Meet the Team

  • A smiling woman with long dark hair, wearing a green t-shirt and black pants, standing in a room with a colorful abstract art piece and various kitchen items in the background.

    Sydney Kuntanovski

    INSTRUCTOR + STUDIO MEMBER

  • A woman with brown hair and a green Beaute Pottery t-shirt sitting at a pottery workspace with pottery pieces and art supplies on the table.

    Felicia Meyer

    INSTUCTOR + STUDIO MEMBER

  • A woman with blonde hair smiling, arms crossed, wearing a rust-colored dress, standing indoors in front of colorful abstract artwork and kitchen furniture.

    Heather Connors

    YOUTH INSTRUCTOR

  • A young woman is smiling and sitting on a table in a pottery studio with pottery and shelves in the background.

    Mila Beale

    STUDIO TECH

  • A young woman with short, light pink hair smiling at the camera in a pottery studio. She's wearing a green Beale Pottery t-shirt and has a tattoo on her right forearm.

    Jane Hopkins

    STUDIO TECH

  • A young man with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a black bandana and a green t-shirt with 'Beale Lottery' written on it, sitting in a casual indoor setting.

    Oliver Beale

    STUDIO TECH

  • A young man with a beard and a baseball cap, wearing a green T-shirt, smiling and leaning on a table inside a room decorated with colorful artwork and plants.

    Ian Beale

    EVENT SETUP | MACHINIST

  • Smiling man wearing glasses, a green cap, a t-shirt, and denim overalls sitting in a workshop with art supplies behind him.

    Eric Beale

    POTTER | GLAZE TECH | INSTRUCTOR

  • A woman with long wavy brown hair and blue eyes smiling while standing in front of shelves with colorful cups, mugs, and vases in a kitchen or store setting.

    Milissa Beale

    OWNER | DESIGNER | INSTRUCTOR

Milissa and Eric Beale at Beale Pottery goofing at the wheel.

Milissa & Eric Beale

I am Milissa Beale, my husband is Eric, and we are ceramic artists. Our story starts nearly twenty-four years ago when we met over the potters wheel in a dusty basement studio situated in downtown Valparaiso, Indiana, USA. Our creative energies intertwined right away. In the blink of an eye we found ourselves renovating an old brick building down the street, and operating an art academy and gallery with a team of artists coming from many different backgrounds - jewelry casting, figure drawing, oil painting, sculpting, glass blowing, etc… We taught all the pottery classes, and cherished every minute of it. Being involved with that group of makers was an inspiring experience, and one that we continue to carry with us today. We were married just a few short years later, and left the collective to continue our family.

We moved a bit North to my hometown. It happens to be the gateway to the Indiana Dunes National Park at the Southern most tip of Lake Michigan, and home to the steel mill where Eric used to work his day job as a Union Carpenter. There are many diverse ecosystems found within the area. We’ve spent a lot of time exploring, and identifying plant life - especially native wildflowers in this industrious and natural landscape. This particular area, and now our travels to other preserved wild areas have come to greatly influence our artistic journey.

Once our children were all settled into school we started devising ways to spend more time together making pottery - back to our roots. We set up a small space in our basement for a potters wheel, set up a kiln in our garage, and started making gifts for friends and family. By 2016, we had decided to get serious, and Beale Pottery was established.

As our business grew we found ourselves needing a bigger area to work in, and started setting our sights on finding a place that would better suit our needs within the Great Lakes area. We found the perfect location in Westville, IN, and moved in July 2022. Renovations started right away on the 1500 sqft pole barn that sits on our property. We were put together enough to start back on our production work by mid September, and then finally able to start offering classes in March of 2023. Creating a space where we could work with one another full time, build a community with likeminded makers, and share our love of pottery has always been the ultimate goal, and here we are making it happen.

Today, we’re happy to be working alongside our children in the studio, and a handful of talented friends. Our team helps with everything from prep, creation and design, shipping, and so much more. We are also very lucky to share our space with a few incredible potters who teach various classes + workshops to ages 7 and up.

Thanks for being here and on this creative journey with us, it truly means the world to all of us.

The Beale Family at Beale Pottery.
Some of the members at Beale Pottery.
A woman smiling at a pottery wheel with her hands on the wheel inside a pottery studio. She is wearing a green apron with 'Beale Pottery' printed on it, and a black shirt. Shelves behind her hold various pottery items, including bowls and mugs.
Two people kneading clay on a wooden table in an art or pottery studio.
Multiple unfinished ceramic vases on a shelf in a pottery studio.
A woman smiling and holding a ceramic mushroom sculpture, with other ceramic items on the table in front of her, in a ceramics workshop or studio.
Person holding a yellow ceramic vessel with open side handles, inside a pottery or gift shop with shelves of mugs, bowls, and other pottery.
Person holding a decorative ceramic bowl with a brown and cream glazed finish, featuring a tree and leaf pattern around the rim, in a store with other pottery items on shelves in the background.
A smiling woman in a black t-shirt and green apron holding clay sculptures in a pottery class.
Two women sitting at a table, smiling and enjoying a pottery activity in a pottery studio with shelves of supplies in the background.
Woman painting a small ceramic sculpture in an art studio or ceramics workshop.
A woman working on pottery in a ceramics studio. She is shaping a clay piece on a pottery wheel with a bucket of water nearby. Shelves behind her hold finished and in-progress ceramic pieces.
Three women smiling in a pottery studio with shelves of supplies and pottery on the table.