About

Welcome to Pebble Ceramics!

Join us in celebrating the wonders of the California landscape with beautiful handmade ceramic wares and tile. We hope you are inspired to explore this amazing state and champion biodiversity and native plants for a healthy planet. Our pottery features the works of Rhonda Purcell and Cecilia Combs.

 

Photograph by Earl Combs

 

Rhonda Purcell

My love of the geology, waters, skies and flora of California grew out of a fairly charmed childhood with two adventurous, fun-loving parents.  Almost every weekend, my brother and I found ourselves hiking the hillsides, biking the backroads, or boating the waters.  Our family went camping and swam in the ocean or a river every summer.  The adventures we shared have informed a lifetime of exploring and celebrating this beautiful place.

 

Cecilia Combs

Cecilia makes treasured renditions of leaves by pressing them into clay.  She explores each variety of leaf as if a new found friend, and experiments with compositions and how that leaf is rendered until the beauty of the piece matches its inspiration.  

 

Bill Purcell

Bill is a photographer and educator who studied with Joel Sternfeld at Stockton University, and who is passing on the traditions instilled by that experience to his students at the Academy of Art University.  His photographs feature intimate landscapes that are given an additional touch of magic with his nuanced post-production rendering.  In addition to his art degree, Bill also holds a degree in economics with an emphasis in small business from Rutgers University, which comes in very handy when you are trying to run a pottery business!

 

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my family and friends for all of their support! Thank you to my husband, Bill Purcell, my parents, Cecilia and Earl Combs, and my friends Cori Edejer, Julia Puebla Fortier and Mary Jo Pollack for their patient, detailed and ongoing feedback about the development of my work and Pebble Ceramics. Thank you to my friend Jeffrey John Kubis for his invaluable contributions to the design of the studio space and the pebble chop and to my understanding of how to make magic with form and glaze. Thank you also to my friend Susan Parker for her wise observations and helpful information.

 

Affiliations

We support the following organizations: