Naomi Lindenfeld
Naomi Lindenfeld is a clay artist and educator whose work bridges a lifelong exploration of movement in form, color, and pattern. Born into a creative household with a fiber artist mother who studied at Black Mountain College, at age 12 she took her first pottery class and went on to earn a BAA in ceramics from Boston University’s Program in Artisanry. In 1983 she began working professionally in clay as a studio potter, and from 1998 to 2025 taught ceramics at The Putney School in Vermont.
Naomi is best known for her colored clay work using Nerikomi and related techniques, layering and carving colored porcelain to reveal flowing striations and a strong sense of depth and motion. Inspired by dance and natural patterns shaped by wood, leaves, rock, water and wind, she hand-builds and wheel-throws functional and decorative pieces that combine tactile forms with vivid, nature-infused imagery.
Through decades of studio practice, teaching, and workshops, she has developed a distinctive language of abstract, graphic surfaces that invite everyday use as well as contemplation.
In recent years, Naomi’s practice has expanded into “Tea Journey Art” wall pieces and prayer flags. She outlines tea stains on used tea bags made from abaca fiber and paints around the wave-like patterns.
These works evoke oceans, land masses, and topographical maps. She aims for them to hold a peaceful, transcendent and stimulating feeling, as one might have when sipping a cup of tea. The organic stains, layered color, and sense of visual journey in her tea work echo the movement, abstract graphic quality, nature-themed imagery, and vivid color that characterize her clay, carrying forward the spirit of experimentation.
