Staff

Jeff Kirk, Artistic Director and Wheel Instructor

Jeff teaches the Continuing Wheel classes for intermediate and advanced students and the Saturday morning Beginning and Intermediate Wheel class. He is also the Artistic Director and manages studio operations and facilities.  Jeff served as Executive Director from 2003-2023 and as full-time artist-in-residence and ceramics instructor at Glen Echo Pottery since 1974. His teaching philosophy supports individual artistic development in all students. Jeff's artistic training includes studying at the ceramics programs of Montgomery College and the Anderson Ranch in Colorado.  His work has been exhibited in many local and national shows and received awards; it can be found in private collections in this country and Europe. His public commissions include a ceramic mural for the Amazonian Building at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo in Washington, DC. Jeff has mounted over twenty gallery exhibits at Glen Eco Park.  Some have featured his work; others were group shows he curated of work by instructors and advanced students. He has juried ceramic art shows for other local organizations, such as the Montgomery Potters and the Scope Gallery of the Torpedo Factory.
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Marget Maurer, Executive Director 

​Marget is excited to be part of the Glen Echo Pottery community, joining as Executive Director in June 2023. For over twenty years, she has worked in and managed arts and education nonprofits, including as Executive Director of Project Create, a nonprofit providing arts opportunities to underserved communities in Washington, DC.. She was an arts educator at the National Gallery of Art and a substitute preschool teacher in Cabin John, MD. Marget has been intimately engaged in education advocacy in Montgomery County since 2012 and has served on the boards of her children's schools and the Montgomery County Council of PTAs in various capacities, including President.  Marget also serves as a volunteer nonprofit reviewer for Spur Local.  Marget has an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University and a BA in Art History from Johns Hopkins University. 

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David Epstein, Wheel and Handbuilding Instructor

David started pottery at age five; it truly has been a life-long involvement with ceramics. He studied with Vally Possony of Falls Church, VA for many years. In recent years, he has taken master workshops at well-known crafts schools such as Archie Bray (Montana), Arrowmont (Tennessee), Anderson Ranch (Colorado), and Le Meridiana (Tuscany, Italy).  David has exhibited with Montgomery Potters, received their "Best Bowl" award, and has had work included in local shows. For many years, he helepd Jeff Kirk teach the Saturday Morning Wheel class, providing one-on-one attention to beginners and techinical advice and tips to more experienced students.  David is currently a wheel and handbuilding instructor. ​
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Linda Johnson, Teen Wheel Instructor

Linda began studying ceramics at GEP in 1977 and has participated in all aspects of pottery production. Her work has been included in local exhibitions. She has taught basic wheel pottery techniques to middle and high school students at GEP since 1989 and currently teaches the afer-school classes as well as summer camp sessions.
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Dominicus So, Handbuilding Instructor

Dominicus began studying pottery in Hong Kong 40 years ago and has continued his studies in many different venues, combining wheel-thrown and handbuilding methods into both functional and sculptural work. His work has been exhibited widely in both juried ceramic art shows and galleries. He is a juried member of the Washington Ceramic Guild and a regular exhibitor at the Scopes Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. He is currently a handbuilding instructor.
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Kathryn Bird, Handbuilding Instructor

 

Gitte Kolind, Handbuilding Instructor

Gitte is an enthusiastic creative that enjoys engaging head, heart, and hand in many different ways.  Ceramics has been a consistent passion for decades but she also enjoys nature, textiles, renovation, up-cycling, gardening, and she spent four winters carving ice in Alaska.  Ceramic skills were developed at Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Corcoran College, Montgomery College, and Glen Echo Pottery.  Her work is mostly sculptural and she has participated in regional art shows.

Lisa Kowalewski, Handbuilding Instructor

Lisa is excited to be teaching handbuilding at GEP. Forever a painter, she began taking pottery handbuilding classes at Glen Echo in 2016. She has studied handbuilding techniques at Montgomery College, Visarts, Pocosin Art School of Fine Craft and numerous workshops. Her hand painted hand built porcelain pottery has been shown in numerous exhibits and shows in the metropolitan area and is sold at several high end boutiques in DC, NY and CT.
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Jack McDermott, Handbuilding Instructor

Jack began studying pottery when he was in 7th grade and has had his hands in clay in some capacity ever since. He graduated in 2012 from Skidmore College with a BA in Studio Art and received his MFA in Ceramics from Hood College in 2020. After a brief post-college residency at Terra Incognito Studios in Chicago, he became a full-time ceramics teacher at The Field School in DC and has taught both middle and high school ceramics there for over a decade. While he creates both wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery and enjoys all aspects of the ceramic process, he has an affinity for slab-building and glaze chemistry. He is currently a handbuilding instructor.
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Mike Friedman, Assistant Wheel Instructor

Mike is an Assistant Instructor in the Monday night Beginning through Advanced Wheel class. A self-proclaimed "recovering lawyer," Mike came to pottery after an initial foray into the art of of metal sculpture that he studied at the Corcoran. He joined Glen Echo Pottery in 2012.
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Board of Directors

Linda Epstein, President
Hope Walker, Vice President
Joyce Forrest, Treasurer
Cynthia Deitch, Secretary
Michael Friedman
Nadine Gabai-Botero
Julie Maltzman
Beatriz Pinto
Julian Schweitzer
Mary Silva
Jean Wrathall
Jeff Kirk, Artistic Director - Ex officio
Marget Maurer, Executive Director - Ex officio