Dan Finnegan
Biography
Dan Finnegan has been making ceramic work for more than 40 years. He studied at 3 universities before making his way to the Winchcombe Pottery in Gloucestershire, England in the late 1970s. As part of Ray Finch’s pottery crew, he assisted in the production of wood-fired domestic ware, largely inspired by Michael Cardew.
In 1980, Dan returned to the U.S. and set up his first studio in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he still resides. Over his career in clay, Dan has made tens of thousands of stoneware pots sold directly from his studio to friends, visitors, and the local community. For many years, he worked in the heart of the historic district of Fredericksburg, and founded an art center in a vacant hardware store in 2001 called the LibertyTown Arts Workshop. Today, the LibertyTown Arts Workshop in Fredericksburg is home to fifty artists, a pottery school, and a gallery.
Dan’s work can be found in numerous collections, museums, and publications in the US and the UK. He takes pride in having been a teacher for many years at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, as well as demonstrating in many workshops with an emphasis on “Good Pots for Good Food.” In 2012, Dan co-founded a show in Washington, DC called “Pottery on the Hill,” which is an annual exhibition that features 15 of the nation’s finest potters. Currently, Dan works a full time studio potter in his studio deep in the woods of Fredericksburg, Virginia with his 2 chambered wood kiln.