By Bronna Zlochiver

Bronna Zlochiver’s passion for making pottery started with her first ceramics class in college in 1969. She loved working with clay so much that, after graduating and moving to San Antonio, TX, she began taking classes at the McNay Art Institute at night while teaching third grade in a primarily Mexican American school district during the day. After a year, Bronna “retired” from teaching and worked as the pot shop assistant at the McNay.

A decade and several moves around the country later, married with two children, Bronna studied with Valley Possony in Falls Church, VA, for two and a half years. To this day, she calls Possony “’my teacher’ because of Valley’s strong aesthetic influence on my work.”

During the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, Bronna continued potting while working full-time as a secretary and later as a copyeditor and proofreader for the National Education Association. She retired and moved to Vernon in December 2008, intending to make pots full-time. From August 2009 to April 2014, Bronna was affiliated with the Brattleboro Clayworks, a relationship that enabled her to get to know the local craft scene and network with many local potters and other artisans. Bronna set up her home studio and founded The Village Potter (formerly Pacem Pottery) in 2012.

Five and a half years ago, Bronna and Margaret Shipman, an extraordinary painter, jeweler, and graphic artist who also lives in Vernon, started the annual Vernon Artisan Market on the first weekend in November. Bronna also hosts a seconds sale in her Village Potter studio in December.

Contact Bronna at 802-579-1567, by email at bronna.zlochiver@gmail.com, or drop by her studio at 69 Newton Hill Road—she usually works afternoons. You can also find her beautiful, affordable, functional stoneware pottery at Vermont Wood Studios; and the Coldbroook Store in Vernon as well as at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, the Vermont Country Deli, and the Dutton Farm Stand in Brattleboro and Hidden Springs Maple in Putney.