About
Beth Hatlen Elliott
I was born in Michigan, then lived in Louisiana and Washington, D.C. for several years before our family moved to Fargo, ND and my father became a university professor of Architecture. I was drawn to art since before the age of two, and my parents nurtured my creative aspirations. I have never stopped creating.
As a student at Moorhead State University, I took my first pottery class ... but I hated it so much, I dropped it the same day!
After graduating from MSU with a BFA in graphic design, I supported myself as a designer, art director, illustrator and fine artist. I worked in stained glass, linoleum/wood carving, printmaking, and metal work before rediscovering pottery-making in 2017.
While taking a pottery class from Artistry in the Bloomington Center for the Arts, I learned about Sgraffito. A mid-18th century Italian word that literally means "scratched away", Sgraffito is a technique used in painting, pottery, and glass that consists of putting down a preliminary surface, covering it with another, and then scratching the top layer in such a way that a pattern or shape emerges from the lower one.
It all "clicked" for me when I discovered I could combine illustration, carving (sgraffito) and pottery to create original art - I had found my metaphorical home!
Today, I'm a full-time ceramic artist living and working in Minnesota. I do all my throwing and trimming in a private space at Fired Up Studios in Golden Valley and do all my design and sgraffito work at my home studio in Bloomington.
If you’d like, you can learn more about my pottery and how it’s made.
Details of Experience …
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2026
Cedar Creek Gallery - CUPful: Celebrating the Daily Ritual - Creedmoor, NC
2025
Art at Hidden River - St. Paul, MN
City of Lakes Art Fair - Minneapolis, MN
Art-A-Whirl - Minneapolis, MN
2024-25
Get Lucky Gallery - Lockhart, TX
Duluth Pottery - Duluth, MN
Charlie Cummings Gallery - Summer is Served: A Garden Party - Gainsville, FL
Charlie Cummings Gallery - The Functional Canvas IX - Gainsville, FL
2024 Morningside Women's Club Holiday Market, Edina, MN
2018-24 Fired Up Studios Gallery – Golden Valley, MN
2023
St Kate's Art Festival - St Paul, MN
Charlie Cummings Gallery - The Functional Canvas VIII – Gainesville, FL
2022 Afton Art in the Park – Afton, MN
2021-22 Merzatta Morristown – Morristown, NJ
2021
Minnetonka Center for the Arts Holiday Show – Minnetonka, MN
Everett & Charlie Gallery – Minneapolis, MN
Charlie Cummings Gallery - Cup: The Intimate Object XVII – Gainesville, FL
2018-20 Seasons on St. Croix Gallery – Hudson, WI
2020 Artistry Theater and Visual Arts Gifts in the Gallery – Bloomington, MN
2019
Fired Up Studios Holiday Show – Golden Valley, MN
Artistry Theater and Visual Arts Members Juried Exhibition – Bloomington, MN
Afton Art in the Park, Guest Artist – Afton, MN
2018
Fired Up Studios Holiday Show – Golden Valley, MN
Artistry Theater and Visual Arts Members Juried Exhibition – Bloomington, MN
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The Weisman Art Museum Ceramics Collection - Minneapolis, MN
Private collections across the United States, England, France, Canada, and New Zealand.
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2019 - 2026
Sgraffito Surface Design, Beginning Pottery, Ask The Potter Workshops, and Private Lessons - Fired Up Studios - Golden Valley, MN
2023
Sgraffito Design - Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft - Columbia, NC.
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2017 Studied ceramic arts under Alex Chin, David Swenson, and Brady McLearen, Bloomington Center for the Arts - Bloomington, MN
1993 Bachelor of Fine Arts/Graphic Design, Moorhead State University - Moorhead, MN