzie and Curtis Hoard. If you know ceramics, those names carry weight—MacKenzie studied with Bernard Leach and became one of the most influential voices in American studio pottery.
But it wasn't just the teachers. "At the time we were students, the energy in the pot shop was at an all time high," Sandy recalls. "The free speech movement took root. Making something by hand had an audience." Her classmates—Mark Pharis, Wayne Branum, Michael Simon, Randy Johnston—went on to become legends in their own right. That collective energy, that moment when handmade objects felt revolutionary, shaped everything that followed.
The Covered Jar: Sandy's Signature
As a potter, Sandy keeps her forms minimal, letting the landscape of the piece speak. She's best known for her covered jars—elegant, functional vessels that feel both modern and somehow timeless. Comforting.
The details are what make them sing: nichrome wire handles that arc gracefully from rim to shoulder. Subtle alterations—cutting, piercing, the occasional addition of seeds or thread. And then there are the lids.
Recently, Sandy began using acorns as "pick ups" for her lids, replacing the Peruvian "lucky seeds" she'd used before. (She roasts them first to prevent any unfortunate sprouting or rotting—always the pragmatist.) There's something poetic about it. As Master Mingtong Gu said, "The acorn is where the oak sleeps." A small detail that connects the piece to cycles of growth, potential, earth.
Rubber Bumper, 2024
Salvage Steel, Marine-grade Plywood, Silicone,
Vulcanized Rubber, Hardware, Rubber Bumper
5 1/4 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
Made to Be Used
"I want my pots to express spontaneity and suggest use," Sandy says. "I enjoy making new forms for the presentation of food."
That philosophy runs through everything she creates. Her work isn't meant to sit untouched on a shelf. It's meant to be lifted, filled, passed hand to hand across a table. Each piece invites you to slow down, to notice, to make even an ordinary Tuesday dinner feel like an occasion.
A Connection We Can't Lose
Sandy reflects on how much has changed since her student days. "Today, with the internet, the pace is much faster." But some things remain essential: "Potters provide our connection to the earth—which we must never lose."
In a world of algorithms and acceleration, there's something grounding about an object made slowly, by hand, from clay. Sandy's work is a reminder that we need these touchpoints, these moments of material connection.
Her pieces are collectible, yes. But they're also made for life—for your hands, your table, your daily rituals.
Brief Survey, 2024
Salvage Steel, Marine-grade Plywood, Silicone,
Vulcanized Rubber, Hardware
10 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
Experience Sandy's Work
We're honored to feature Sandy Simon's porcelain vessels and tableware. Each piece carries decades of skill, a philosophy of use, and that indefinable quality that only comes from work made with intention.
[View Available Work]
[Visit TRAX Gallery]
Painting doesn’t function like this; no matter where you stand, the piece will always look essentially the same. I love the absolute quality of painting and the endless possibilities of seeing sculpture poses. One of the many things my work addresses is where painting ends and where sculpture begins. I am involved with hybridizing them to see what possibilities can emerge. The works I create are intended to supply commentary on minimalist belief systems and the ultimate importance of High Art practice. It is my aim to bring purist shapes and surfaces back down to earth. Another important aspect of my ongoing experimentation with my hybrids deals with context and scale. It is my perception that context and content are always in conversation. It is not possible to isolate one from the other without changing the meaning of the work. Therefore, placement of the work is critical to seeing and understanding the work. Scale is another critical aspect in determining meaning.
My work is generally small, typically not much wider than my shoulders and often considerably smaller. Standing in the great history of makers of pure abstraction, I hope to be humble in the advocation of my work and honor those who have traveled this path before me. By making work which is small in scale but grand in conceptual stature, I hope to honor my aesthetic heroes and challenge the notion of small work’s visual impact in context: small work on a large wall—made to hold the wall because of the strength of its presence. All of these ingredients come together in the work to create a pleasing formality and visual elegance while challenging modernist purity.
Carrot Top, 2024
Salvage Steel, Marine-grade Plywood, Silicone,
Vulcanized Rubber, Hardware
7 1/2 x 6 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
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