Mar/Apr 2026 - Lynchburg Living
Perfecting Pottery: Local artist creates masterpieces, builds community in Lynchburg
By: Christian Shields | Photos By: Ashlee Glen
Through her love for pottery and people, Lynchburg artist Alexandra Milhous creates incredible ceramic pieces and educates others how to do the same.
Milhous began her pottery journey years ago as a student at Virginia Tech, where she took a couple ceramics classes while studying interior and industrial design.
After moving back to Lynchburg, she continued to study the medium and eventually purchased a kiln and other pottery equipment. Since then, she has opened a pottery studio, Firebrick Pottery, on Main Street, and has continued to improve her craft. She creates various mugs, vases, bowls, pots, and more.
“What I first fell in love with about pottery is the creative options are endless,” she said. “I could spend the next 20 to 30 years of my life exploring one technique in pottery and still not fully explore everything that is possible with that one technique.”
As a new potter, Milhous often found herself following a rigid structure with calculated stylistic decisions. Now, she takes a much more organic approach to her craft, comparing her fluid style changes to the adaptability of an octopus.
“I don’t want to fall into manufacturing the same thing over and over again, where you lose that handmade feel,” she said. “What I love about pottery, or anything else handmade, is as you use it, you are creating a connection with the artist who made it.”
As a result of these rapid style changes, Milhous hopes to never completely duplicate a single piece. In doing so, she allows each piece to remain unique and special.
“If you buy a store-bought manufactured bowl, your hands are probably the first human hands that have touched that bowl taking it out of the packaging.
There’s no uniqueness and not a lot of thought or care put into the making of it. It’s just a bowl. When you buy a bowl from a potter, especially a local potter in your community, they put thought and time into the bowl. They express themselves through it,” she said, joking that drinking from a handmade mug was equivalent to “drinking a page of someone’s diary.”
Through teaching weekly workshops at Firebrick, Milhous hopes to share her passion for pottery with others, helping them realize the incredible mental and physical benefits of crafting with clay.
“I’ve found a lot of joy in watching other people go through the same discovery process that I went through when first learning pottery. The magic of it. You are literally playing in mud and then you make something cool out of mud. Then you fire it, and it turns into permanent glossy ceramic. It’s a magical feeling the first time you can see a piece you made come out of the kiln and unless that piece gets smashed, it’s going to outlive you.”
Milhous currently sells her own products at Firebrick, but also sometimes advertises through her @ampotteryart and @firebrickpottery Instagram accounts.
